Recently, the number of cases of children infected with the new coronavirus has increased, fever, vomiting, diarrhea are typical symptoms, outpatient clinics are crowded, parents are anxious to seek medicine, and pharmacies have children's diarrhea categories out of stock.
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XBB, new crown and other viruses are easy to cause diarrhea in children
Recently, children's outpatient clinics in hospitals in many places have ushered in a peak of admissions. Winter is the peak of seasonal pediatric treatment, and children's illnesses affect the hearts of the whole family. "Influenza, mycoplasma pneumonia, bleeding brain... It is a common disease in winter for many years, and this year Omicron and variant XBB have been added, and the 24-hour daily consultation volume of the hospital has reached 11175. The president of a children's hospital in Tianjin previously said.
Since October last year, the number of infection cases such as the new coronavirus variant XBB, which has a stronger immune evasion ability and transmission power, has increased rapidly. The strain was mainly reported to cause diarrhea, and the National Health Commission quickly issued a document saying: "As the main receptor of new coronavirus binding cells, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is not only expressed in the lungs, but also has a high content in the intestine, and various variants of the new coronavirus, including XBB series variants, will infect intestinal mucosal cells." ”
It is important to note that children are more likely to have diarrhea than adults. On January 6, the National Health Commission issued the "Diagnosis and Treatment Plan for Novel Coronavirus Infection (Trial Version 10)", which stated that the clinical manifestations of children after infection (new crown) are similar to those of adults, and hyperthermia is relatively common; In some cases, symptoms may be atypical, manifested as gastrointestinal symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhea, or only as poor response, shortness of breath, etc.
In addition to the impact of the new crown and XBB virus, some parents of infants and young children also said that in the process of "Yangkang", they found that their children also had diarrhea. Zhang Qian (pseudonym), a consumer in Guangdong, said, "The baby is about 1 year old, six or seven days after the relapse, the child has some diarrhea, three ~ four times a day and all are dilute water, due to mild symptoms took some Fuwa calcium gluconate zinc oral solution previously prepared at home, nearly 1 and a half days the child returned to normal." ”
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Shorten the course of the disease and improve immunity, and children need zinc supplementation
Infantile diarrhea is a group of multi-pathogenic, multifactorial gastrointestinal diseases characterized by increased stool frequency and changes in stool characteristics.
At present, in addition to electrolyte water supplementation, zinc supplementation and microecological therapy have become an important part of the prevention and treatment strategy of diarrhea in infants and young children. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends zinc in the diagnosis and treatment of diarrhoeal diseases to prevent the occurrence and treatment of diarrhea in children, so as to shorten the course of diarrhea and improve the treatment effect.
Recently, a research article published in the top medical journal NEJM found that researchers randomized 4,500 children with acute diarrhea aged 6 to 59 months in India and Tanzania to receive 5 mg, 10 mg or 20 mg of zinc sulfate for 14 days. The three primary outcomes were diarrhoea lasting longer than five days, number of bowel movements within 30 minutes of zinc administration (assessed in non-inferiority analysis) and vomiting occurrence (assessed in the dominance analysis).
The percentage of children with diarrhea for more than 5 days was 6.5% in the 20 mg group, 7.7% in the 10 mg group, and 7.2% in the 5 mg group. The difference between the 20 mg and 10 mg groups was 1.2 percentage points (upper 98.75% confidence interval [CI] 3.3), while the difference between the 20 mg and 5 mg groups was 0.7 percentage points (2.8 upper limit for 98.75% CI), both below the 4 percentage point non-inferior boundary of 4 percentage points.
The mean number of diarrhea was 10.7 in the 20 mg group, 10.9 in the 10 mg group, and 10.8 in the 5 mg group. The difference between the 20 mg and 10 mg groups was 0.3 stools (upper limit of 98.75% CI 1.0) and between the 20 mg and 5 mg groups was 0.1 stool (upper limit of 98.75% CI 0.8), both below the non-inferiority boundary (2 stools). Vomiting occurred in 19.3%, 15.6%, and 13.7% of patients in the 20 mg, 10 mg, and 5 mg groups, respectively, within 30 minutes of taking the drug. The risk was significantly lower in the 10 mg group than in the 20 mg group (relative risk 0.81; 97.5% CI 0.67 to 0.96) and lower in the 5 mg group than in the 20 mg group (relative risk 0.71; 97.5% CI 0.59 to 0.86). Patients in the lower dose group were also less likely to vomit 30 minutes after administration.
The results of the study showed that lower doses of zinc were not less effective in the treatment of diarrhoea in children and had a small incidence of vomiting compared with the standard dose of 20 mg. Lower dose zinc supplementation can not only improve the intestinal flora environment of children, regulate intestinal health, help enhance autoimmunity, but also play a therapeutic role in acute diarrhea in certain children.
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This category is exploding potential in pharmacies
"If a child with diarrhea has symptoms such as persistent high fever, sunken eye sockets, dry lips, and decreased skin elasticity, it means that the child's dehydration is more serious and should seek medical attention in time. But if the diet is normal and the mental condition is better, parents do not need to panic, the diet can be kept light, and zinc and other trace elements can be appropriately supplemented to improve the baby's own immunity. "Recently, for parents who come to pharmacies to buy medicines for children's diarrhea, pharmacy people always give professional tips.
Based on the change in demand, the author found that many pharmacies adjusted the shelf placement and placed the calcium and zinc oral solution of Fuwa gluconate in a prominent position on the top floor, which was similar to the hot-selling products such as cold medicine, showing a correlation effect.
Source: Photographed by the author
With the rising demand for the prevention and treatment of diarrhea, children's vitamins, minerals and market share are gradually increasing, and the sales plate is increasing year by year. According to Zhongkang data, since Q1 of 2021, the entire category of mineral supplements has grown rapidly, of which minerals have increased by more than 80%, and the growth rate has remained at a high level since then.
In the field of children's health, mineral supplements represented by "Fuwa calcium zinc gluconate oral solution" have focused on cultivating the market under the influence of the new crown epidemic, and the market estimates that the retail sales scale of this category will exceed the 3 billion mark in 2023.
Source: Zhongkang CMH
Popularize health knowledge through the all-media matrix and trigger the growth of explosive categories. Fuwa calcium zinc gluconate oral solution is mainly for children aged 0-12 years, calcium, zinc, lysine three kinds of supplement, strong bones, improve appetite, promote development. Fuwa attracts key target groups through Xiaohongshu topic marketing and attracts traffic to offline, bringing young customers to pharmacies, precipitating high-value members of mother and baby, and helping to provide professional services to become a deep mother and baby track.
With the promotion of the health 2030 strategy, the health awareness of Chinese people has been unprecedentedly improved, among which the young "parents and mothers" with high education level, health science awareness and high acceptance of novel products are more likely to upgrade brand and quality consumption, in order to layout the future market, pharmacies must pay certain attention.
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