Summer and early autumn are a time of rest with children. How pleasant it is to swim in the lake or the sea, build a sand castle, with an appetite to eat a juicy pear on the beach. But if a child's fever rises in winter, diarrhea starts, he is shaken with vomiting, then his parents panic: what happened? It turns out that the simple truths were simply forgotten and acute intestinal infection (OCI) began. What is OCI? In short, these are diseases caused by bacteria, viruses and protozoa that can be picked up anywhere. What are the most dangerous infections for the child?
DYSENTERY
This acute intestinal infection in children is called a disease of dirty hands, but it is possible to get infected through products into which the E. coli has fallen. Flies often become carriers of the infection. As a rule, the disease begins acutely. The temperature rises to 38-40 0 , the stool changes: at first it is frequent, plentiful, liquid, then with mucus and blood. A characteristic sign of dysentery is the so-called tenesmus: the child wants to "go to great length", but nothing happens to him. With a moderate and severe form of the disease, a child can not climb down from the pot for hours, there are severe cramping pains, especially during defecation. The most severe dysentery occurs in infants, often acquiring a wave-like character: after a marked improvement, relapses occur with severe metabolic disorders, a secondary infection, for example, pneumonia, otitis, etc. It is advisable to treat a child with dysentery not at home, but in a hospital .
SALMONELLOSE
This is one of the most common acute intestinal infections: salmonella is very tenacious - they are resistant to heat, long retained in water, soil, house dust, multiply rapidly in foods (meat, broth, eggs). The picture of the disease is very different - much depends on the age, general health of the child, etc. However, there are general symptoms: high fever, frequent, watery stools, the patient's tongue is covered with a thick coating, the liver and spleen are often enlarged. The younger the child, the harder he tolerates the disease. If you do not start treatment on time, severe complications can develop, even to the meninges. Fortunately, antibacterial drugs of a new generation allow to "keep" salmonella in a mild form.
Staphylococcus carps
And on hot summer days and in winter they quickly multiply in creams, confectionery, dairy products. Breasts can get infected even through the mother's milk. Infection is transmitted and by the household way - in contact with patients who are infected with a pharynx, respiratory tract or skin (a festering abrasion on the arm can become a hotbed of staphylococci - it's enough to just play the same toys). Foodborne toxic infection usually occurs 3-5 hours after the child ate the contaminated food. The first signs are sharp pains in the stomach, indomitable vomiting, high fever. The condition immediately becomes severe, up to the appearance of seizures and fainting. The liquid stool begins immediately or after a few hours. But after a day or two, the state of health becomes satisfactory, and by the end of the week the chair is normalized. But in young children, the disease is completely different, causing the so-called staphylococcal enteritis or enterocolitis.
And the process can go in isolation, only in the intestine, and can be combined with inflammatory processes in other organs. In the first case, the child can tolerate the disease quite easily: the temperature rises slightly, bowel movements are unaffiliated (3-4 times a day), although the appetite decreases, and sometimes there is vomiting or regurgitation. But the danger is that such a sluggish inflammatory process can drag on for weeks and months, especially if the diagnosis is incorrect and no appropriate treatment is prescribed in time. With severe form of staphylococcal enteritis, the disease is very difficult: the temperature can quickly rise to 40 °, there is acute diarrhea, the stool - a day to a day, watery, fetid. In parallel, other foci of infection are also inflaming, for example, otitis media, pneumonia, and so on. And then the child is vitally needed for treatment in the hospital.
KOLI-INFECTION
Many people did not even hear about it. In fact, this is a group of infectious diseases that causes a pathogenic E. coli producing dangerous toxins. Toxins and provoke the inflammatory process. Most often, infection occurs due to the use of low-quality milk and milk formulas. Older children can catch an infection by bathing in open water (it persists in water up to 3-4 months). The onset of the disease develops gradually or roughly. The temperature may not rise, but at some children it immediately jumps to 38 0 . A characteristic symptom of colic infection is frequent, persistent vomiting, mild, paroxysmal abdominal pain. The chair becomes more frequent, it becomes liquid, watery, yellow-orange in color, with undigested lumps of food resembling a chopped egg. In severe forms of the disease there are signs of intoxication: fever, less often - inflammation of the urine and biliary tract and other organs. In mild forms, the disease can last up to 2 months.
HOW CAN I HELP YOU?
Have a doctor called for a sick child? But still have to wait until he comes. Parents should know that in acute intestinal infections in children, treatment should begin immediately. The main cause of the development of a serious condition is dehydration of the body, associated with frequent loose stools and vomiting. Therefore, as soon as possible, it is necessary to fill this deficiency with liquid. For this, the child is given glucose-salt solutions (eg, regidron), which restore the disturbed water-salt balance and normalize the metabolism. The volume of liquid per hour is given to the child every 5-10 minutes by a teaspoonful. Do not seek to increase the dose - a large amount of fluid can cause a new attack of vomiting. The solution must be combined with tea or boiled water. Preparations for the treatment of acute intestinal infections are chosen only by a doctor. With a mild form of the disease, he can prescribe the reception of specific bacteriophages, probiotics or enterosorbents, but if no noticeable improvement occurs within two days, antibiotic therapy is necessary. Categorically it is impossible to "prescribe" antibiotics! Uncontrolled use of the drug can worsen the patient's condition, cause the development of dysbiosis, and cure the child will become much more difficult. In parallel with the drugs chosen by the doctor for the treatment of OCD, he can prescribe additional, for example, a course of vitamin therapy to strengthen the body's defenses or fermentotherapy to correct the digestive and absorption functions of the gastrointestinal tract. After the end of treatment, it is necessary to conduct a repeated bacteriological study of feces. A child must follow a doctor's diet prescribed for a month.
Eating is also cured
Diet is a very important point in the treatment of acute intestinal infections in children. When breast-feeding a sick infant, the mother should feed often, but in smaller portions. On the first day of treatment, a single milk volume is reduced by about half, and the number of feedings is increased up to 8 times a day. After the second day, the volume can be increased by 20-30 ml and gradually extend the interval between feedings. From the menu of babies who are on artificial feeding, exclude sweet milk mixtures and juices, and new foods are introduced only after 10-14 days after recovery. Older children during illness should not be given foods that enhance the intestinal motif (black bread, biscuits, soft buns), yoghurts, milk porridges, legumes, citrus fruits, pears. Restrictions in the diet are usually superimposed to a stable stool normalization, then the diet can be gradually expanded. But carefully - the body is still weak, it is not worth overloading it. Better in this case, a little underfeeding than overfeeding.