Diphtheria is an acute infectious disease caused by corynebacterium. It is also called "diphtheria bacillus." Especially dangerous is diphtheria in a child. Symptoms of this disease are expressed in lesions of the upper respiratory tract and general intoxication of the body.
Let's make a reservation right away: self-treatment is dangerous for the life of a child! At the first suspicion of this disease, consult a doctor immediately!
Before describing how the diphtheria in a child proceeds, the symptoms and methods of its treatment, let's look at what this infection is.
How can I get infected?
The transmission method is airborne, from a sick person. It is rarely possible to get infected from the items that he used. There are also massive cases of infection of people, for example, through infected dairy products. If ten days have passed since the infection, the person is considered contagious until the time when the pathogen is not excreted. This can only be ascertained by bacteriological examination.
The most common age in which children suffer from diphtheria is from three to seven years. Infection is not threatened to infants - they have immunity received from the mother through the placenta. The older the child, the lower his protection from this ailment.
The infection penetrates through the mucous membranes of the nose and mouth, sometimes the mucous membranes of the eyes and genitals, as well as areas of injured skin, are damaged. The causative agent of the disease falls on them and forms films.
Symptoms
The main signs of diphtheria in children are inflammation. They may be different depending on the type:
- diphtheria inflammation is located in the oropharynx, the film tightly adheres to the tissues and is difficult to separate.
- croupous inflammation usually affects the trachea and larynx. The film lies on the surface and is easily separable.
So, you think that diphtheria is in a child. Symptoms of this disease are usually as follows:
1. Damage to the mouth and throat, rarely of the nose, trachea or larynx. In extremely rare cases, the damage affects the skin, ear and eyes.
2. Diphtheria croup (severe cough): isolated, affecting only the upper airways or proceeding against the background of other lesions (for example, the airways plus nose and oropharynx).
3. An increase in body temperature up to 38 degrees.
4. General malaise.
5. Dry cough and hoarseness of the voice, which in a day or two develop into bouts of barking rough cough, breathing is difficult and becomes noisy, and the voice may completely disappear.
If diphtheria in a child progresses, the symptoms become more severe - the patient does not sleep and does not eat, behaves uneasily, fear and anxiety on his face. The skin turns gray, the child suffocates, cold sweat comes out . The temperature drops below normal. Involuntary urination and convulsions are observed, the child may die from a lack of oxygen.
Therefore, it is very important to consult a doctor in time, who will diagnose and immediately begin treatment of diphtheria. In children, when they seek timely medical help on the first day, the course of the disease will stop, and the next day there will be a noticeable improvement in the condition: breathing will be even, and coughing will be rare and mild. The voice will be restored only after 4-6 days.
How to treat?
Treatment is carried out inpatiently with bed rest. Anti-diphtheria serum is introduced , antibiotics are prescribed (using drugs of the macrolide, aminopenicillin, cephalosporin group of 3 generations: medicines "Cephalexin", "Cefazolin", "Cefaclor", "Cefuroxime", "Midecamycin", "Azithromycin", "Penicillin"). The duration of antibiotic therapy is from 5 to 10 days. In severe cases of the disease, hormonal treatment is performed.