Herpetic angina in children: causes of development, types of pathology and their manifestations

Clinically, herpetic angina in children was first described in 1924 by Zahorsky, and in 1951 by Huebner and co-authors, the Coxsackie A virus was isolated. The most frequent causative agents of herpangina are intestinal viruses( the family Picornaviridae, genus Enterovirus), Coxsackie A( serotypes 1-10, 16, 22), B( 1-5), and ECHO( 3, 6, 9, 25).

Children are most often sick before 5 years, less often teenagers. Herpetic angina in children can manifest itself in an isolated form, and in combination with meningitis, myalgia, myelitis, etc. The source of infection is only a person: patients and convalescents who continue to secrete the virus for 3-4 weeks.

The disease can have both a sporadic nature and major epidemics. The primary gateway of the infection is the mucous membrane of the respiratory tract, where the primary defect is the papule, and then the vesicle.

Explicit signs of the disease

Symptoms of herpetic sore throat are discussed below. Herpetic angina in children begins acutely, with a rise in temperature to 39-40 ° C.This often worsens the general condition: the child complains of headache, vomiting, back and stomach pain( especially near the navel).

Characteristic of the rapid growth of local changes. Within a few hours on the mucous membrane of palatine arches, tonsils, soft and hard palate, posterior pharyngeal wall, small single papules appear reddish and diameter 1 -2 mm, clearly delineated, which after a couple of hours turn into vesicles( up to 5 mm indiameter) that never merge. The amount of vesicles can vary from 5 to 20. After 24-48 hours vesicles are opened with the formation of whitish-gray ulcers surrounded by a corolla of hyperemia. The sores can merge, forming defects up to 10 mm in diameter. The pain in the throat is not pronounced or absent at all.

However, it should be remembered that along with the typical manifestations, I can observe erased forms in which there are only catarrhal changes in the oropharynx, without a mucosal defect.

How many suffer from sore throat?

Usually, fever lasts no more than 3-5 days, and mucosal defects heal in 6-7 days without any traces.

Differential diagnostics of

Gerpangin must first of all be differentiated from aphthous diseases of the oral cavity( herpetic stomatitis, candidiasis, chemical damage to the oropharynx), chicken pox.

Diagnosis

Usually the diagnosis of herpetic sore throat does not cause much difficulty, based on the characteristic clinical picture. But for the final formulation, data from virologic and serological studies are needed. The material for virological examination is nasopharyngeal washings taken in the first or second week of the disease.

For serological examination, take paired sera( the first until the 5th day, the second after the 14th day of the disease).Diagnostically significant is the growth of antibody titer 4 times or more. Usually, the neutralization reaction, precipitation reaction in the gel, etc. are used. The general blood test is not very informative.

Treatment of the disease

Isolated herpetic sore throat in children is treated on an outpatient basis. Etiotropic therapy has not been developed. Children receive symptomatic and pathogenetic therapy. Bed rest is prescribed.

When fever - antipyretics( paracetamol in a dose of 15-20 mg / kg body weight, in syrup, tablets, injections, candles, in the absence of contraindications);ibuprofen( in the appropriate dosage) together with antihistamine drugs( claritin, loratadine, citrine).With pain in the throat, oral antiseptics with anesthetic action( septefril, septotheple plus, strepsils) are used.

Also eating should be avoided mechanically rough and irritating( hydrochloric, spicy, acidic).It should be remembered that herpetic angina in children, whose treatment is not performed, can lead to serious complications( encephalitis, myocarditis, hemorrhagic conjunctivitis).

Prevention

No specific prophylaxis has been developed. General prophylaxis consists in general strengthening and improving measures( tempering, balanced nutrition, etc.), timely detection and isolation of patients.

For patients and contacts, quarantine is established for 14 days. In the center of infection, the current and final disinfection is carried out.