Childhood diseases - list of the most common childhood diseases

There are a number of diseases that are most common in children. Preventive measures will help avoid them, and timely treatment will relieve severe consequences and complications.

“Children get sick very often” - this phrase can often be heard from many parents. Is it really?

This is not always a rule, which will definitely be relevant for you if you properly monitor your baby’s health from early childhood and follow all preventative and timely treatment diseases.

However, in kindergarten there are a lot of children and there is a high probability that one child will infect a second, third, etc.

Therefore, it is necessary to know which diseases are most common and how to act if the disease cannot be avoided.

Otitis

Due to their structure, children's ears are more susceptible to this disease than adult ears. Appears in the background colds, accompanied by itching, loss of appetite, and fever.

Angina

There are 2 types: cold and caused by infection. The second option is more dangerous and cannot be treated without antibiotics. Symptoms: sore throat, fever, painful swallowing.

Laryngitis

Hoarse throat and cough are the main symptoms of this disease. Reason - viral infection, which must be treated under the close supervision of a doctor.

Sinusitis

Develops against the background of a runny nose. Its main symptoms: purulent nasal discharge, headache. Also, the pain may increase when tilting the head or coughing. The child feels a decrease in sense of smell, the voice becomes nasal. If it is not treated, the disease quickly becomes chronic.

Chickenpox

Characterized by blisters on the body that burst and form a crust. Almost everyone knows that it is better to get chickenpox in childhood, as it is easier to tolerate. This is true; after an illness, a strong immunity to it is developed and it is almost impossible to get sick again.

Whooping cough

Transmitted by airborne droplets. Accompanied by a persistent cough, which, as a rule, has a paroxysmal character. Sometimes this disease is treated with antibiotics in the early stages.

Measles

It does not occur so often, because vaccinations are routinely given against this disease. But if vaccinations are not done on time, then it is possible to get sick. The symptoms are as follows: a sharp increase in temperature, rhinitis, cough. After this, a rash begins, and after a couple of weeks the child recovers. The danger of this disease is that it can cause complications in the lungs or any other organs.

Disease Prevention

There are a lot of measures to prevent childhood diseases. If you use all of them, then there is a high probability that your child’s health will be strong.

Vaccination. Now there are many differing opinions about whether children should be vaccinated and whether it is safe. The opinion of doctors is clear - vaccinations need to be done, and they are done to develop lasting immunity to the most common and very dangerous diseases. Therefore, if you want to prevent the possibility of contracting some of the diseases, then getting vaccinated is definitely worth it.

Hygiene. It is necessary to teach your child to wash their hands thoroughly after using the toilet and before eating. Wash fruits and vegetables before eating. It is also necessary to carefully prepare the rest of the food, eat only boiled water. You can find out more about this on the website http://dkb-nnov.ru/

Hardening and physical exercise. If a child plays sports, spends a lot of time on fresh air, then good physical development increases resistance various infections and diseases.

Correct mode And proper nutrition with enough vitamins. Hygiene of bed, clothes, toys is also an important component.

If for some reason it was not possible to avoid the disease, then you should immediately contact a specialist and carefully follow all his recommendations. Timely treatment is a guarantee of quick recovery and good health.

Children's infectious diseases known since antiquity.

Children's infectious diseases have been known since ancient times. Written sources of Mesopotamia, China, Ancient Egypt indicate descriptions of cases of tetanus, polio, mumps and febrile conditions in children.

It was only in the 20th century that vaccine prevention of such diseases was introduced.

Childhood infections are a group infectious diseases , which are registered overwhelmingly in children's age group, are transmitted from patient to healthy child and are capable of acquiring epidemic spread.

And, as a rule, this happens once, and strong immunity lasts for life.

Childhood infections include: measles, rubella, chicken pox(chickenpox), scarlet fever, whooping cough and parotitis(piggy).

The main manifestation of measles, rubella, chickenpox and scarlet fever is a skin rash, the nature and sequence of appearance of which varies depending on the specific disease. The appearance of a rash is almost always preceded by fever, weakness, headache.

Infectious mumps (mumps) is characterized by enlargement and tenderness of one or two parotid glands - and the patient's face takes on a characteristic pear-shaped shape.

The main manifestation of whooping cough is typical attacks of spasmodic cough. During a spasmodic attack, a wheezing inhalation is followed by a series of short convulsive coughing impulses, which follow each other without stopping during one exhalation.

Some of these diseases (chicken pox, rubella) are relatively mild in childhood, while others can cause complications and have the most serious consequences.

However, childhood infections are most severe and lasting in people who become ill with them in adulthood. This is why it is believed that it is better to get over childhood infections in childhood.

Measles

Measles is a viral infection characterized by very high susceptibility.

If a person has not had measles or has not been vaccinated against this infection, then after contact with a sick person, infection occurs in almost 100% of cases. The measles virus is very volatile.

The virus can spread through ventilation pipes and elevator shafts - children living on different floors of the house get sick at the same time. After contact with a person with measles and the appearance of the first signs of the disease, 7 to 14 days pass.

The disease begins with severe headache, weakness, and fever up to 40° C.

A little later, these symptoms are joined by a runny nose, cough and almost complete absence appetite. Very characteristic of measles is the appearance of conjunctivitis - inflammation of the mucous membrane of the eyes, which is manifested by photophobia, lacrimation, severe redness of the eyes, and subsequently the appearance of purulent discharge.

These symptoms last for 2 to 4 days. On the fourth day of the disease, a rash appears: small red spots of various sizes (from 1 to 3 mm in diameter), with a tendency to merge.

The rash appears on the face and head (especially behind the ears) and spreads throughout the body over 3–4 days. What is very characteristic of measles is that the rash leaves behind pigmentation (dark spots that last for several days), which disappears in the same sequence as the rash appears.

Measles is quite easily tolerated by children, but under unfavorable conditions it is fraught with serious complications. These include inflammation of the lungs (pneumonia), inflammation of the middle ear (otitis media).

Such a terrible complication as encephalitis (inflammation of the brain), fortunately, occurs quite rarely. It must be remembered that after suffering from measles for a fairly long period of time (up to 2 months), suppression of the immune system is noted, so the child may get sick with some kind of cold or viral disease, so you need to protect him from excessive stress, and, if possible, from contact with sick children.

After measles, lasting lifelong immunity develops. All those who have had measles become immune to this infection.

Rubella

Rubella is a viral infection spread by airborne droplets.

As a rule, children who stay in the same room for a long time with a child who is a source of infection get sick. Rubella is very similar in its manifestations to measles, but it is much milder. Incubation period(the period from contact to the appearance of the first signs of the disease) lasts from 14 to 21 days.

Rubella begins with enlargement of the occipital lymph nodes and an increase in body temperature to 38°C.

A little later a runny nose appears, and sometimes a cough. A rash appears 2–3 days after the onset of the disease. Rubella is characterized by a pinpoint, pink rash that begins with a rash on the face and spreads throughout the body. The rash with rubella, unlike measles, never merges, and slight itching may occur. The period of rash can be from several hours, during which not a trace remains of the rash, to 2 days.

This can make diagnosis difficult. If the period of rashes occurred at night and went unnoticed by parents, rubella can be regarded as a common viral infection. Complications from measles are rare.

After suffering from rubella, immunity also develops; re-infection occurs extremely rarely.

Parotitis

Mumps (mumps) is a childhood viral infection characterized by acute inflammation in the salivary glands.

Infection occurs by airborne droplets. Susceptibility to this disease is about 50–60% (i.e., 50–60% of those who were in contact and those who were not sick and unvaccinated get sick).

Mumps begins with an increase in body temperature to 39 ° C and severe pain in the ear area or under it, aggravated by swallowing or chewing. At the same time, salivation increases. Swelling in the upper neck and cheek area increases quite quickly. Touching this place causes severe pain in the child.

This disease in itself is not dangerous. Unpleasant symptoms disappear within 3–4 days: body temperature decreases, swelling decreases, pain goes away.

However, quite often mumps ends with inflammation in glandular organs, such as the pancreas (pancreatitis) and gonads.

Pancreatitis in some cases leads to diabetes mellitus.

Inflammation of the gonads (testicles) occurs more often in boys. This significantly complicates the course of the disease, and in some cases can result in infertility.

In particular severe cases mumps can get complicated viral meningitis(inflammation of the meninges), which is severe, but does not lead to death. After past illness stable immunity is formed. Re-infection is practically excluded.

Chicken pox

Varicella (chickenpox) is a typical childhood infection. Mostly children get sick early age or preschoolers.

Susceptibility to the chickenpox pathogen (the virus that causes chickenpox is a herpes virus) is also quite high, although not as high as to the measles virus.

About 80% of contacts who have not previously been ill develop chickenpox.

This virus also has high degree volatility. A child can become infected if he was not in close proximity to a sick person. The incubation period ranges from 14 to 21 days.

The disease begins with the appearance of a rash. Usually it is one or two reddish spots that look like a mosquito bite. These rash elements can be located on any part of the body, but most often they first appear on the stomach or face.

Usually the rash spreads very quickly: new elements appear every few minutes or hours. Reddish spots, which at first look like mosquito bites, the next day take on the appearance of bubbles filled with transparent contents. These blisters are very itchy. The rash spreads throughout the body, to the limbs, to scalp heads.

By the end of the first day the disease worsens general health, body temperature rises (up to 40° C and above).

The severity of the condition depends on the number of rashes: with scanty rashes, the disease proceeds easily, the more rashes, the more severe the child’s condition.

Chickenpox is not characterized by a runny nose and cough, but if elements of the rash are present on the mucous membranes of the pharynx, nose and scleral conjunctiva, then pharyngitis, rhinitis and conjunctivitis develop due to the addition of a bacterial infection.

The blisters break open after a day or two, forming ulcers that become crusty. Headache, bad feeling, elevated temperature persist until new lesions appear.

This usually occurs within 3 to 5 days. Within 5–7 days after the last additions, the rash goes away.

The elements of the rash must be lubricated with antiseptic solutions (usually an aqueous solution of brilliant green or manganese). Treatment with coloring antiseptics prevents bacterial infection of rashes and allows you to track the dynamics of the appearance of rashes.

It is important to ensure that your baby's fingernails are cut short (so that he cannot scratch his skin - scratching predisposes him to bacterial infection).

Complications of chickenpox include myocarditis - inflammation of the heart muscle, meningitis and meningoencephalitis (inflammation meninges, brain substances), inflammation of the kidneys (nephritis).

Fortunately, these complications are quite rare. After chickenpox, as after all childhood infections, immunity develops. Re-infection it happens, but very rarely.

Scarlet fever

Scarlet fever is the only childhood infection caused not by viruses, but by bacteria (group A streptococcus).

This acute illness transmitted by airborne droplets. Infection through household items (toys, dishes) is also possible. Children of early and preschool age are sick.

Patients are most at risk for infection in the first 2–3 days of the disease. Scarlet fever begins very acutely with an increase in body temperature to 39°C and vomiting. Severe intoxication and headache are immediately noted.

The most characteristic symptom of scarlet fever is tonsillitis, in which the mucous membrane of the pharynx has bright red color, swelling is pronounced. The patient notes sharp pain when swallowing. There may be a whitish coating on the tongue and tonsils. The language subsequently becomes very characteristic appearance(“raspberry”): bright pink and coarse-grained.

By the end of the first - beginning of the second day of illness, a second characteristic symptom Scarlet fever - rash. It appears on several parts of the body at once, most densely localized in the folds (elbow, inguinal).

Her distinctive feature is that the bright red pinpoint scarlet rash is located on a red background, which creates the impression of a general confluent redness. When you press on the skin, a white stripe remains.

The rash can be spread over the entire body, but there is always a clear (white) area of ​​skin between upper lip and nose, as well as chin. The itching is much less pronounced than with chickenpox. The rash lasts from 2 to 5 days. Manifestations of tonsillitis persist somewhat longer (up to 7–9 days). Scarlet fever also has quite serious complications.

Almost exclusively children suffer from scarlet fever, because with age a person acquires resistance to streptococci. Those who have recovered also acquire lasting immunity.

Roseola

For a long time, doctors could not explain the cause of this disease. The causative agent of three-day fever (roseola) was discovered relatively recently. It turned out to be herpes virus type 6.

Roseola begins with an increase in temperature to 38.5–40° C. The child becomes lethargic, loses his appetite, and often cries and is capricious. The lymph nodes in the neck are slightly enlarged. Sometimes there is a runny nose. But there is no purulent discharge from the nose, and swelling of the nasopharynx disappears in just a few days.

After 3-4 days the baby feels better and the temperature drops. However, 10–12 hours after the temperature drops, the baby develops a small pink rash, like rubella, mainly on the stomach, back and neck. It lasts from several hours to 3-7 days and does not cause concern to the child. Then the dots disappear on their own, leaving the skin smooth.

Complications of infection are associated with the impact of the virus on the central nervous system. The most common problem parents experience is seizures.

As soon as you suspect a particular infection in your baby, you need to contact a pediatrician who will determine accurate diagnosis and prescribe treatment.

So, if your child has:

1) High temperature (38° C and above).
2) Severe symptoms of intoxication (lethargy, drowsiness).
3) A rash appeared.
4) Vomiting and severe headache.
5) Other symptoms associated with high fever.

Be careful, take the necessary measures, help your baby cope with the infection as easily as possible.

Like

This collection is intended for a wide range of readers. It talks about the most common acute infectious diseases in children. Along with such childhood infections as measles, scarlet fever, chickenpox, etc., we also include diseases that are equally found in adults, but pose a great danger to children. It's the flu and epidemic hepatitis(Botkin's disease), diseases that have attracted special attention in recent years.

What causes all these diseases, how they become infected and what measures can be taken to prevent them - this is the main content of this section.

This section is intended for a wide range of readers. It provides basic information about common infectious diseases in children. Special attention focused on caring for sick children at home and preventing infectious diseases.

Infectious diseases in children

Other diseases and injuries occurring in children

The fight against children's contagious (infectious) diseases has been and remains one of the main tasks of healthcare.

Especially great importance This struggle is now taking on a new dimension in connection with a decree providing for a sharp reduction in the incidence of infectious diseases and the complete elimination of some of them.

Numerous personnel are engaged in solving this problem. medical workers, starting with major scientists of all specialties (microbiologists, infectious disease specialists, pediatricians) and ending with nurses. However, for this struggle to be more successful, parents must take an active part in it. Without the conscious and active help of the general population, many preventive actions, i.e., measures that help prevent the disease become significantly less effective. But in order to provide this assistance, you need to know the main signs of these diseases, ways of spreading and measures to prevent them.

This section was written to familiarize the general public with the most common childhood infectious diseases and modern methods their prevention and treatment. The so-called childhood infections include: diphtheria, scarlet fever, measles, whooping cough, chicken pox, rubella, mumps, polio. The name "childhood infections" was given to wide use However, these diseases can also occur in adults, but most often they affect children aged 1 to 8 years. The predominant incidence of these infections in childhood is explained by the ease and speed of their spread with a high possibility of contact (especially in child care institutions, kindergartens, nurseries, and schools).

Many parents believe that every child must inevitably suffer from childhood infectious diseases, and the earlier he gets sick, the easier he will survive the disease. This is, of course, not true. It should be remembered that almost every disease can be prevented and that every disease, including infectious ones, weakens the child’s body and inhibits its development, sometimes by for a long time. The younger the child, the more harm brings him illness. Therefore, the joint efforts of parents and medical workers should be aimed at preventing the occurrence of infectious diseases, especially in the first years of a child’s life.

The socio-economic significance of childhood infectious diseases is also very great: they disrupt normal life children's institutions, quarantines take mothers away from production, sometimes for a long time, which interferes with the work of production, creates difficulties in the life of the family and leads to large expenditures of public funds.

Propaedeutics of childhood diseases

In the third edition of “Propaedeutics of Childhood Illnesses,” all the main sections of the doctrine of a healthy child, his nutrition and care for him were revised anew and underwent some processing from the standpoint of the basic ideas of the physiological teachings of I. P. Pavlov. Additions and changes have also been made to all chapters in accordance with new literature data and our own experience.

We sought to give the student a short textbook that would allow him not only from the standpoint of creative Soviet Darwinism and the physiological teachings of I.P. Pavlov to learn the basics of the doctrine of a healthy child, but which would interest him and help him fall in love with his future specialty - pediatrics. We wanted the student - the future children's doctor - to understand the enormous significance of knowledge age characteristics healthy child and a decisive influence on the development of children and the resistance of their body to any negative impacts proper organization of environmental factors, their care, their nutrition and education.

On practical exercises in the course of propaedeutics of childhood diseases, the student must acquire the correct skills objective research child, so that in their future activities they will be able to detect even minor deviations from the norm, noted in the initial phases of diseases. Helping the student with this is also one of the objectives of the textbook.

A pediatrician in his daily work should focus on the prevention of childhood diseases and, already in his student years, “acquire a taste” for this work. This is one of the main tasks proper education student of the Faculty of Pediatrics; The textbook on propaedeutics of childhood diseases should help teachers in this work.

When presenting the methodology for studying children and the general semiotics of diseases childhood we considered it necessary to dwell only on the features of using the main clinical methods child health assessments different ages. The theoretical justifications for these methods are further presented in practical classes and described in detail in textbooks on diagnostics and propaedeutics of internal diseases. We sincerely thank all the comrades who sent us their critical comments, and are especially grateful to the members of the academic council of the Leningrad State Pediatric Medical Institute for all their valuable comments and instructions they made when discussing the second edition of our textbook.

All critical comments that will be made to us regarding the third edition of “Propaedeutics of Childhood Illnesses” will be accepted with sincere gratitude.

The published textbook - “Propaedeutics of Childhood Diseases” - is intended for students of pediatric faculties of medical institutes. When compiling the textbook, the experience of teaching propaedeutics of childhood diseases to students of the Leningrad State Pediatric Medical Institute was used and critical comments made regarding the chapters written for the “Manual of Pediatrics” by M. S. Maslov, A. F. Tour and M. G. were taken into account. Danilevich (vol. I, 1938). These chapters, largely revised, form the basis of this textbook.

It is possible that there will be defects in our work, so we will accept with gratitude all instructions and comments that will be made by heads of departments, practitioners and students themselves.

The fourth edition, the need for which arose two months after the publication of the third edition, is published without any significant changes and additions, and only occasional errors and typos have been corrected.

Contents and objectives of the course on propaedeutics of childhood diseases

The original content of pediatrics as one of the medical disciplines has expanded significantly. Pediatrics has long ceased to be a science only about the treatment of sick children and is now considered as the study of a healthy and sick child. This teaching covers the physiology, dietetics, hygiene, pathology and treatment of the child from birth to puberty. Modern pediatrics pays particular attention great attention issues of preventing diseases in children. Every pediatrician in his daily practical work must not only be a full-fledged attending physician, able to make an accurate diagnosis and properly treat a sick child, but he must also be a good preventive doctor, who knows the child’s diet very well and knows how to organize proper care and establish a rational regime both for an individual healthy child of any age and for the whole children's group. A pediatrician should not be aloof from issues of raising children. The student must learn and study all these various aspects of the work of a pediatrician mainly when taking the course. clinical pediatrics. Propaedeutics of childhood diseases is an introduction to pediatric clinics.

The course of propaedeutics of childhood diseases includes the following four main sections: 1) anatomical and physiological characteristics of children, including the laws of physical and neuropsychic development of the child; 2) methods of objective examination of children, including features of taking anamnesis; 3) general semiotics of childhood diseases; 4) dietetics for a healthy child with the basic elements of baby food technology.

Without a clear knowledge of these sections, the preventive and therapeutic work of a pediatrician is completely unthinkable. Correct assessment of data from conventional physical, laboratory and other methods clinical trial child and understanding the uniqueness of the pathology of children are possible only if there is a sufficiently deep knowledge of the age-related anatomical and physiological characteristics of the child’s growing body. Without knowledge of the laws of physical and neuropsychic development of children, it is impossible to carry out the correct organization of public and individual protection of childhood, and, therefore, it is impossible to ensure the prevention of childhood diseases. This knowledge should form the basis of rationally organized physical education of children.

Clinical research of children requires a significant uniqueness of medical technique, the study of which should also be included in the course of propaedeutics of childhood diseases.

Brief information on general semiotics major diseases childhood should provide the student with the correct orientation when taking courses in faculty and hospital pediatrics.

In the activities of a pediatrician, as stated above, preventive and therapeutic work closely and inextricably linked. That is why, in the course of propaedeutics of childhood diseases, much attention should be paid to the diet of a healthy child and the basics personal hygiene children as the main elements in everyday preventive work every practical pediatrician. The preventive side of the work of pediatricians has acquired particular importance in the Soviet Union, since in our country the vast majority of children, starting from a very early age, are served by preventive and therapeutic children's institutions, from correct setting matters in which their life and health largely depend.

It would be a big mistake to think that you can become a good pediatrician without a thorough knowledge of general theoretical disciplines(anatomy, histology, physiology, pathophysiology, etc.), studied in junior years, and clinical disciplines in various sections of adult pathology, studied in senior years. Only then can a pediatrician correctly and confidently navigate all theoretical and practical issues his specialty, if he has good general medical training in all disciplines included in the program of a higher medical school. Only under this condition will he clearly understand all the features of the physiology and pathology of children at different age periods.

It must be especially emphasized that every pediatrician must know very well infectious diseases of childhood and must be well versed in issues of general and specific epidemiology.

The need for such versatile knowledge undoubtedly makes pediatrics a difficult specialty, but this path of study provides good pediatrician broad outlook and exceptionally interesting and fruitful opportunities for practical and scientific activity.

Children with normal breathing can be treated at home under the supervision of a pediatrician. The bodies of infants and young children do not retain heat well. Therefore, when they have a cough or cold, children should be dressed warmly, but not overheated, fed well and given plenty of water. Medicines should be taken only as prescribed by a doctor.

A high temperature may indicate a serious threat to his health, so the patient should be seen by a doctor immediately. Before the doctor arrives, the child can be wiped with a damp sponge to reduce the high temperature.

When a child has a cough or cold, it is necessary to clean (blow his nose) more often, especially before eating or going to bed.

If you have a cough or cold, it may be difficult to breastfeed your baby. However breast-feeding must be continued, as it helps strengthen. During illness, feedings should be more frequent, but shorter. If the baby cannot suck, breast milk should be expressed into a clean cup and fed to the baby from it.

Oral rehydration salt solution (ORS)

What are SPRs?

Salts for oral rehydration- this is a special combination of dry salts, which, subject to the rules of their preparation, aqueous solution can help restore water balance in the body if fluid loss due to diarrhea is small.

Where can I get the SPR?

Packages of oral rehydration salt are sold in pharmacies and are available in medical institutions.

How to prepare SPR solution?

Place the contents of the SPR package in a clean container. Read the instructions for use on the package and add the required amount to the container. clean water. If there is not enough water, diarrhea may worsen.

Add only water. Do not dilute salt with milk, soup, fruit juice or soft drinks. There is no need to add sugar to the solution.

Shake the solution well and give it to your child from a clean cup. The use of a bottle is not permitted.

How much SPR solution should be given to a child?

Let your child drink the solution as much as possible.

A child under two years of age should be given a quarter to a half of a large cup of solution (50-100 ml) after each watery stool.

For a child two years old and older - half to a full large cup of solution (100-200 ml) after each watery stool.

Special edition "Facts for Life", developed and published
with the assistance of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF),

– group of infectious diseases of various etiologies, occurring with a predominant lesion digestive tract, toxic reaction and dehydration. In children, intestinal infection is manifested by increased body temperature, lethargy, lack of appetite, abdominal pain, vomiting, and diarrhea. Diagnosis of intestinal infection in children is based on clinical and laboratory data (history, symptoms, isolation of the pathogen in feces, detection specific antibodies in blood). For intestinal infections in children, antimicrobial drugs, bacteriophages, and enterosorbents are prescribed; During the treatment period, it is important to follow a diet and rehydrate.

Sporadic cases of intestinal infection in children are most often recorded, although group and even epidemic outbreaks are possible with food or waterborne infection. The increase in the incidence of some intestinal infections in children has a seasonal dependence: for example, dysentery occurs more often in summer and autumn, rotavirus infection - in winter.

The prevalence of intestinal infections among children is determined by epidemiological features ( high prevalence and contagiousness of pathogens, their high resistance to factors external environment), anatomical and physiological features digestive system child (low acidity gastric juice), imperfection of protective mechanisms (low concentration of IgA). Acute morbidity in children intestinal infection contributes to disruption of the normal intestinal microbiota, non-compliance with personal hygiene rules, and poor sanitary and hygienic living conditions.

Classification

According to the clinical and etiological principle, among the intestinal infections most often recorded in the pediatric population, there are shigellosis (dysentery), salmonellosis, coli infection (escherichiosis), yersiniosis, campylobacteriosis, cryptosporidiosis, rotavirus infection, staphylococcal intestinal infection, etc.

According to the severity and characteristics of symptoms, the course of intestinal infection in children can be typical (mild, moderate severity, severe) and atypical (erased, hypertoxic). The severity of the clinic is assessed by the degree of damage to the gastrointestinal tract, dehydration and intoxication.

The nature of local manifestations of intestinal infection in children depends on the damage to one or another part of the gastrointestinal tract, and therefore gastritis, enteritis, colitis, gastroenteritis, gastroenterocolitis, enterocolitis are distinguished. In addition to localized forms, generalized forms of infection can develop in infants and weakened children with the spread of the pathogen beyond the digestive tract.

During an intestinal infection in children, acute (up to 1.5 months), protracted (over 1.5 months) and chronic (over 5-6 months) phases are distinguished.

Symptoms in children

Dysentery in children

After a short incubation period (1-7 days), the temperature rises sharply (up to 39-40° C), weakness and fatigue increase, appetite decreases, and vomiting is possible. Against the background of fever, there is a headache, chills, and sometimes delirium, convulsions, and loss of consciousness. Intestinal infection in children is accompanied by cramping pain in the abdomen with localization in the left iliac region, symptoms of distal colitis (pain and spasm sigmoid colon, tenesmus with rectal prolapse), symptoms of sphincteritis. The frequency of bowel movements can vary from 4-6 to 15-20 times per day. With dysentery, the stool is liquid, containing impurities of cloudy mucus and blood. At severe forms dysentery may develop hemorrhagic syndrome, up to intestinal bleeding.

In young children with intestinal infection, general intoxication prevails over colitis syndrome; disturbances in hemodynamics, electrolyte and protein metabolism occur more often. The most common intestinal infection in children is caused by Shigella Zona; heavier - Shigella Flexner and Grigoriez-Shig.

Salmonellosis in children

Most often (in 90% of cases) the gastrointestinal form of salmonellosis develops, occurring as gastritis, gastroenteritis, gastroenterocolitis. Characterized by subacute onset, febrile fever, adynamia, vomiting, hepatosplenomegaly. Stool with salmonellosis is liquid, copious, fecal, the color of “swamp mud”, with admixtures of mucus and blood. Usually this form of intestinal infection ends in recovery, but in infants available death due to severe intestinal toxicosis.

Influenza-like (respiratory) form of intestinal infection occurs in 4-5% of children. In this form, Salmonella is detected in cultured material from the throat. Its course is characterized by febrile temperature, headache, arthralgia and myalgia, symptoms of rhinitis, pharyngitis, conjunctivitis. From the outside of cardio-vascular system tachycardia and arterial hypotension are noted.

Typhoid-like form of salmonellosis in children accounts for 2% clinical cases. It occurs with a long period of fever (up to 3-4 weeks), severe intoxication, dysfunction of the cardiovascular system (tachycardia, bradycardia).

The septic form of intestinal infection usually develops in children in the first months of life who have an unfavorable premorbid background. It accounts for about 2-3% of cases of salmonellosis in children. The disease is extremely severe, accompanied by septicemia or septicopyemia, disruption of all types of metabolism, development severe complications(pneumonia, parenchymal hepatitis, otoanthritis, meningitis, osteomyelitis).

Escherichiosis in children

This group of intestinal infections in children is extremely extensive and includes coli infections caused by enteropathogenic, enterotoxigenic, enteroinvasive, and enterohemorrhagic Escherichia.

Intestinal infection in children caused by Escherichia, occurs with low-grade or febrile temperature, weakness, lethargy, decreased appetite, persistent vomiting or regurgitation, flatulence. Characterized by watery diarrhea (copious, splashing stools yellow color with an admixture of mucus), quickly leading to dehydration and the development of exicosis. In Escherichiosis, caused by enterohemorrhagic Escherichia, the diarrhea is bloody.

Due to dehydration, the child develops dry skin and mucous membranes, tissue turgor and elasticity decreases, the large fontanelle sinks and eyeballs, diuresis decreases, such as oliguria or anuria.

Rotavirus infection in children

It usually occurs as acute gastroenteritis or enteritis. The incubation period lasts on average 1-3 days. All symptoms of intestinal infection in children develop within one day, while damage to the gastrointestinal tract is combined with catarrhal phenomena.

Respiratory syndrome is characterized by hyperemia of the pharynx, rhinitis, sore throat, and coughing. Simultaneously with damage to the nasopharynx, signs of gastroenteritis develop: loose (watery, foamy) stools with a frequency of bowel movements from 4-5 to 15 times a day, vomiting, temperature reaction, general intoxication. The duration of intestinal infection in children is 4-7 days.

Staphylococcal intestinal infection in children

A distinction is made between primary staphylococcal intestinal infection in children, associated with eating food contaminated with staphylococcus, and secondary, caused by the spread of the pathogen from other foci.

The course of intestinal infection in children is characterized by severe exicosis and toxicosis, vomiting, and increased bowel movements up to 10-15 times a day. The stool is liquid, watery, greenish in color, with a small admixture of mucus. With secondary staphylococcal infection in children intestinal symptoms develop against the background of a leading disease: purulent otitis media, pneumonia, staphyloderma, tonsillitis, etc. In this case, the disease can take a long wave-like course.

Diagnostics

Based on an examination, epidemiological and clinical data, a pediatrician (pediatric infectious disease specialist) can only assume the likelihood of an intestinal infection in children, however, an etiological deciphering is possible only on the basis of laboratory data.

The main role in confirming the diagnosis of intestinal infection in children is played by bacteriological examination of stool, which should be carried out as early as possible, before the start of etiotropic therapy. In case of a generalized form of intestinal infection in children, blood cultures are performed for sterility, bacteriological examination of urine and cerebrospinal fluid.

Certain diagnostic value present serological methods (RPGA, ELISA, RSK), which make it possible to detect the presence of antibodies to the pathogen in the patient’s blood from the 5th day from the onset of the disease. The study of the coprogram allows us to clarify the localization of the process in the gastrointestinal tract.

In case of intestinal infection in children, it is necessary to exclude acute appendicitis, pancreatitis, lactase deficiency, biliary dyskinesia and other pathologies. For this purpose, consultations are being held pediatric surgeon and pediatric gastroenterologist.

Treatment of intestinal infection in children

Complex treatment of intestinal infections in children involves organizing therapeutic nutrition; carrying out oral rehydration, etiotropic, pathogenetic and symptomatic therapy.

The diet of children with intestinal infection requires a decrease in the volume of food, an increase in the frequency of feedings, the use of mixtures enriched with protective factors, and the use of pureed, easily digestible food. An important component of the treatment of intestinal infections in children is oral rehydration glucose-salt solutions, drinking plenty of fluids. It is carried out until fluid loss stops. If oral nutrition and fluid intake are impossible, infusion therapy is prescribed: solutions of glucose, Ringer, albumin, etc. are administered intravenously.

Etiotropic therapy of intestinal infections in children is carried out with antibiotics and intestinal antiseptics(kanamycin, gentamicin, polymyxin, furazolidone, nalidixic acid), enterosorbents. The use of specific bacteriophages and lactoglobulins (salmonella, dysentery, coliproteus, klebsiella, etc.), as well as immunoglobulins (antirotavirus, etc.) is indicated. Pathogenetic therapy involves the administration of enzymes, antihistamines; symptomatic treatment includes taking antipyretics and antispasmodics. During the period of convalescence, it is necessary to correct dysbiosis, take vitamins and adaptogens.

Prognosis and prevention

Early detection and adequate therapy ensure complete recovery of children after an intestinal infection. Immunity after ACI is unstable. In severe forms of intestinal infection in children, the development of hypovolemic shock, disseminated intravascular coagulation syndrome, pulmonary edema, acute renal failure, acute heart failure, infectious-toxic shock.

The basis for the prevention of intestinal infections in children is compliance with sanitary and hygienic standards: proper storage And heat treatment products, protecting water from pollution, isolating sick people, disinfecting toys and dishes in children's institutions, instilling personal hygiene skills in children. When caring for infant mother should not neglect treating the mammary glands before feeding, treating nipples and bottles, washing hands after swaddling and washing the baby.

Children who have been in contact with a patient with an intestinal infection are subject to bacteriological examination and observation for 7 days.