The causative agent of the disease is group A streptococcus, whose source can be sick people or simply carriers, with no signs of disease. Scarlet fever is transmitted in children, as in adults - by airborne, domestic, food routes.
How to identify the disease in children?
The first symptoms (signs) of scarlet fever in children are very similar to the usual colds. The incubation period of scarlet fever in most children is 1-10 days. That is why, to identify the disease in the early days is not very simple.
Usually the onset of illness is rapid and acute. But even in spite of this, some mothers do not know how to independently identify scarlet fever in a child. The main signs of this disease include:
- rapid, rapid increase in body temperature;
- the posterior wall of the pharynx is hyperemic;
- headache;
- general weakness;
- vomiting;
- anterior anterior lymph nodes.
The main symptom that allows you to suspect scarlet fever in children is a rash. It is localized, first of all, on the face (forehead, cheeks, whiskey) and limbs. A distinctive feature of the rash in scarlet fever in children is the fact that the palmar surfaces of the hands are affected. In addition, in some places the rash merges and forms, so-called, erythema. However, in the nasolabial triangle, the rash does not appear. For timely diagnosis, the mother should know how the scarlet fever begins in children and at the first symptoms, immediately consult a doctor.
How is scarlet fever treated in children?
All treatment is aimed at destroying the focus of infection. For these purposes antibiotics of the cephalosporin group are used first of all. All dosages and the frequency of admission are set by the doctor, during the treatment the patient must comply with bed rest. Contact with a sick child should be limited.
Are there complications after scarlet fever?
Usually scarlet fever in children rarely gives any complications to other organs and systems. But if this happens, the most common ones are:
- damage to the hearing aid - otitis media;
- defeat of the sinuses - sinusitis ;
- defeat of the joints of the limbs - arthritis;
- inflammation of excretory system - nephritis.
Prevention of scarlet fever
An important role in the fight against scarlet fever in children is prevention. This process is aimed at the timely detection of the total number, children of patients, and their isolation in a hospital. In the case of a diagnosis, one of the children attending kindergarten should carry out quarantine activities in the pre-school institution.
Children who are diagnosed with this disease are banned from visiting pre-school institutions. Only after 22 days from the date of diagnosis and after negative bacteriological studies, the baby is allowed to go to kindergarten.
All children who have undergone scarlet fever, develop immunity,
Those children who had contact with a child who is diagnosed with scarlet fever should not be allowed to visit kindergartens, mugs, schools, because there is the possibility that this child may be a source of infection for other children.
Thus, scarlet fever is an infectious disease that affects mainly children. It is this fact that complicates the process of treatment, tk. it is often not so easy to find out from a child that it hurts.