Acute intestinal diseases

Young children are very susceptible to acute intestinal diseases, which can be both infectious and non-infectious. The first are caused by various pathogens and are transmitted from the sick or bacilli. Intestinal diseases of non-infectious nature and mainly associated with various errors in the nutrition of the child, leading to a digestive disorder.

Acute digestive disorders are most often observed in children under 6 months of age. They develop with improper, erratic feeding, when the intervals between meals are not maintained, when a child does not meet the age of his food, and simultaneously introduces several kinds of complementary foods. Therefore, they are called dyspepsia, that is, indigestion.

Breastfeeding dyspepsia is much less common than with mixed and artificial dyspepsia.

In addition, dyspepsia may occur in violation of hygiene, improper care of the child, as well as non-compliance with the water regime( for example, when the liquid is not administered in hot weather).

In the beginning of the disease there are regurgitation, sometimes vomiting( 1-2 times a day), the chair becomes more frequent( up to 8-10 times a day).The child becomes restless, capricious, he has abdominal pain. Sometimes there is a slight increase in body temperature. The baby does not add or even begin to lose weight in the body. When eliminating the adverse factor that caused the disease and the proper treatment( carrying out an unloading diet, plenty of drink, adequate nutrition), the child's condition usually improves quickly, and within 5-7 days he recovers.

However, with gross violations of nutrition, untimely elimination of the causes that caused the disease, a child may develop toxic indigestion. There is indomitable vomiting, a very frequent liquid, watery stool, the child's body is dehydrated, body weight drops sharply. In these cases, treatment should be carried out only in the hospital.

Prevention of dyspepsia is strict adherence to the rules of nursing and feeding, the careful and gradual introduction of all new types of food, the exclusion of forcible feeding. In this case, special attention is required by children who are in early mixed or artificial feeding, premature babies, suffering from hypotrophy, rickets.

In infants with an eating disorder, inflammation of the gastric mucosa( acute gastritis) or, at the same time, inflammation of the intestinal mucosa( acute gastroenteritis) may develop. The most common cause of these diseases is overeating, especially when consuming a large number of sweets, coarse foods, rich in fiber, unripe fruits and berries. The disease begins acutely, the body temperature rises( sometimes up to 39-40 ° C), nausea, weakness, abdominal pain, vomiting. Appetite sharply decreases, the chair is upset. In young children, it can be accompanied by cramps, short-term loss of consciousness.

The correct food regime, the use of a variety of high-quality products, adherence to the rules of their cooking, strict compliance with hygiene and sanitation, and personal hygiene of children - such are the means of preventing acute gastritis and gastroenteritis.

The most common diseases of the digestive organs of infectious origin in early childhood are dysentery, salmonellosis, viral hepatitis( Botkin's disease).Transmission of the contagious beginning occurs through various objects contaminated by the excrement of the patient or bacilli carrier, as well as through food and water.

The causative agents of intestinal infections are mostly very stable and persist in the environment for a long time, they are well tolerated by low temperatures.

Susceptibility of children to intestinal infections is high, especially at an early age. In the summer-autumn period, the incidence of acute intestinal infections is greatest, which is associated with an abundance of vegetables and fruits, more frequent disturbances in the water regime, the creation of favorable conditions for the reproduction of microorganisms, and the presence of flies, which are also carriers of pathogens.

Dysentery( a dirty hand disease) is caused by dysenteric bacteria that can survive for weeks or even months. So, on pots, dishes, damp linen, soil, contaminated with dysentery sticks, they retain their viability for 3 months, in food( milk, meat, bread) - several days, in water - up to 5-6 days.

The disease is manifested by cramping pains in the abdomen and frequent liquid stool( up to 20-30 times a day) with mucus and blood veins, an increase in body temperature( sometimes up to 40 ° C).There can be pronounced phenomena of general intoxication of the body: weakness, lethargy, headache, decreased appetite, vomiting, loss of consciousness is possible. Dysentery is especially dangerous for children under 2 years old, weakened, sick with rickets. They have more pronounced general intoxication, a sharp violation of all types of metabolism, especially water-salt and protein, more often develops toxicosis, there are often complications( pneumonia, inflammation of the middle ear).

However, in children, including in children of the first year of life, dysentery can occur in an erased form, ie, only a brief disruption of the bowel function, minor abdominal pains are noted. With this form of the disease, children usually do not cause anxiety in the parents. However, due to the lack of correct and timely treatment, the disease can take a protracted character and go into a chronic form. In addition, most often there is a long bacteriocarrier. Therefore, even with minor disorders of the function of the gastrointestinal tract of the child must definitely show the doctor. Never should self-treatment be carried out, since such a child can remain a source of infection for a long time. It is due to such hidden sources that a continuous spread of infection is maintained.

Prevention of dysentery in the first place is strict adherence to sanitary and hygienic and anti-epidemic rules and timely and complete treatment of patients.

Salmonellosis is caused by germs - salmonella. Salmonellosis is widespread among animals and birds, in which pathogens are found not only in organs and muscles, but also in eggs. In addition to animals, the source of infection can be sick people and bacterial carriers.

Patients with salmonellosis are dangerous to those around them from the very first day of the disease, since excretion is possible not only with faeces, but also with urine, vomit, saliva, sputum. Microbes are transmitted through food, where they can get to when using contaminated water, dishes, cutlery, kitchen implements. Infectious agents can also be flies. Having fallen on a product or a prepared dish, salmonella reproduce very quickly( at room temperature for several hours).

Symptoms of the disease occur 8-36 hours after ingestion of contaminated food. The onset of the disease is violent: the body temperature rises sharply( to 40 ° C), chills, headache, dizziness, weakness, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain. The chair of a sick child is frequent, liquid, fetid, contains mucus. When the disease is severe, dehydration of the body is added, convulsions may occur.

To prevent the onset of the disease, children are not recommended to give such dishes as jellies, pates, creams, pasta in Fleet, pancakes with meat, brawns if stored more than 12 hours even in cold conditions. Children should not be given sour curd and sour cottage cheese, as well as eggs of waterfowl that very often contain salmonella. It is strictly forbidden to use canned food stored in open cans or in banks that have been swollen( bombed).

For prophylaxis of salmonellosis, it is important to have proper culinary processing of products. So, meat should be cooked for at least 2 hours. It is especially important to boil or fry ducks and geese, often infected with Salmonella. Keep perishable products only at a sufficiently low temperature( no higher than 4 ° C) and for a certain period( meat, poultry, fish - up to 48 h, milk, cottage cheese - up to 36 h, products of children's dairy kitchens - up to 24 h).

Viral hepatitis( Botkin's disease) is caused by a filtering virus that is very resistant to environmental factors( when heated to 60 ° C it dies only after a 30-minute exposure, well tolerates drying, and persists for a long time in the blood serum).

The source of the infection is a sick person who becomes dangerous by the end of the latent period of the illness, but is particularly contagious during the first 2 weeks from the onset of the disease. The virus is excreted from the body with feces, urine. Infection can also be transmitted through the blood with the wrong treatment of needles and syringes, but mostly transmitted with food or water. In the transmission of infection, flies carrying the virus are also involved.

The latent period for viral hepatitis ranges from 2 weeks to 1.5 months( serum hepatitis can occur after 4 and even 6 months after infection).

The disease begins atypical: the child becomes moody, irritable, his appetite disappears, sleep is broken, nausea, vomiting, loose stools, pain in the liver, sometimes cough and runny nose. Therefore, before the appearance of clinical symptoms it is difficult to recognize. Later, a characteristic color of urine appears resembling beer, the feces acquire the color of gray clay, the skin and mucous membranes are dyed yellow, patients complain of liver pain and itchy skin. Jaundice lasts from 1 to 3 weeks.

In infants and young children, the disease is more severe and can go to toxic liver dystrophy.

In the prevention of infectious hepatitis, along with general hygiene and anti-epidemic measures, it is of great importance to exclude the child's communication not only with sick children, but also with children who were in contact with a sick hepatitis. All ill children should be hospitalized in the infectious disease department, and those who are in contact with the patients should stay in quarantine for 50 days. During the quarantine, all contact children should be carefully examined in order not to miss an atypical( jaundiced) form of the disease. All children who have been in contact with the patient are injected with gamma globulin. In the room, where the patient was before hospitalization, thoroughly disinfected.