Kollam district in southern Kerala has this year reported 1,300 cases of hand foot and mouth disease, prompting at experts to say tomato flu or fever is "same as" HFMD.
Kollam recorded its first case of tomato flu, a contagious viral disease so called because of the painful red blisters it produces on the body, on May 6—around the time Kerala was battling an outbreak of HFMD, a contagious viral infection common in young children. A central government advisory to states last week said that between May 6 and July 26, Kerala recorded 82 cases of tomato flu among children