When a child appears in the house, it is natural that all attention is paid to him. Parents are trying to protect their baby from all the harmful factors of the world. For this reason, any symptom of a baby’s illness leads parents to panic, because their baby cannot tell what and where it hurts. If the child has a severe cough , then it is necessary to consult a pediatrician, since such a symptom can be evidence of many dangerous diseases that must be treated immediately.
Diseases accompanied by coughing in children
Diseases a symptom of which is a severe cough in a child include:
Viral infections: influenza, adenovirus, rhinovirus infection.
· Bacterial lesions: pharyngitis, laryngitis, bronchitis, bronchiolitis, pneumonia.
Infectious diseases: diphtheria, pertussis, pertussis, scarlet fever, tuberculosis.
· Allergic diseases: bronchial asthma, hay fever.
The most dangerous include infectious diseases. Therefore, they must be excluded first.
Bronchitis, bronchiolitis and pneumonia cause a strong cough in a child in most cases. This is due to the fact that the respiratory system of children is not completely formed and is easily amenable to the ingress and propagation of pathogens in it.
In infants, small bronchi – bronchioles are most often affected. For this reason, children under 2 years old are less likely to suffer from bronchitis, but very often bronchiolitis. Bronchiolitis is a disease that occurs in a more severe form and requires mandatory antibacterial treatment, which can only be prescribed by an experienced pediatrician or a specialist in a narrow profile – a pulmonologist.
Pneumonia is also a common respiratory disease in children. Children are especially susceptible to it in the presence of any inflammatory process in the parents. Pneumonia in children, unlike adults, proceeds in a more severe form, therefore, requires mandatory inpatient treatment.
In some cases, pneumonia is transmitted to children at birth or while in hospital for another disease. This is due to the presence in the hospital atmosphere of a large number of different bacteria. Such pneumonia is called “hospital” and is the most dangerous.
Prevention and treatment of cough in children
Preventive measures include:
– maintaining a normal body temperature (avoid hypothermia, a sharp change in ambient temperature);
– the exclusion of contact with allergens, if he has a predisposition to them;
– Prevention of contact with sick people;
– the use of vitamins;
– proper nutrition;
– strengthening the immunity of the child.
If the child has a strong cough that does not go away within a few days, it is best to seek help from a doctor. If a child of preschool or school age is sick, but besides coughing, he does not have any other symptoms of the disease, you can contact the district clinic or call the local pediatrician at home.
In the case when the child’s well-being has noticeably worsened, the cough is paroxysmal, and the baby still does not know how to speak, but constantly cries, an ambulance must be called immediately. It is impossible to engage in self-treatment of a small child!
When a doctor rules out serious illnesses that require hospitalization, parents must strictly follow all the specialist’s prescriptions for treating a child’s cough: give him scheduled antitussive drugs (ACC, synecode) and mucolytic drugs (bromhexine, ambrobene, Dr. IOM).
In addition to treating cough, it is necessary to influence the cause of its occurrence, that is, use antiviral and antibacterial drugs, as well as eliminate contact with the allergen (with a cough of an allergic nature of origin).