Most of the children who got whooping cough were not vaccinated or had not received enough doses. Many children got whooping cough before the age of vaccination...
According to information from the Quang Ninh Province Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital, in the past 2 months, the hospital has examined and hospitalized 13 cases of children with whooping cough with symptoms of continuous coughing for many weeks, fever, cyanosis, exhaustion, fatigue, loss of appetite, etc.
 |
| Illustration photo. |
Most of the children who got whooping cough were not vaccinated or had not received enough doses. Many children got whooping cough under 2 months of age, before the recommended age for vaccination (according to the vaccination schedule, children get the first dose of whooping cough vaccine at 2 months of age).
This is a disease that causes dangerous complications and is highly fatal for children under 3 months old. Most of the infected children have not been vaccinated or have not received enough doses of the vaccine. Many children with whooping cough are under 2 months old.
According to doctors, because children under 3 months old have not yet reached the vaccination schedule or have not received enough doses of whooping cough vaccine, the risk of infection is high.
On the other hand, the child does not have immunity or does not receive immunity from the mother because the mother has not been vaccinated against this disease. Another concern is that children under 1 year old with whooping cough progress very quickly. The younger the child is with whooping cough, the higher the mortality rate.
Whooping cough is an infectious disease caused by the bacteria Bordetella pertussis that invades the respiratory tract. The disease can be transmitted through the respiratory tract through direct contact with secretions in the throat and nasal mucosa of an infected person when sneezing or coughing.
Symptoms of whooping cough usually appear within 5-7 days of exposure, but sometimes the incubation period is as long as 3 weeks. The illness usually begins with cold-like symptoms, with a mild cough, followed by more coughing and a runny nose and possibly a low-grade fever. After 1-2 weeks, the coughing becomes more severe.
Unlike a cold, whooping cough presents as a series of coughing fits that last for weeks. If not caught early and treated, the disease can become more severe, causing a more severe cough and more phlegm.
Prolonged coughing leads to vomiting, loss of appetite, fatigue, watery eyes, runny nose, and exhaustion. Persistent coughing causes the child to turn red in the face or turn purple, which can lead to respiratory failure and death from suffocation.
It should be noted that in infants, coughing rarely occurs or even does not occur, but there may be temporary apnea for a short time.
Therefore, whooping cough is the most dangerous disease for young children. Because of persistent, prolonged coughing, children become exhausted, especially in infants because their resistance is still weak and not enough to fight the disease.
The disease often causes a lack of oxygen to the body, leading to many complications such as respiratory failure, pneumonia, cerebral hypoxia, encephalitis, conjunctival hemorrhage, and even death if not detected and treated early, especially in newborns.
Doctors from the Department of Tropical Diseases, Quang Ninh Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital advise people that whooping cough is easily transmitted through direct contact through the respiratory tract in the community, so in addition to vaccination as the most effective preventive measure, people also need to pay attention to implementing other measures well:
Wash your hands regularly with soap. Cover your mouth when coughing or sneezing. Keep your child's body, nose and throat clean every day. Make sure your home, nursery and classroom are well ventilated, clean and well lit.
Limit children from going to crowded places, avoid contact with people with respiratory diseases, especially whooping cough. In particular, parents need to pay attention to taking their children to get vaccinated against whooping cough fully and on schedule.
According to Dr. Nguyen Tuan Hai, Safpo/Potec vaccination system, to prevent whooping cough, vaccination is the most important to protect children's health.
To proactively prevent whooping cough, parents need to take note to vaccinate their children against whooping cough fully and on schedule: 1st dose: When the child is 2 months old. 2nd dose: 1 month after the first dose. 3rd dose: 1 month after the second dose. 4th dose: When the child is 18 months old.
Children born to mothers who do not have antibodies against whooping cough are at higher risk of developing the disease than children who receive antibodies from their mothers.
To proactively prevent diseases for children before they reach vaccination age, mothers can get the combined tetanus-diphtheria-pertussis vaccine (Tdap) during pregnancy.
Along with that, it is necessary to implement other measures well such as regularly washing hands with soap, covering mouth when coughing or sneezing; keeping children's body, nose and throat clean every day; ensuring houses, kindergartens and classrooms are airy, clean and have enough light; limiting children from going to crowded places, avoiding contact with people with respiratory diseases, especially whooping cough.
Parents need to distinguish between whooping cough and common cough to take their children to the hospital promptly. When suspecting whooping cough or having any signs of the disease such as: Having many coughs, red or purple face during coughs, each cough lasts for a long time; poor appetite, vomiting a lot; sleeping little; rapid breathing/difficulty breathing, take the child to the hospital for examination, determine the cause and support early treatment.
Source: https://baodautu.vn/tre-nhap-vien-hang-loat-do-bien-chung-ho-ga-d218737.html
Comment (0)