Rotten tomatoes – what’s the story with the “tomato flu”?

What does this so-called scientific letter state?

This letter discusses the outbreak of a “new old” disease (according to the authors) that has been spreading in certain areas in India. So far, one hundred young children over the age of five, have contracted the tomato flu. The signs and symptoms are similar to those of other viral diseases and include fever, joint pain and a characteristic rash.
What does the rash look like? It contains large, red vesicles that spread all over the body and can grow to the size of a tomato (nobody mentioned whether it looks more like a cherry-tomato or Roma-tomato).
According to the authors, the disease resolves without any specific treatment other than supportive treatment (rest and antipyretics).

So, is there really such a virus that can cause this tomato flu?

There is no clear answer to this. The authors were unable to discover a new virus and neither were they able to isolate an old virus. In fact, they have no microbial proof of an infectious cause in these children. So, why refer to this infection as the “tomato flu”? God knows.
They claim that the diagnosis can be made once other, similar diseases have been excluded. Alright, alright.
There is no image of the rash to be seen anywhere, just an image of cute kids from India. What kind of scientific article describes a rash without attaching an image?
The discussion does not reveal anything significant about the disease.
The citations that are brought forward in the letter are a bunch of irrelevant, non-scientific references from India.
Okay, so who are the authors? They are three members of a pharmaceutical department in a college in India.
So, has the world lost its mind? Why publish such a document in a world-renowned journal? I don’t really have an answer to this.
I think the world is stressed about new outbreaks and all the journals are trying to be the first to publish the next epidemic. And again, the path from here to the Western media, who likes to rush out there to interview the “specialist” in the field, is very quick.

I think it’s worthwhile respecting all descriptions of new diseases, and it’s worth having Western authorities, who own microbiological diagnostic tools, assess such descriptions. However, making a media fiesta out of it is a whole different story.
So, this document pretty much contains nothing, and in my opinion there is no such disease as the “tomato flu”.
We shall see what time will tell.

In the meantime, I strongly recommend you to read the important chapter dealing with flu vaccine this year. Use this link.

Yours.