Even though the holidays are over, there are still several more months on winter remaining before spring starts the season of renewal once again. For parents, the winter months mean a higher chance of their little one getting sick with any number of common childhood illnesses. While vaccines have made the chances of a child getting some illnesses increasingly rare, others remain an unpleasant fact of life.
Depending on the age of your child, the illnesses can vary from easily curable ear infections to more serious ailments like whooping cough. Even though many parents have a tendency to suspect the worst, most of these illnesses have specific symptoms that allow parents to distinguish one from another. With that in mind here are some common childhood illnesses every parent should know.
RSV
The most common cause of bronchiolitis and pneumonia in infants in the U.S., the respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, begins by manifesting flu-like symptoms, which can include cough, fever, and runny nose. Approximately 40 percent of children suffering from their first RSV infection will develop apparent wheezing, and around two percent will require hospitalization. Fortunately for parents, the older a child, the less serious the symptoms of an infection become.
Ear Infection
Because young children have tiny Eustachian tubes (the tubes that connect the throat to the ear), they have a higher risk of developing ear infections. The Eustachian tubes can easily become blocked when a cold virus causes inflammation to occur, which results in fluid becoming trapped inside the middle ear. As the fluid begins to pool, germs begin to breed, and infection develops. Symptoms of an ear infection can include fussiness, fever, and frequent tugging of the ear. The majority of ear infections are the result of viruses that your child’s immune system will deal with over time.
Croup
The signature symptom of this common childhood illness is a harsh cough frequently thought to sound like a barking seal. The cough is usually the result of a virus that causes the upper airways to become inflamed. While most children will recover from the virus in about a week, if your child’s breathing becomes severely impaired, you may need to seek treatment at a hospital. Children under the age of five are most likely to develop croup.
Hand-Foot-and-Mouth Disease
Hand-foot-and-mouth disease causes a child to experience fever and blisters that appear on the inside of the mouth, buttocks, soles of the feet, and palms. For children living in the U.S., the disease is often the result of the coxsackievirus A16, which tends to spread most frequently during the summer and early fall. The majority of cases don’t present any serious danger and a last roughly a week.
A surefire way for a child to get sent home from school, pinkeye, or conjunctivitis, cause redness, itching, tearing, and crusty eyelashes. Pinkeye is often caused by the same types of viruses as the common cold. If your child develops pinkeye, you need to consult with your doctor to determine the appropriate treatment method. Usually the condition clears up within a week.
Kawasaki Disease
A strange illness that doctors still don’t know the cause of, Kawasaki disease afflicts children under the age of five. Symptoms of Kawasaki include patchy rash, redness of the feet and hands, swelling, chapped lips, bloodshot eyes, and a high fever. Kawasaki’s can cause permanent heart damage and could be fatal if a child doesn’t receive medical treatment.
Chickenpox
While once a childhood rite of passage, the varicella vaccine now makes chickenpox preventable. Even though the vaccination isn’t required, parents can spare their child the experience of suffering through the uncomfortable blisters the virus causes. Chickenpox can also cause serious complication in pregnant women and newborns, and used to send 11, 000 Americans to the hospital a year prior to the development of the vaccine.
Scarlet Fever
Occasionally a red, rough rash known as scarlet fever accompanies strep throat. The rash starts to develop on the chest and abdomen before spreading throughout the body, causing high fever. Without antibiotic treatment, scarlet fever can cause rheumatic fever, and in some cases, heart damage.
Timothy Lemke is a freelance writer. To read more of his work, visit the blog of Dr. Greg Williams, a dentist in Tigard, OR.
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