Wet nose masks can cause infections
Children who walk in the rain with wet nose masks run the risk of being exposed to bacteria or virus.
The Medical Officer at the Deseret Hospital in Accra, Dr Dickson Adomako Kissi, told the Junior Graphic in an interview that when a child walk in the rain wearing a wet nose mask he or she could easily catch an infection because it would no longer be effective.
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“If they are in the rain with the mask on, it is very likely that the mask will be compromised because some of these nose masks will be destroyed when they get wet,” Dr Kissi explained.
He explained that wet nose masks made the children uncomfortable so it was important for parents to provide them with extra nose masks.
He, therefore, called on parents to provide their children with rain coats and umbrellas to prevent their nose masks from getting wet.
Dr Kissi, who is also the Member of Parliament for the Anyaa-Sowutuom Constituency, said children who played in the rain could suffer from hypothermia, which is a drop in body temperature, and that could be fatal.
The Medical Officer said when a child stayed in the rain for a long time, he or she might have fever or chills as a result of the cold water.
He said children were fond of picking their nose so if their hands were dirty while playing in the rain, they might introduce more things into their respiratory organs.
He asked children to desist from playing or walking in the rain so that they would not catch cold which was common during the rainy season.
Dr Kissi said rains were usually accompanied by lightning and when a child became wet in the rain, there was the risk of electrocution.
“Parents who usually ask their children to fetch rain water when there is a heavy downpour are putting the lives and health of those children at risk,” he added.
He explained that rain water was typically hard so if a child had an allergy and was in the rain, he or she might have itchy skin.
“Children who go through this ordeal are usually not comfortable at all,” he indicated.
He added that there were parasites in the soil which were usually exposed during a downpour so when a child stood and played in the rain barefooted, the likelihood of the child being exposed to ringworm, hookworm, among others, was very high.
He cautioned children who drank rain water, particularly from the ones coming from rooftops of houses, to stop because apart from the water being hard, it could also be contaminated, adding that children who bathed with rain water should boil it in order to kill the germs to prevent infections.
Dr Kissi said COVID-19 was still with us so school authorities should continously clean door handles, tables and chairs for the schoolchildren to avoid any infection.