All around us, there are always worrying diseases that are quietly affecting our children.
Recently, Aunt Li's youngest grandson, Xiao Ming, has suffered such troubles. Xiao Ming suddenly began to cough continuously, his voice was hoarse, and his little face was red, which made people feel distressed.
Neighbor Wang's sentence "This can't be whooping cough, right?" made Aunt Li's heart rise to her throat.
So, what exactly is whooping cough, what are its characteristics, and how can we prevent it?
01
Whooping cough, as the name suggests, is a cough condition that lasts for a long time. It is an acute respiratory infection caused by Bordetella pertussis, which is very contagious and has a fairly long course.
The germ is mainly transmitted through respiratory droplets, so once someone is infected, it can easily spread to the people around them, especially children and the elderly with relatively low immunity.
When it comes to the contagiousness of whooping cough, we have to mention its incubation period. The incubation period for whooping cough is usually 7 to 14 days, but it can be as long as 21 days. During this period, the patient may not have any symptoms, but still carry the germs and be contagious. Patients are contagious from the end of the incubation period until 6 weeks after the onset of illness.
It is most contagious during the period from the end of the incubation period to the 2 to 3 weeks after the onset of symptoms.
Therefore, once you find symptoms of whooping cough, you should seek medical attention immediately and take appropriate isolation measures to prevent further spread of the germs.
02
In fact, vaccination with pertussis is the most economical and effective means of prevention. According to the national immunization programme procedure, children should receive one dose of pertussis-containing vaccine at 3 months, 4 months, 5 months, and 18 months.
Doing so can greatly reduce the risk of contracting whooping cough and also reduce the severity of symptoms after infection. Therefore, parents must take their children to get vaccinated on time!
03
Of course, prevention is always limited, and if a child is unfortunate enough to have whooping cough, we don't need to panic too much. Pertussis is generally divided into three phases: catarrhal phase, cramp phase, and recovery phase.
Without intervention, these three phases add up to typically last around 100 days. In terms of treatment, we can take a combination of general treatment, anti-infective treatment and symptomatic treatment.
01. Provide a comfortable environment for children
The general treatment is to provide the child with a good and comfortable environment, keep the indoor air circulating, and avoid irritating odors and smoke. Anti-infective therapy is the use of antibiotics to kill or inhibit the growth of the bacteria.
Symptomatic treatment is aimed at the child's specific symptoms, such as expectorant and asthma, to relieve the child's pain.
02. Pay attention to the differences in children's physique
During the treatment, we also need to pay attention to the differences in the child's constitution.
Some children have sticky sputum and cough with less phlegm and it is difficult to cough up, so you can give your child pear water or white fungus water to moisten the lungs and dissolve phlegm.
Some children look white and fat, with relatively more phlegm and easy diarrhea, so you can give your child tangerine peel water to strengthen the spleen and dissolve phlegm. In short, parents should choose the appropriate treatment according to the specific situation of their child.
03. Can vaccination prevent whooping cough?
Also, it is important to note that protective antibodies to pertussis acquired through recovery from natural infection or immunization with vaccines do not last for life. Over time, the protective effect of the antibody gradually decays.
As a result, people of all ages are at risk, with infants and young children at higher risk. Also, the younger the child, the higher the risk of complications and severe disease.
Therefore, parents must pay close attention to their children's physical condition and seek medical attention immediately if they find abnormalities.
04
In terms of family protection, parents should also pay attention to strengthening prevention. Because parents or other family members infected with whooping cough are the main source of infection, families with children need to be more protected.
If adults have symptoms such as coughing, they should wear masks and strengthen hand hygiene in time to avoid infecting children.
At the same time, members of the public are advised to maintain good personal hygiene habits in daily life, such as washing hands frequently and covering coughs or sneezes.
In addition, it is also necessary to pay attention to the combination of work and rest, reasonable work and rest, and appropriate participation in physical exercise to enhance one's own resistance.
In conclusion, whooping cough is a serious threat to children's health, but we should not be too alarmed.
By understanding the characteristics of whooping cough, taking effective preventive measures, and paying attention to personal and family hygiene, we can build a healthy barrier for our children. Let's take action together to keep whooping cough away from our children!