As schools across the UAE settle into the new academic year, schools and doctors are urging parents to keep children with flu-like symptoms at home to limit the disease's spread among students. Doctors say common symptoms include high fever, cough and sore throat, nasal congestion, body aches and fatigue, headache, reduced appetite, and in some cases vomiting or diarrhoea.
Physicians recommend children stay home from school until they have been fever-free for at least 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication such as paracetamol or ibuprofen. They note that influenza typically lasts between seven and ten days, though coughing and tiredness can persist longer.
Dr Bassem Shamseddine, a specialist paediatrician at Mubadala Health Dubai, Dr Sameh Abdelazim Mohamed, head of the paediatric department at NMC Royal Hospital Abu Dhabi, and Dr Jadeer Akkaparambil, a specialist in internal medicine at Medcare Shaikh Saqr Al Qasimi Hospital, were among the doctors who contributed to the public health advisory.
The doctors stressed that following these precautions is especially important in the first weeks of the school year, when students spend more time together in enclosed classroom settings, and can help prevent wider outbreaks among pupils.