Pregnant women are often worried when they get the flu but tend to refuse to use medication for fear of affecting the fetus, leading to the mistake of self-treatment at home, causing the disease to not be detected early and easily progress to a more severe stage.
Do not be subjective when infected with flu during pregnancy
Ms. Huong, 35 years old, 29 weeks pregnant, had a cough and fever for about 5 days, was hospitalized with high fever and difficulty breathing.
 |
| Illustration |
According to the report, Ms. Huong had symptoms of cough and runny nose for about 5 days. The Covid-19 test at home was negative so she did not go to the doctor. After that, the pregnant woman used medicine bought at the pharmacy but her condition worsened.
The emergency doctor quickly assessed the condition, consulted with an obstetrician and administered medication to help the pregnant woman reduce uterine contractions.
After the contractions and fetal heart rate stabilized, Ms. Huong was transferred to the respiratory department, where the test results were positive for influenza A. X-ray images showed that the lung parenchyma on both sides had left pneumonia lesions.
According to doctors here, pregnant women are often worried when they get the flu but tend to refuse to use medication for fear of affecting the fetus, leading to the mistake of self-treatment at home, causing the disease to not be detected early and easily progress to a more serious condition.
Many pregnant mothers who have passed the first trimester often subjectively think that the fetus is stable and that the flu does not have much effect, so they do not even go for a check-up and do not detect the flu.
As in the case of Ms. Vi (27 years old), who was 18 weeks pregnant and had symptoms of fever, stuffy nose, and fatigue for nearly a week.
She suspected she had the flu but only used ginger lozenges at home and gargled with salt water to clean her respiratory tract. After that, she had a high fever of 39 degrees Celsius, chills, sometimes coughing up thick yellow phlegm, and a feeling of chest tightness after coughing. Notably, when she saw that the fetus did not move like the previous two pregnancies, she worriedly went to the doctor.
At Tam Anh General Hospital in Hanoi, after a clinical examination, Ms. Vi had a positive rapid influenza A test, an infection test such as white blood cells, an increased CRP index, and was diagnosed with influenza A - bronchitis with secondary infection.
At the same time, there was a phenomenon of fetal heart failure requiring long-term hospitalization. Through sharing, Ms. Vi had a history of ventricular septal defect and had not been vaccinated against seasonal flu before pregnancy.
Dr. Huong said that pregnant women have weak immune systems and are susceptible to many respiratory diseases in general, especially seasonal flu. This disease is usually benign, but when pregnant women get the flu, the duration of the disease is often prolonged with many health risks for mother and baby such as pneumonia, heart damage or other organs.
Because pregnant women have greater oxygen needs than normal while their immune systems are weakened, pneumonia in pregnant women is more dangerous.
In addition, the fetus is also at high risk of malformations, stillbirth, premature birth... when the mother has the flu.
Most cases of flu can be monitored at home, however, if you have symptoms of high fever, body aches and pains, the disease tends to get worse, or cough with phlegm, you should go to the hospital for examination and treatment according to the regimen of a specialist.
Especially for pregnant women, in addition to the risk of worsening the disease, the use of treatment drugs must be careful to avoid affecting both mother and fetus. Pregnant women should absolutely not use drugs without a doctor's prescription because these drugs can affect the development and cause some birth defects in the fetus.
Doctor Huong further recommends that after flu treatment, patients need to continue to monitor the pregnancy and screen for pregnancy at the Obstetrics department.
Flu vaccination for pregnant women is very necessary, reducing the risk of illness and reducing the risk of severe illness. Before getting vaccinated against flu, pregnant women should see and consult with obstetricians.
Currently, respiratory diseases such as flu, colds, etc. tend to increase due to climate change, environmental pollution, and the impact of unhealthy lifestyles.
The North has recently experienced storm number 3. Environmental pollution, lack of clean water, and lack of food hygiene and safety increase the risk of respiratory diseases, which can easily become epidemics in areas affected by the storm.
Acute respiratory infections can progress to bronchitis and pneumonia due to people's limited access to health care services.
Some chronic lung diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and bronchial asthma account for nearly 10% of the population, tend to progress gradually and continuously over time, seriously affecting the labor force and social activities of the patient.
Critical due to self-applying tobacco leaves at home to treat illness
Patient GXS, a 59-year-old male, Mong ethnic group, living in Ha Giang, experienced serious complications of Fournier syndrome (necrosis of the genital and anal areas).
This is a classic case of the dangers of improper treatment and rapid progression of the disease.
Through medical history, the patient said that 13 days before being admitted to the hospital, he had symptoms of swelling, heat, redness and pain in the scrotum. Trusting in traditional treatment methods, the patient sought out a local herbalist for examination and applied herbal medicine at home.
However, after applying this method, the patient's condition not only did not improve but also became more severe, with necrosis of the entire perineal scrotal skin spreading to the abdominal wall.
The patient was admitted to the hospital with the following symptoms: fever, necrotic perineum and abdominal wall, foul odor, pus and pseudomembrane, and severe pain. After 2 days of treatment at the primary health facility without improvement, the patient was transferred to the Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases.
The patient was immediately admitted to the Intensive Care Unit. The patient was diagnosed with Fournier syndrome, and was monitored for sepsis with obvious symptoms: the scrotal area was necrotic with a lot of pus and spread to the abdominal wall. This syndrome is a condition of soft tissue necrosis in the genital and anal areas, a very dangerous complication that can lead to death.
MSc. Ha Viet Huy, Department of Intensive Care, said: “The genital and anal areas are areas with very few blood vessels, so medical treatment is often ineffective. In this case, only surgery can save the patient’s life.”
The patient was then transferred to the Department of General Surgery - Urology & Andrology for surgery. According to Dr. CKII. Tran Thuong Viet - Head of the Department, who directly operated on the patient, we have completely removed the scrotum, the necrotic perineum and the necrotic abdominal wall. However, the necrosis can still progress and it is possible that the patient will have to undergo one or several more surgeries.
After surgery to remove the necrotic lesion, the patient was transferred back to the Intensive Care Unit for further treatment. According to Dr. Huy, Fournier syndrome is common in patients with weakened immune systems. If not detected and treated promptly, the disease can lead to dangerous complications such as blood loss, septic shock, and a very high risk of death.
In this case, the patient's self-treatment with unknown ingredients created ideal conditions for bacteria to grow, causing the disease to progress rapidly and become more complicated.
According to Dr. Huy, if the patient had been treated properly and promptly from the beginning, the necrosis might not have developed to such a serious level.
Fournier syndrome, although rare, can be completely cured if detected early and treated promptly. Patients and the community should avoid self-treatment by word of mouth methods, especially the use of tobacco or folk remedies of unknown origin.
When there are unusual symptoms such as swelling, heat, redness, and pain in the genital or anal area, patients need to quickly go to reputable medical facilities for timely examination and treatment." Doctor Huy recommends.
Anaphylactic shock due to drugs
Recently, the Emergency Department of 108 Central Military Hospital successfully treated a 27-year-old female patient, 40 weeks pregnant, who suffered from a critical anaphylactic reaction to medication.
Through medical history, on September 10, the patient had a sore throat and took amoxicillin, alphachoay, codepil, and ngan lien phe. After about 30 minutes of taking the medicine, the patient had hives all over the body, difficulty breathing, wheezing, chest pain, and dizziness.
The patient was admitted to the Emergency Department, 108 Central Military Hospital for examination in the following condition: alert, responsive, allergic rash all over the body, severe itching, mild laryngeal edema, hoarse voice, wheezing, rapid breathing 30 times/minute, wheezing in both lungs, SpO2 92%, regular, rapid heart rate, 132 times/minute, blood pressure 96/54mmHg.
The patient was given emergency treatment according to the protocol for grade III anaphylaxis, including adrenaline injection, corticosteroids, antihistamines, oxygen therapy, intravenous fluids, bedside ultrasound, obstetric consultation, fetal heart rate measurement, and uterine contraction monitoring.
After 10 minutes of intensive care, the patient's difficulty breathing improved, the rash decreased, blood pressure was within limits, and the pulse gradually stabilized. He was transferred to the Department of Internal Resuscitation and Anti-Poisoning, Central Military Hospital for further monitoring. At 2:00 p.m. on September 12, the patient was discharged from the hospital in a conscious state, with stable respiratory circulation, no allergic rash, and the fetus was stable.
Doctor Le Kieu Trang, Emergency Department, 108 Central Military Hospital, anaphylactic shock is the most dangerous immediate allergic reaction that can lead to sudden death within a few minutes, after exposure to an allergen.
There are many causes of anaphylactic shock (drugs, foods, chemicals, insect venom, etc.). Drugs are a very common cause. All types of drugs can cause anaphylactic shock, the most common being β-lactam antibiotics, anti-inflammatory analgesics, muscle relaxants, anticonvulsants, contrast agents, anesthetics, etc.
Anaphylaxis in pregnant women is a special case, with a high risk of death, lack of oxygen for both mother and fetus, leading to fetal distress, stillbirth, the use of drugs in this subject must be extremely careful, requiring the prescription of a specialist. When there are signs of suspected allergy such as maculopapular rash, itching, facial swelling, difficulty breathing, dizziness, ... go immediately to the nearest medical facility for timely treatment.
Source: https://baodautu.vn/tin-moi-y-te-ngay-199-can-trong-khi-nhiem-cum-trong-thai-ky-d225282.html
Comment (0)