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Posts Tagged ‘Childhood Diarhea’

Childhood diarrhea is a serious problem which affects not only millions of small, but actually kills about 1.5 million worldwide, therefore, and to better understand this health problem, UNICEF ( United Nations Children’s Fund) and World Health Organization released a report on its current status.

Let us see in this article some questions and answers that will help understanding the problem and order, when a case of this nature, know how to act:

* What are the main forms of acute childhood diarrhea? In principle there are three more lethal and require immediate treatment. The first is acute watery diarrhea and is characterized by severe fluid loss and rapid dehydration. It can last from several hours to days and is caused by V.cholerae (which causes cholera) or the bacterium E. coli or rotavirus.

The bloody diarrhea is characterized by blood loss in stool, can also cause intestinal damage. The third and last more serious is the persistent, which can last up to two weeks, usually children suffering from malnutrition or diseases like AIDS are more prone to allergies.

* Why children are more vulnerable? Generally, small suffering from malnutrition or were malnourished or living in poor general health, have increased risk of diarrhea and, consequently, dehydration.

Moreover, in this sense, children are more vulnerable and may suffer lethal dehydration than adults because their bodies in water is a major part of its membership.

* How is it prevented? In principle, it should work to prevent that all children had a lifestyle more healthy and away from the risk of infections that can develop these pictures.

In addition, vaccination against measles and rotavirus also has an important role, since these diseases are responsible for about 40 percent of hospitalizations for diarrhea in children under 5 years. Also, proper hygiene is essential for prevention at this point, we must emphasize the proper and regular hand washing of children.

* How to treat? Since the 70s, used oral rehydration therapy as a way of basic treatment to prevent dehydration and deadly in which can trigger a severe diarrhea. Similarly, supplementation of zinc along with oral rehydration salts has also proved effective in these cases.