Fear of Coronavirus Can Make Children Sick

Children who spend time at home due to the coronavirus pandemic become less sick because there is no risk of contamination. However, avoiding going to the doctor and hospital with the concern of Covid-19 leads to the late diagnosis of some childhood diseases and the disruption of the treatment processes.

Specialist from Memorial Kayseri Hospital Child Health and Diseases Department. Dr. Aslı Mutlugün Alpay gave information about the things to be considered against childhood diseases during the pandemic process.

Untreated disease causes major problems

With the winter season, upper respiratory tract diseases such as influenza, cold, pharyngitis, tonsillitis, otitis, and lower respiratory tract infections such as laryngotracheitis (croup), bronchitis, bronchiolitis and pneumonia are seen in children. In addition, diarrhea, gastrointestinal system infections with vomiting and skin diseases with rash occur frequently in children. If these diseases are not treated, they cause other health problems. In order to prevent health problems, a detailed examination, degree of disease, treatment plan and follow-up should be determined and complaints should be taken under control. Although there is a concern about coronavirus, families should consult a doctor without waiting for some symptoms in children to increase.

If your child has these complaints, consult a doctor immediately.

• Fever exceeding 72 degrees Celsius for more than 38 hours.
• The occurrence of distress in the respiratory tract such as difficulty in breathing, bruising, moaning while breathing.
• Loss of interest in surroundings, sleepiness and unresponsiveness to stimuli.
• Children with pain and fever in the throat have whiteness on the tonsils.
• Red rashes that do not disappear with pressing. (petechiae, purpura)
• Bruises on the body that are not caused by hits and falls.
• Bile vomiting or vomiting more than 3 times a day.
• Sudden onset of severe abdominal pain.
• Pain in the eggs that occurs suddenly in boys.

Be wary of childhood cancers

According to the data of the World Health Organization, 300 thousand children are diagnosed with cancer annually. The incidence of new cancer seen in children every year in Turkey was determined to be 120-130 million. According to new cancer diagnoses each year in Turkey in 2500-3000 is estimated to be put in children. Childhood cancers are clinically, biologically and genetically different from cancers in adults. For this reason, it is a little more difficult to diagnose cancer in children than in adults. Critical situations that are diagnosed late and delayed in treatment cause a problematic process to begin. Therefore, it should be kept in mind that some symptoms in children are the harbingers of cancer. The most common symptom of childhood cancers is headaches. Recurrent headaches that appear in the lying position in the mornings, increase in intensity and may awaken from sleep may indicate the presence of the tumor. With the pandemic, children spending long hours in front of the screen can increase their headaches. Although this problem is thought to be psychological, a child with an unexplained headache should have MRI (magnetic resonance), one of the imaging methods. Children should be aware of the symptoms of cancer and instead of avoiding going to the hospital during the pandemic period, children should definitely be taken to the doctor. Complying with the measures taken as much as we can; We should keep our children away from crowded, crowded, stuffy and smoking environments.

Pay attention to 8 important symptoms of cancer in children!

1. Prolonged weakness and tiredness of unknown cause.
2. Unidentified vomiting that lasts longer than 1 week.
3. Headaches that wake you up from sleep.
4. The emergence of certain sized glands on the body.
5. Hypertrophy in the gums, that is, prominence.
6. Bone pain that awakens you from sleep at night.
7. Having weight loss that is not dependent on diet.
8. The emergence of the cat's eye image called 'leucocoria' in infants and children. It is the situation where the pupil is seen as white in babies in photos. Early diagnosis of retinoblastoma, which is an eye tumor, can be easier considering that almost every moment of the baby is photographed today.