When the infirm baby is beginning to ache in the hospital, the doctors never sound alarm. This is too frequent and natural phenomenon, which lends itself to rapid treatment. However, at an older age, yellowed eyes and skin can cause parents to worry. What are the signs of hepatitis and what should I do if the diagnosis is confirmed? Let's try to understand this question.
Hepatitis in children - symptoms
As soon as the baby comes into the world and is still in the hospital, it is necessary to put two vaccines: one against tuberculosis (the so-called BCG), and the second - against hepatitis B. Such attention to the virus is not accidental. In adults, this disease occurs with characteristic features, and in children it can develop almost asymptomatically. That's why at the age of three months and six months, children are reintroduced. A vaccine against hepatitis A is given to children from the age of three and re-introduced in three and a half years. However, it is not always the virus that is forced into the child's body, helps to avoid the disease. Therefore, each parent should know how to recognize the symptoms of the three hepatitis viruses in his offspring:
1. Hepatitis A. (Botkin's disease). Can get through the mouth with food, as well as through the patient with this virus or along with dirty hands. The most common form of hepatitis. The onset of the disease is characterized by a high fever, symptoms similar to the flu (weakness, chills, headache, aches all over the body). Then the liver and the gastrointestinal tract begin to hurt. In children, these symptoms will be barely perceptible. A child can complain of pain and heaviness in the right hypochondrium and refuse to eat. Diarrhea and vomiting may also occur. At night, a child may be bothered by a skin test. After a few days, it is possible to color the urine in the color of the beer, and the feces become discolored.
2. Hepatitis B. (serum hepatitis). More dangerous than the previous species. Can be transmitted through mother's milk, blood, saliva and tears. Signs of hepatitis B in children are very difficult to determine. However, if it is a question of this form of the disease, then it is worth paying attention to the following complaints and indicators:
- bleeding gums and nosebleeds;
- increased liver, pancreatic and bile ducts;
- temperature increase;
- pain on the upper right side of the abdomen
- rash on the skin.
3. Hepatitis C. The most dangerous form of the disease. The virus has properties that constantly change, allowing it to live for many years in the human body. The main symptoms of infection: weakness, fatigue, lack of appetite, skin coloring in yellow, darkening of urine and clarification of feces. Very often, with the disease, there may come an imaginary improvement, which in 80% of cases leads to the fact that chronic hepatitis can occur. In children, it can be asymptomatic or mild.
Any form of the disease is treated with bed rest and a diet that consists of vegetable fats, proteins, digestible carbohydrates, fresh vegetables, fruits and juices. With improvement of well-being and recovery, choleretic preparations and medicines improving the metabolic processes of liver cells are added to the treatment. In the case of hepatitis B, antiviral drugs may be added. Congenital hepatitis in children is treated in the same way, but to maintain proper nutrition is necessary throughout life.