From birth to adulthood, a child inevitably has a moment of illness.
But for the common cold and fever, these are actually not too big things.
What makes parents feel the most big is pneumonia.
Once the child suffers from pneumonia, a series of operations such as injections, medicines, infusions, atomization, etc., coupled with coughing day and night, can be described as a laborious "battle" for parents.
In infantile pneumonia, Streptococcus pneumoniae is one of the main types, about half of the severe pneumonia is caused by pneumococcal infection, and in fatal cases, more than 50% of deaths are caused by pneumococcal infection.
Each year, 30 000 children die from pneumococcal disease
As one of the world's most serious public health problems, pneumococcal is also the most common bacteria that cause respiratory infections in children.
In addition to causing local infections such as pneumonia, tonsillitis, otitis media, sinusitis, etc., it can also cause meningitis, bacteremia, sepsis, pericarditis, endocarditis and other diseases.
According to the data, about 30,000 children in China have died of pneumococcal diseases, and about one child under 5 years old has died of pneumococcal infection every 17 minutes.
What is the difference between pneumonia and a cold?
For pneumonia, many parents often do not realize it at the beginning, but only think that their children have a common cold, so they have been treated according to the common cold.
This leads to the gradual aggravation of the child's condition, which misses the optimal treatment period, resulting in increased difficulty and increased treatment costs.
So, what is the difference between a cold and pneumonia?
1. Cough and difficulty breathing
According to the symptoms of pneumonia, it can be known that when the baby has pneumonia, most of the symptoms of coughing and wheezing will appear, and the degree will be relatively heavy, and it will also cause breathing difficulties.
When there is dyspnea, it means that the condition is more serious and needs timely treatment.
Although colds may also cause coughing and wheezing, they are generally mild and do not cause breathing difficulties.
2. Mental state
When the baby is in pneumonia, the mental state will be very poor, and there will be irritability, crying or lethargy.
When you have a cold, the baby's mental state is better and he is willing to play.
3. Diet and sleep
When the baby suffers from pneumonia, there will be a significant decrease in appetite, do not drink milk, and when drinking milk, there will be a crying performance because of holding breath.
When sleeping, it is also difficult to sleep, it is easy to wake up, and it is easy to aggravate breathing difficulties at night. When you have a cold, your baby's diet is still normal, but he may eat less than usual. Sleep is also relatively normal.
4. Fever
After the baby suffers from pneumonia, most of them will have fever, most of the body temperature is above 38 degrees, and will last for about two or three days, after taking antipyretic drugs, you can temporarily control the body temperature for a while.
Although the cold may also have fever, but the body temperature is mostly below 38 degrees, the duration will be very short, after taking antipyretic drugs, the body temperature can also be controlled in time.
5. Breathing sounds
Because the baby's chest wall will be relatively thin, sometimes the blister sound can be heard without stethoscope, and the chest wall can be heard in the baby's quiet or sleeping state.
Pay attention to choosing a warm environment, take off your baby's clothes, stick them to the chest walls on both sides of your baby's spine, and listen carefully.
If it is pneumonia, a grunting sound, known as a small blister sound, can be heard at the end of the baby's inhalation. Babies generally do not have this sound when they have a cold.
In the face of pneumococcal bacteria, the most important thing is to do this well
----- get the pneumococcal vaccine!
Autumn and winter are the seasons of high incidence of pneumococcal infection, and the younger the age, the greater the risk of severe pneumococcal infection.
Timely vaccination with pneumococcal vaccine can greatly reduce the risk of infection, as long as the vaccine covers the corresponding serotype, it can reduce the risk of serious infection by about 80%.
Therefore, we call on parents, as long as they meet the conditions for vaccination, they must take their children to the hospital in time to complete the vaccination of pneumococcal vaccine as soon as possible.
bibliography:
【1】Expert Consensus on prevention of pneumococcal immune diseases (2017 edition)
[2] HUANG Qi. The Chinese story of pneumococcal vaccine Approaching Chinese children and helping "healthy China"[J]. Xinmin Weekly, 2018(16):16-19.