For the first time it is mentioned in the seventeenth century AD. Keeping the great English power in fear and claiming thousands of human lives, it received its bloody and terrifying name - purple fever. And only a century later she acquired a beautiful sweet-sounding name - Scarlet. Now we call this disease scarlet fever.
Dangerous disease
What is scarlet fever in children? This article will be devoted to symptoms, treatment and prevention of the disease.
Most often, the disease occurs in young patients, especially babies from three to nine to ten years old are at risk. However, both infants and teenagers can become infected with the disease.
In order for parents to be able to identify the disease in time, they need to have a clear understanding of the prevention, treatment and symptoms of scarlet fever in children. This will help to start timely treatment and achieve optimal results. Also in the article we will talk about how the disease is diagnosed and what complications or consequences it has.
In order to identify the disease as early as possible, the article will provide photos of the symptoms of scarlet fever in children. treatment andSufficient time will also be devoted to the prevention of this disease.
What causes illness
What causes scarlet fever in a child? Since this disease is called a bacterial infection by experts, it is clear that its causative agent is a dangerous bacterium. Most often, it enters the baby's body by airborne droplets, having a negative effect on the tonsils and other vital organs.
It is very important to know about the causative agent of the disease. This will help parents take effective measures to prevent infection and unpleasant symptoms. Prevention of scarlet fever in children is the most effective method in the fight against this disease. So, the disease occurs due to the ingestion of bacteria from the genus Streptococcus. This microorganism provokes an inflammatory process on the mucous membranes of the tonsils, and when it enters the lymph, it releases toxic substances, thereby provoking intoxication and infection of other tissues.
The bacterium that causes scarlet fever in a child can also be the causative agent of other serious diseases, such as erysipelas, intestinal infections, sore throats, and so on.
Unfortunately, this streptococcus is very aggressive, active and hardy, so it can survive in our environment for a long time. What is the incubation period for scarlet fever in children? On average, it can take from two hours to a week from the entry of a bacterium into the baby's body to the first signs of illness. However, it may increase to fourteen days due to the child's immunity or antibiotic treatment. The average incubation period for scarlet fever in childrenhas a duration of three or four days. After that, clear signs of infection appear.
However, not everything is so simple. Some babies may be carriers of the disease, while they themselves will not experience any unpleasant symptoms of scarlet fever. This happens frequently in children. With strong immunity, the guys are completely he althy, but they are a danger to others, as they can infect them.
What are the primary manifestations of the disease? Let's find out.
How the disease manifests
The symptoms and treatment of scarlet fever in children are interrelated. Paying attention to how the disease manifests itself, the doctor will prescribe individual therapy for the baby. However, we will learn more about this a little further. Now let's discuss how to identify the disease.
The very first sign of illness is a high body temperature of the child (from 39 degrees and above). Hyperthermia is accompanied by headaches, chills, drowsiness and lethargy.
Followed by intoxication - abdominal pain, nausea and even vomiting. It is noteworthy that such well-being is usually taken by surprise: the child looks cheerful and he althy, and suddenly everything changes dramatically.
Due to the increase in symptoms and the development of the disease, the baby may be disturbed by tachycardia, nervousness, confusion, and so on.
Sore throat
Severe sore throat is the main symptom of scarlet fever in children, the photo of which is presented below.
Not for nothing was scarlet fever called purple fever. She is characterized by brightpronounced redness of the pharynx and mucous membranes in the throat. The tonsils, soft palate and small uvula turn crimson, especially saturated against the background of pale pink mucous cheeks and hard palate.
At first, a sore throat manifests itself only in the reddening of the throat. Children complain of severe pain that increases when swallowing, they may refuse to eat and even drink. However, over time, especially if treatment is not started, unpleasant manifestations may occur on the mucous membranes of the palate and tonsils, making the sore throat unbearable. It can be an ordinary white coating or purulent plugs on the tonsils, which can develop into a more serious pathology - necrosis that develops on the mucous membranes. It is a small erosive area on the tonsils or soft palate, covered with a coating of gray, brown or greenish.
Another serious symptom of scarlet fever in children is swollen lymph nodes in the neck, behind the ear or under the jaw. This can cause pain and other discomfort for babies.
Changes in language is another characteristic sign that can be used to recognize a serious illness. In the first one or two days, the tongue is covered with a white coating, on which red tubercles appear - taste buds, enlarged during inflammation. Then the tongue changes its color and becomes bright red. Taste buds continue to stand out against the background of scarlet plaque with their pale pink hues.
Skin rashes
Rash on the body is another important symptom of scarlet fever in children. Photo of skin lesionsare shown below.
At first, the rash appears where the most delicate skin is: on the face, chest, neck.
Then, the affected area spreads throughout the body. Especially painful and intense rash occurs in the folds of the skin - in the groin, armpits, under the knees and elbows.
What do these skin growths look like? With scarlet fever, a child may experience small red or pink pimples. Sometimes the surface of the epidermis can be affected by hemorrhagic formations or petechial hemorrhages, which appear as burgundy-brown dots due to fragility of the vessels. Most often, such rashes merge together, forming strip areas of the lesion, which can remain on the patient's body for quite a long time. Under them, the delicate skin of the baby becomes dry, rough and unpleasant to the touch.
Child's face affected by rash looks slightly swollen and swollen. Cheeks, disproportionately enlarged due to painful swelling, covered with a scarlet rash. Cherry-red lips and flesh-colored nose, not affected by rashes, stand out as bright spots on the face. Below you can see a photo of scarlet fever in children. We will talk about the treatment and prevention of the disease further.
How long do these rashes stay on the skin? Usually, unpleasant symptoms disappear after a couple of days, less often they can disappear after a couple of hours. It all depends on the severity of the disease and the timely treatment provided.
The rashes can go away quickly, but after a week, peeling appears on the affected skin, as ifthe upper layers of the epidermis are covered with fine whitish dust. On the palms and soles, exfoliation is more expressive - the skin can peel off in whole layers. True, this happens quite rarely in very young children.
How an ailment is diagnosed
As mentioned above, the symptoms and treatment of scarlet fever in children are interrelated. Therefore, in order to prescribe effective drug therapy, the attending physician must carefully examine the child and conduct a thorough diagnosis.
It is not difficult to determine the diagnosis - you just need to examine the baby, and based on the combination of the symptoms listed above, scarlet fever is diagnosed. The child may not have all the manifestations of the disease. Sometimes the disease proceeds with erased symptoms. However, this can be read below.
After the diagnosis is established, the pediatrician takes a swab from the pharynx of a small patient, where the causative agent of the disease can just be sown. If the baby's tonsils are very inflamed and covered with a film, then an additional smear can be taken on a diphtheria stick.
During the period of illness, it is necessary to take a urine test several times. It is advisable to undergo a study on the fourth, tenth and 21st day, if we count from the onset of the development of the disease.
Atypical forms of the disease
Most often these are the most dangerous manifestations of the disease, as it is difficult to diagnose them in time and prescribe special treatment. Atypical forms of scarlet fever, characterized by blurred symptoms, include:
- Rudimentary (or residual). All symptomsscarlet fever in children is mild, the body temperature practically does not rise, the skin is affected poorly and locally (they are detected only on the abdomen, elbows or under the knees). This type of scarlet fever can be determined only by the redness of the throat and pain when swallowing. And even then these symptoms disappear a few days after the first appearance. The consequences of this disease are serious diseases, such as nephritis, otitis and others.
- Extrapharyngeal. A very rare type of scarlet fever. It is characterized by skin rashes without the manifestation of angina and cough. Most often, the extrapharyngeal type of scarlet fever is infected due to the penetration of the pathogen into the body through wounds or purulent abscesses formed on the skin. In this case, the usual rashes are localized in the areas where the bacteria hit.
- No rash. It is believed that rashes are the main symptom of this disease, but this is not always the case. Sometimes scarlet fever manifests itself without a rash (or with a very mild amount of lesions). Against this background, other symptoms of the disease flourish brightly - purulent inflammation of the tonsils and pharynx.
Main drug therapy
Treatment of scarlet fever in children primarily involves the use of antibiotics of the penicillin group. These include drugs based on amoxicillin (Flemoxin-solutab, Amoxiclav, Femoklav-solutab, Augmentin, and so on).
If a small patient is allergic to these substances, then he is prescribed macrolide antibiotics (“Vilprafen”, “Hemomycin”,"Azithromycin", "Cefalixin" and others). The form of release of these funds can be different - tablets, capsules, suspensions, and so on. Very rarely, antibiotics are used in the form of solutions for injection. Usually this is due to constant vomiting, when the baby cannot take the medicine inside so that it is absorbed.
Despite the fact that each of the above drugs comes with instructions for use, dosage, schedule of administration and duration of the course are prescribed only by a doctor, based on the overall picture of the progression of the disease. It is very important to start treatment as soon as possible, strictly follow the recommendations of the pediatrician and in no case complete the drug therapy on your own, justifying that the symptoms have passed and the improvement has come.
Most often, the duration of treatment for scarlet fever in children ranges between seven and ten days. Therefore, parents may worry that antibiotics will harm the baby's gastrointestinal tract. In this case, caring moms and dads need to realize that antibiotics treat their beloved child from a deadly disease, and if you stop the course, then scarlet fever can recur or mutate in the form of all kinds of serious complications.
How to reduce fever
Because one of the common symptoms of scarlet fever can be high fever, it is very important to use effective antipyretic drugs that would alleviate the acute course of the disease. Children under the age of twelve are most often prescribed drugs where the active ingredient is paracetamol or ibuprofen. To the first category of fundsinclude "Efferalgan" and "Panadol", the second - "Nurofen" and the like. Patients over twelve years of age may be prescribed aspirin and its derivatives, Nimesil. It is noteworthy that the drugs listed above serve not only as antipyretics, but also as painkillers.
Due to frequent vomiting, it can be difficult for babies to take tablets or suspensions. In such cases, you can use rectal suppositories.
Any drug should be given according to the instructions and no more than three to four times a day. To reduce the temperature, you can use folk methods - wiping with vinegar diluted with water, teas with the addition of currants, raspberries, cherries.
Many experts recommend not wrapping babies. If the child's body is on fire, have him walk around in just a T-shirt, this will improve blood circulation and allow the skin to "breathe".
How to treat a throat
Since the throat most often suffers from scarlet fever, it is very important to properly process it in order to stop the inflammatory process on the mucous membranes and tonsils, as well as reduce pain.
In this case, it is best to use such drugs as Hexoral, Ingalipt, Stop-Angin, Tantum Verde and others. They are available not only in the form of aerosols or sprays, but also as solutions for treating the throat or gargling. However, here it is important to adhere to certain rules that your doctor will definitely remind you of.
Before using the spray, rinse your throat with warm water or a decoction of herbs. Spray the productit is necessary so as to get on each of the tonsils separately.
For manual treatment of the pharynx, you can use gauze and a medical spatula (or a regular spoon).
Also, the doctor may prescribe pills that will need to be slowly absorbed - "Lyzobakt", "Geksoral", "Pharingosept" and others.
As an alternative medicine, you can use the tips below. However, it is important to do this only after consulting with your doctor:
- You can gargle with a decoction of herbs. To prepare it, you need to take equal proportions of calendula, chamomile, thyme and sage. Pour two tablespoons of the mixture with a glass of boiling water, insist for a couple of hours, strain.
- Dilute two tablets of furacilin in two hundred milligrams of water, gargle with the resulting solution several times a day.
- And the most common recipe is to mix soda and s alt (one teaspoon each) in a glass of warm water, add two or three drops of iodine and rinse several times a day.
Other concomitant medications
Since the protective function of the body decreases with scarlet fever, it is recommended to increase the child's immunity with the help of a complex of vitamins and minerals. In this case, parents can choose the drug on their own, based on their own life experience and family budget. Even the so-called dietary supplements (BAA) are suitable for raising immunity. When choosing a remedy, it is necessary to take into account the age of a small patient, possible allergic reactions, as well as the duration of the course. In this caseit is best to consult a doctor.
Since the treatment of scarlet fever involves the use of antibacterial drugs, it would be useful to think about protecting the intestinal microflora so that dysbacteriosis or any other pathologies of the gastrointestinal tract do not develop. To do this, you can use probiotics, such as Acipol or Linex, or prebiotics, which include Biovestin-lacto or Bifido-bak.
Why is it important to treat the disease
A hundred years ago, scarlet fever was capable of fatal even the he althiest and strongest guys, provoking streptococcal sepsis, mastoiditis or adenophlegmon. However, now, thanks to modern drugs, these complications are reduced to zero.
Therefore, it is very important to treat scarlet fever, because without proper therapy, the disease can cause death. And yet, even despite the strongest antibiotics, the disease can lead to the development of such serious diseases as otitis media or sinusitis, bronchitis, pneumonia, nephritis, toxic myocarditis, and even infectious pathologies of the bone tissue and brain.
These diseases are complications of scarlet fever. Streptococcus can cause the development of infectious-toxic shock, which manifests itself in the form of a decrease in blood pressure, interruptions in the heart, loss of consciousness and even coma. Due to untimely treatment of angina, the inflammatory process from the mucous membranes can pass to other vital organs and provoke purulent lymphadenitis, abscesses, sepsis and meningitis. Due to the fact that streptococcal antigens are largelysimilar to some human cells, the body's defense system can begin to attack not only viruses and bacteria, but also its own tissues. Because of this, such serious pathologies as rheumatism, nephritis, myocarditis and so on develop.
How long does the disease take to heal
Most often, the complex of drug therapy is designed for seven to ten days, and the improvement of well-being occurs within the first week of treatment. Despite this, the child needs a long period of time to restore his strength and completely overcome the disease. Moreover, due to the likelihood of relapse or the development of complications, a sparing regimen and close observation for another month is necessary for a small patient.
Nutrition during recovery
During treatment and rehabilitation, you need to carefully monitor what your baby eats. During such a period, you can not eat a lot of fatty and fried, sweet and smoked, spicy and s alty. Food should be soft, boiled or steamed, it is not recommended to eat foods that cause allergic reactions.
Of course, it is impossible to completely eliminate sweets and fried foods from the diet of a small patient, especially if these are his favorite delicacies. Little by little, give the baby what he loves, otherwise the treatment, even the most effective one, will not bring the proper result if the patient does not have a good mood and habitual optimism. However, remember that there should be a golden mean in everything.
Preventive measures
Unfortunately, vaccinations and vaccines have not been invented against scarlet fever, therefore,to protect yourself or your child from such a serious illness, you must try to avoid close contact with infected people. Of course, this is not always possible. Moreover, a potentially dangerous person may not even know that he is a carrier of streptococcus. Therefore, personal hygiene is the best solution in preventing the disease.
Teach your child to wash their hands thoroughly with soap and running water. This should be done immediately after coming from the street or before eating.
An important protective measure can also be to strengthen the immune system with the help of any drugs, dietary supplements or just a wholesome he althy diet.
And of course, do not forget about the quarantine. Avoid crowded places, especially if there are cases of scarlet fever in the area. Do not contact sick people. In children's institutions, special weekly quarantines are introduced if cases of scarlet fever infection have been detected. Do not neglect this wise precaution, and then all chances of getting sick will be minimized.
If your child has dangerous symptoms, don't panic. Call your doctor at home and follow his recommendations. Timely treatment is the key to a quick recovery.
We discussed the issue of symptoms, treatment and prevention of scarlet fever in children. Photos of the manifestation of the disease were also presented.
