Some common diseases in children
Taking care of children is difficult. It requires parents to have not only science knowledge but also experience which they can not get in the first time of being parents. And thus, you find it confused and like a fish out of water at the first moment, especially when the kid is sick. However, if you have some stable knowing about common diseases at children, you will be more confident. We would like to introduce to you the information about some disease which is easy for kids to catch so that you will take care of them more carefully.
Rickets
- Cause: Lacking of vitamin D makes a child rickety. It affects to the absorption process, transformation of calcium and phosphorus (the necessary substances for development of bones). There are some diseases at children under 3. The main reason is that many mothers follow strict regimens and don’t let the children make the mess, so the child will lack of sunshine. Besides that, another one is a diet poor of calcium and phosphorus. The child who doesn’t have breast milk or is born prematurely or are twins or too chubby and child who is born in winter are easy to catch rickets.
- Symptom: When children are sick, they often cry, can’t sleep well or wake up with a start and sweat when sleeping. You will see them losing hair at the scauff of the neck. Their teeth grow slowly. Many symptoms in bones like wide fontanel, soft side of fontanel, long tight fontanel, appear top hump, forehead hump or flat head. In many cases, children are rickets badly with the sequels like trains of slope, protruding chest, bend legs shaped X or O…
- Measures: When children have those symptom, mothers should take them to the medical center to be guided the way to add vitamin D and calcium for kids. Children need to have sunbathe everyday and eat the food which contains enough calcium, phosphorus to prevent disease. Some of the process food contain much calcium which mothers should use to cook for kids such as black sesame, pot-herbs, water morning glory, crabs, small shrimps, snails, chub, egg yolk, mussels, fresh milk from the cow, yoghurt…
Tetanus
This is a disease can steal human’s lives. In Viet Nam, we have the preventive drug with 100% of effect. In common, kids are injected to prevent tetanus at the second month after born.
- Cause: The bacterium causing tetanus is available everywhere: in land, dust, shit of people or pets. Therefore, the ability to catch the disease in human being is very big. Some situation are just stepping on a rust nail, hurting your leg by barbed wire, a splinter in your nails or scratch hands by old toys….The stings of insects or bite of dogs, cats can be the places for tetanus bacterium to break into. The hurts which is not wide or deep also can make infection.
- Symptom: The children catching tetanus often have expression: From 5 to 14 days after catching the disease, their muscles become hard, especially in neck and jaw. They sweat, become hard to open their mouths or swallow, headache, hurt in arms and legs, shaking body, catching fever or cramp or curl the body. The symptom of hard muscles spreads all the body and you have to take the children to the hospital.
- Measures: when the child is hurt, although the pain is small or serious, you need to wash it carefully and make it antiseptic. Doctors are the ones who decide if the child needs to be injected or not, although he/she has been injected before. For the kids who haven’t vaccinated, you should have the doctor to vaccinate them and keep a close watch on their injections to make sure that the kids are injected enough dose.
Measles
- Causes: This is a disease caused by a virus of measles and common for child above 1 year old to catch. Measles can attack people at any age but it has more manifestation in children. It spreads by the fluid of nose and sore escaped into the air after the patients cough or sneeze. The baby under 12 months without injecting measles is easier to catch the diseases. Kids who are raised badly, especially don’t take vitamin A living in crowded places and the ones with reducing immune system because of HIV or others often suffer from measles. The patients who recover after catching the measles will immune in the rest of life. The babies whose mothers used to catch measles often have immune of 6-8 months of the early life.
- Symptoms: The Incubation period is from 7-18 days. The first manifestation of infection are high fever lasting 1 to 7 days. In this time, patients often have runny noses, cough, red eyes, watery eyes and small white spots appearing inside the cheeks. After several days since the red blots appear, starting from the face, hands and legs and then spreading to hands and legs within 3 days. It lasted 5-6 days and then disappeared. Additionally patients can be anorexia and diarrhea, especially children. Illness often occurs in children under 5 years old. That child may be dehydrated by diarrhea, can be otitis media, respiratory infections and larynx by measles virus which reduce the immune system.
- Measure: The most effective way to prevent the disease is injection measles vaccine for kids. They need to be vaccinated before the age of 1. The patients caught the diseases badly can be cured if they are treated reasonably. All the kids are sick badly have to drink vitamin A as soon as possible and the second dose the next day. Intensifying nutrition and treating dehydration are necessary methods helping children recover quickly.
Varicella
- Cause: Varicella is an infectious and pernicious diseases caused by a virus named Varicella zoster. The disease is not serious but easy to spread. Patients are the only sources of spread. The diseases transmitted from the patients at the first symptoms until the time the pockmarks have scabs. Virus from sputum, snot and saliva of sick kids turning into healthy people while talking, coughing or sneezing and then coming into bodies through nose- sore, then through blood to the residence of epithelium cells and mucous membrane, so leading to blisters there. The most infected age are from 2 to 7 years old, rarely encountered in children under 6 months. Adults also can be infected if they didn’t catch it when they were young.
- Symptoms: After an incubation time of about 14-15, the diseases comes. In many case, the child still eats, play as usual which make mother doesn’t matter, until when a new milestone or accidentally discovered a few notes at the top. When the child has the diseases, they will have symptoms of dizziness and slight fever. Especially on the pimples beginning in the body, then the face, around the mouth and scalp. Few small blisters about millimeters, containing a liquid inside, will be dry after 48 hours and form scabs. Approximately 5-6 days later, the bubble scales will leave a scar on the skin of a few weeks long. These small blisters contain the virus inside so it’s easy to spread to others. Acne emerging phenomenon lasts 2-3 days, causing itchy and the kids want to scratch scratching the skin, causing infection and long for acne to have scab. Commonly, after 15 days since the diseases appears, the kids are well again. Chickenpox is a mild diseases. In cases there are more acne, children may have fever but the fever will go. Also in some cases, it affects the brain and nervous system making baby lurch during the disease developing. It can last a little more but takes some weeks to recover.
- Measures: During baby is chickenpox, the main thing is hygiene baby: cut nails and keep clean, do not let them scratch to avoid skin infections and spread to other kids. They should wear large and light clothing. No need to remove pollen and shower after the acne goes away. If it’s necessary, just apply antiseptics on the biggest acne on the scales. Doctor may take children a little sedative to sleep easily, prevent them from harassment and scratching because of itching. When the chickenpox comes out permanently, you should let children come to school again.
Diarrhea
- Cause: Diarrhea is a common illness in young children. Diarrhea causes dehydration and some electrolytes like sodium, potassium …; after diarrhea, children are often malnourished.
- Measures: When the baby diarrheas, mother is the first one to care and be mainly in the treatment before the disease is too heavy to bring to hospital. First, think of ORS (OralRehydratation Solution: liquid water by oral compensation). This is a solution to compensate water and the best electrolysis produced in the form of powder and sold the package without application in pharmacy.
If ORS solution is not available, you can take porridge of rice or water, a bowl of mixed a pinch of salt with a handful of three fingers, let your baby drinks instead. Water of starch is better than sugar water because when coming into stomach, starch is slowly converted into glucose and absorbed quickly so osmosis concentration of fluid is maintained in the intestine safely.
You shouldn’t let the kid drink some kinds of process soup as well as fruit juice, too sweet beverage which can cause osmotic diarrhea.
During the time children are in diarrhea, you should ensure them adequate nutrition; young breastfeeding is continued normal feeding; children under 6 months of age fed cow’s milk formula is diluted with a double the normal amount of water in two days, then mix as usual during the time of diseases. Many children just starting to eat have to eat the food carefully cooked, fine and slightly loose than normal, your baby need to eat once each 3-4 hours, divided into six meals in day.
After children are out of diarrhea, they need to eat a meal more every day for two weeks to restore nutritional status. It is necessary to avoid mistake opinions as children begin fasting, drink as fast diarrhea, drinking water only as long as rice roasted poultry. Don’t let them on a diet of kinds of food rich in energy and nutritious because of the fear of indigestion.
If after two days, diarrhea does not decrease or a baby has symptoms such as fever higher than 38 ° C, dry lips, dry skin, thirsty plenty of water, eat less or eat out, blood stool, vomiting more, you must bring her/him to the doctor immediately.
To have precautions of diarrhea in children, the basic thing is using clean water for living eating, washing hands before eating, when making food and after coming out of toilet. Using toilet hygiene and treating distribution young children safe.
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