Doctors and patients alike want the disease to be static so that there are rules to follow for diagnosis and treatment, but each individual is different and the same disease always appears in various guises, making the doctor’s job challenging and the patient confused.
Why are there so many differences in the performance of children with the same disease?
I. Individual differences
Each child is different from birth, some are prone to vomiting, some to diarrhea, some to rhinitis, and some to wheezing, which is brought about by genetics. Therefore, the performance of the same pathogen infection is often different.
The immunity of children varies greatly, and these immune cells and immune active substances are used to clear pathogens. Each child’s immune system is very different.
For example, some children show an increase in white blood cells every time they have a cold or fever, whether it is a viral or bacterial infection, while others show a decrease in white blood cells every time they have a fever, and each time they are below normal. This is the individual difference of immunity.
Second, the invasiveness of pathogens (viruses, bacteria, etc.) is different
The virulence of different viruses and bacteria varies greatly, for example, adenovirus pneumonia is often very dangerous, and syncytial viruses tend to cause wheezing, which is uncontrollable and we have no good ability to intervene.
But the number of pathogens, the density of pathogens also affects their pathogenicity.
Why is a crowded and relatively closed environment susceptible to disease or heavy disease? In such an environment, the number of disease is relatively high, and without ventilation there is no good air flow, and the pathogenic agents are relatively dense, causing illness to occur easily and be relatively severe.
In a ventilated environment, even if there are patients and pathogens in this environment, with the circulation of air, the number of pathogens in the unit range decreases, thus making the pathogenic power of the entire pathogen decrease. Therefore, it is very important to open the windows and ventilate the home daily and go to less crowded and more closed indoor environment to prevent the disease, even if infected, the symptoms are relatively light.
Third, the physical condition of children at the beginning of the disease is different
The physical condition of the child at the beginning of the illness often determines the child’s performance. For example, did the child have enough rest, drink enough water, eat a lot of meat, and have a smooth bowel movement?
One child had a fever that started just in time to go to the U.S. for fun, and he was not seriously ill, so he left. At the beginning of the trip to the U.S., the child’s general condition was still good, so the parents didn’t pay much attention to it and didn’t rest very well, playing all day long during the day. As a result, the disease got worse day by day, and finally, it gradually turned into a severe pneumonia, and the child was flown back from the U.S. in an emergency and was admitted to the ICU.
There was another child I remember particularly well, when I first started working not long ago. That child, who had been ill for 2 days, was very critical and unconscious when he arrived. When asked about the medical history, the parents said that the child had only a low fever and some cold symptoms a day before, but the child was on the swim team and she needed to go to training that day, so the parents thought the child was generally in good condition and said she should stick to training. After the child came back the whole state is very poor, depression has been sleeping, that night, the condition suddenly aggravated. Later, the child was not resuscitated. If the child had rested well at home on the day of the low fever, it might have been a common cold.
The most important treatment for children in the early stages of illness is rest, and rest is the best treatment. I strongly oppose all classes for children with illness: school, kindergarten, early childhood piano lessons, swimming lessons, ice skating lessons. Please stop classes if you are sick! A child with the same illness who is well rested and a child who insists on attending class with an illness may show a huge difference.
Don’t take your child out when he or she is going to be sick or has already started to get sick, and run around like crazy day and night, so that the child’s resistance will be consumed in this fatigue. Do not let the child continue to high fever for the sake of the so-called kill virus, continuous high fever is not conducive to the survival of the virus, but the resulting discomfort and sleepless nights for the child’s whole body, so that the child does not have a good rest, affecting the body’s immune function, will make the disease heavier.
Fourth, not only does rest affect the severity of the child’s disease, but the child’s diet also has an impact on the disease.
Children’s gastrointestinal function is relatively weak, and their ability to digest protein and fatty foods is insufficient. If a child eats too much, especially meat, fish, eggs and other hard-to-digest food, it will exceed his digestive capacity. The body in this situation is also more prone to disease, or the first signs of disease still eat and drink, will make the condition worse.
The child’s daily bowel movements are also important. If parents pay attention, they will find that children with fever and cough are often accompanied by dry stools or no stools for several days. It is very important to urge your child to have a normal soft stool every day to protect your child’s health. Even if a disease is contracted, if the child has good stools, it will be relatively mild (mainly referring to respiratory infections).
Summary.
There is a limit to what we can do about individual differences and the differences in a child’s immune capacity.
What we can do is: when the child is sick at the beginning, let them ensure enough sleep enough rest, drink enough water, eat less, and ensure that the child has a normal stool once a day, these, on the degree of severity of the same disease infection, has a big impact, but also we can control things.
There is also the opening of windows and ventilation, less people go to many indoor spaces.