The most famous childhood infectious diseases include those that are transmitted by airborne droplets and acquire the character of epidemics. It is very important to start treatment on time, as complications may develop.
Instructions
Step 1
Childhood infections are a group of infectious diseases that are most common in the child age group. They are transmitted by airborne droplets and become epidemic. Traditionally, childhood diseases are rubella, measles, chickenpox, diphtheria, whooping cough, parotitis, scarlet fever, pneumococcal infection, poliomyelitis, and hemophilic infection. This also includes infectious mononucleosis, meningococcal infection, acute respiratory and intestinal infections, hepatitis A.
Step 2
Why are these diseases spread so easily from one child to another? Because when talking, the patient can spray them from himself at a great distance. It should be borne in mind that children use the same household items, toys, furniture, dishes, etc. In addition, most viruses are resistant to the external environment. That is why the frequent occurrence of collective outbreaks is characteristic of childhood infections. All childhood diseases of an infectious nature occur in several periods: incubation, prodromal, the height of the disease and the period of convalescence.
Step 3
The incubation period begins from the moment your child comes into contact with the source of infection until the first symptoms of the disease appear. During the period, the baby is in quarantine. The quarantine period is determined based on the maximum incubation period of the disease. So, the shortest period in diphtheria: from 1 hour to 10 days, and the longest in hepatitis A: from 7 to 45 days. With the appearance of the first complaints in your baby, the second - the prodromal period of the disease begins. Pay attention to an increase in his temperature, the appearance of weakness, headaches, chills, sweating, fatigue, drowsiness, loss of appetite, etc. Most often, the body temperature rises to 38 ° C by the end of the first or second days of the disease.
Step 4
During the height of the disease, symptoms characteristic of this particular childhood infection appear. Whooping cough is characterized by a specific dry and paroxysmal cough. With mumps (mumps), the parotid, submandibular and sublingual salivary glands become inflamed. The child may complain to you about their soreness and dry mouth. Diphtheria causes a specific lesion of the oropharynx: enlargement and swelling of the tonsils and the appearance of a grayish plaque on them. With hepatitis A, the eyes turn yellow, the urine darkens and the feces become discolored. Poliomyelitis affects the central nervous system.
Step 5
Many childhood infections are accompanied by a rash on the body and inflammation of the lymph nodes. At the last stage of recovery, all symptoms of infection fade away, the affected organs restore their functions and immunity is formed. The shortest period of convalescence is 3 months, the longest is a year or more. At the first suspicion of an infection, you urgently need to show the child to a doctor, since many of these diseases can cause the development of severe complications. In particular, meningococcal infection and scarlet fever can provoke infectious toxic shock. With whooping cough, there is a high risk of sudden respiratory arrest, and with diphtheria, the appearance of true croup. All intestinal infections are fraught with dehydration, and rubella, measles and chickenpox can damage the brain.
