Patna: Children are more susceptible to infection and illness in rainy season causing much anxiety to their parents. As kids have natural fascination for confectioneries or junk foods, inculcating basic hygiene practices in them, both at home and school, can prevent many germs from entering the children's body, said medical experts of the city.
“Typhoid, jaundice, sudden abdominal pain and diarrhoea coupled with high fever are the common problems affecting children in monsoon. Washing hands before taking food and using only filtered or boiled water for drinking can prevent children from many infections and diseases during this season,” said Dr Sunil Kishore, assistant professor of paediatrics, Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS).
According to Dr Kishore, in rural areas another problem of leptospirosis, having symptoms of muscle pain, high fever, bleeding and redness in eyes in children, is also common during this season. He advised to discourage children from taking chilled water as it could lead to temperature imbalances in body and cause sore throat.
The pathological investigations of children suffering from monsoon ailments also confirms rise in typhoid cases, both bacterial and viral, according to Dr Sangam Shukla, a pathologist. “There has been a rise of 25 to 30 percent in such cases, mostly categorised as faeco-oral infections in the last fortnight,” he said.
As elderly persons and children have weak immune system, they can easily fall prey to such diseases. Dr Shukla warned that recurrence of diarrhoea in them can lead to long term deficiencies of iron, folic acid vitamin B 12 and also malabsorption of nutrients.
Gastroenterologist Dr Amitesh Kumar said children having a low water reserve capacity easily get dehydrated and it could lead to other problems. “The immune system of children below six years is not fully developed, thus childish behaviour like exerting most of their energy in playing without taking sufficient water often leads to dehydration in them. Besides, hot and humid weather is suitable for growth of bacteria and such conditions can affect the children's health,” says Dr Gyan Bhushan Raman, a physician.
Dr Gyan also cautioned people against the modern trend of taking packaged foods, saying that multiple handling from preparation of the items to their packaging raised chances of their contamination. Check out the
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