1.What is “acute upper respiratory tract infection”?
A: Acute upper respiratory infections (acute upper res piratory infections) is the most common disease in children, mainly invading the nose, nasopharynx and pharynx, so commonly used “acute nasopharyngitis” (cold), “acute pharyngitis Therefore, the diagnostic terms “acute nasopharyngitis” (cold), “acute pharyngitis” and “acute tonsillitis” are often used, and can also be collectively referred to as upper respiratory tract infections. Nasopharyngeal infections can often have complications involving adjacent organs such as the larynx, trachea, lungs, oral cavity, sinuses, middle ear, eyes, and cervical lymph nodes. Sometimes the symptoms of the original nasopharyngeal disease have improved or disappeared, while its complications can be delayed or aggravated, so it is necessary to make a comprehensive observation and analysis of the clinical characteristics of upper respiratory tract infection and its complications in order to make early diagnosis, early treatment and improve the efficacy of treatment.
2.Sudden change of weather, why is susceptible to “acute upper respiratory tract infection”?
A: The weather suddenly becomes cooler, if people do not add or remove clothes in time, the body can not adapt to the external climate change, it is easy to make a variety of respiratory viruses, common influenza, parainfluenza virus, respiratory syncytial virus, adenovirus and rhinovirus, enterovirus (coxsackie, echovirus) and other viruses that can cause acute upper respiratory tract infections stay in the house. Once children are infected, the upper respiratory mucosa loses resistance and bacteria take advantage of the opportunity to invade, such as group A beta-hemolytic streptococcus, pneumococcus and H. influenzae. Second, due to the anatomical and immunological characteristics of the pediatric upper respiratory tract, children have poor resistance. If combined with the effects of malnutrition, overexertion, sudden climate change, air pollution, etc., it creates favorable conditions for the invasion of viruses and bacteria. Especially in malnourished children with congenital immunodeficiency or acquired immune deficiency, they are prone to severe symptoms when upper respiratory infections occur.
3.What are the main clinical manifestations of acute upper respiratory tract infection?
A: Acute upper respiratory tract infection is referred to as “upper sensation”, that is, the common cold. From birth to adulthood, children generally do not have colds. Some weak children have recurrent colds and frequent fever. Since there are many types of cold viruses, the severity of the illness varies. In an influenza epidemic, a family or a class of students often get sick one after another. The virus is transmitted by droplets through the respiratory tract.
When a child has a cold, the first symptom you will see is that his or her rosy face is not as moist, or he or she is not as smiley as usual, he or she does not sleep well, cries, and does not eat milk or food well. If you take your body temperature at this time, you may have a fever. At the same time, there will be a blocked nose, a runny nose and a cough. Some children may also have nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, and more pronounced digestive symptoms. The symptoms of the cold may vary depending on the individual differences of the child.
4.What should I do if my child has an “acute upper respiratory infection”?
A: First of all, parents should take their children to the hospital and ask the doctor to determine if it is an “upper respiratory infection”. If so, treat accordingly. Secondly, home care is very important. Key points of home care
① Children with fever should rest in bed to reduce physical exertion and prevent complications. It is best not to have visitors in the house, do not smoke indoors, and keep the air fresh.
If the fever reaches 38.5℃, physical cooling can be used, such as using cold water towel on the forehead or cold bag on the pillow, or using warm water bath. Drug cooling, can be prescribed oral aspirin, or aspirin and barbiturates of the combined pressure tablets. If the body temperature does not subside, you can take antipyretic drugs once more after 4 hours. Some children with fever up to 38.5℃ will have convulsions. These children should take antipyretic measures in a timely manner. When the fever is high, take the temperature of the child every 2 to 4 hours, and when the fever is 38.5℃ or higher, give the child antipyretics and give the child more water to help reduce the fever. When using physical cooling, pay attention to whether the child has a cold reaction, such as cold forehead, pillow storage cold bag after the child chills, blue lips, it is not appropriate to use physical cooling, can use warm water to rub the limbs and forehead and back, can also help dissipate heat. High fever 39.5 ℃ or more, but also available white wine to the amount of warm water to rub the limbs, from the shoulder to the hands, from the thighs to the feet direction. In addition, fever and sweating can easily stimulate the skin to become red, we should turn the sick child, change underwear, pants, keep the skin clean and dry, so that the sick child is comfortable and avoid irritability.
③ Fever weakens the digestive function and reduces the secretion of digestive juices. The child’s appetite is poor at this time, so wait for the fever to subside and then let the child eat. For children who are still breastfeeding, in addition to adjusting the feeding time, the amount of milk should be reduced by one-third; older children can choose a light diet, such as thin porridge, pureed meat and vegetables, spinach and egg noodle soup, steamed egg custard, etc.
④ Keeping the stools open is also the key to clearing heat. Sick children have smooth stools means good gastrointestinal function. (If the stool is dry and cannot reduce the fever, use the appropriate amount of open plug to inject into the anus to help laxative)
⑤ Elderly children often complain of sore throat after catching a cold, so they can contain mint tablets, iodine throat tablets, watermelon cream tablets, golden throat, etc.; infants and children should not apply the above tablets, but can spray tin-like dispersion or ice borax to the throat. In case of combined mouth ulcers, it is necessary to wash the mouth with 3% hydrogen peroxide, saline, and apply cod liver oil with chrysin or compound gentian violet.
(6) Cold often has nasal congestion, infants and children will cry and upset when feeding. For this reason, you can use 1 to 2 drops of ephedrine preparation before feeding the baby’s nose. When parents wash their children’s faces, they can apply a warm wet towel to the area for a while, and then apply anti-inflammatory ointment, such as tetracycline eye ointment and gentamycin eye ointment.
(7) When sleeping at night, the back is slightly padded and in a semi-recumbent position, which can reduce the stimulation of tracheal secretions on the pharynx and reduce coughing.
⑧ Chinese herbal medicine for colds is certainly effective, such as Yinhua, Lianjia, Banlangen and other heat-clearing and detoxifying medicines, Huo Xiang, Peppermint, fresh rhizome and other antiphlogistic medicines, which are chosen according to the symptoms. Antibiotics should not be abused, but can be used appropriately if there is a higher possibility of bacterial infection and complications, such as otitis media, lymphadenitis, sinusitis, bronchitis and pneumonia.
Precautions
①In the process of caring for a sick child with a cold, pay attention to the changes in the child’s condition, because the early symptoms of some infectious diseases are similar to those of a cold. Pay attention to the combination of symptoms when the child has a fever. After taking antipyretic medicine, the fever has subsided, the spirit is good, the child basically loves to move and smile as usual, and likes to eat, no vomiting, no pain, it means that the disease has been basically cured, and can continue to be observed at home.
② Check the child’s front and back every morning and evening to see if there is a red rash and purple spots on the buttocks. Smaller children have no redness around the anus, the root of the thighs. If there is any swelling and pain in the armpit, whether the arms and legs move freely, whether there is redness and dark purple in the tail dice and back skin; “whether there is running water and pus in the ear; whether there is vomiting, abdominal pain, pus and blood stool; whether the face is dull or pale, whether the eyes are dull; whether there is blood oozing from the gums, nose bleeding, etc. If you observe the above symptoms, you should go to the hospital immediately.
Although there is no special medicine for cold, but there is a regular course of illness, some fever 3 to 5 days, some to 7 to 10 days, during this period, as long as the treatment on time, proper care, is safe to spend.
5.Why can’t antibiotics control the fever caused by respiratory tract infection?
A: Children suddenly fever, parents are very anxious, immediately take the child to the hospital, confirmed by the doctor’s examination for acute respiratory tract infection, in the treatment, can take Chinese medicine preparations, such as cold and fever punch, Banlangen punch, silver forsythia antidote tablets, etc.. Sore throat can be treated with laryngeal pills and moth-eaten tablets. When the nasal congestion is serious, a small amount of 1% ephedrine nasal drops can be used, and when the body temperature is very high, some antipyretic drugs can be used appropriately. Sometimes the child still does not reduce the fever, or the fever recedes for a while after the use of drugs and then rises again, always not good. What is the reason for this? It turns out that acute respiratory infections occur in children, mainly caused by viral infections. Viruses are different from bacteria, and antibiotics do not kill them. Fortunately, most acute respiratory infections caused by these viruses are “self-limiting”. That is to say, after 3-5 days or a week or so, they can rely on their own immunity to gradually eliminate or suppress them and heal. This is why there is a popular saying that “the lucky doctor heals the end of the disease”. That means that the doctor who saw the child for the first two days after the fever could not cure him, and another doctor could not solve the problem on the third or fourth day, but by the fifth or sixth day, the disease had reached its “self-limiting” stage, that is, the end of the disease process, and the lucky doctor (regardless of the medicine he used) succeeded. This situation often creates the illusion among parents that the first doctor’s erythromycin and the second’s penicillin did not work, and that their child was cured by the third doctor with only gentamicin. Some parents also think that their children can’t be cured with penicillin injection for one or two days, and they have to fight for a week to be effective. In fact, these are some coincidences. Therefore, it is said that children with fever should not rush to apply antibiotics.