Common Cold
Bringing sniffles and sneezes and perhaps a sore throat and annoying cough, the common cold catches us all from time to time.
With so many children get as eight colds per year or more, this contagious viral infection of the upper respiratory tract is the most common infectious disease in the United States and the No. 1 reason kids to the doctor and stay home from school.
Causes
Most colds are rhinoviruses, which are caused in invisible droplets in the air we breathe or on things we touch. Can penetrate more than 100 different rhinoviruses the protective lining of the nose and throat, triggering an immune system response that can cause sore throat and a headache, and make it hard to breathe through the nose.
Air is dry - indoors or out - can lower resistance to infection by viruses that cause colds. And so can a smoker or be around someone who smokes. People who smoke are more likely a cold than people who did not catch - and their symptoms will probably be worse, last longer and are more likely to lead to bronchitis or even pneumonia.
But despite some old wives tales, not wearing a jacket or sweater when it's cold, sitting or sleeping in a draft, and going outside while your hair is wet do not cause colds.
Signs and symptoms
The first symptoms of a cold are often a sore throat, a runny or stuffy nose, and sneezing. Children with colds can also sore throat, cough, headache, mild fever, fatigue, muscle aches and loss of appetite. Can of watery nasal discharge to thick yellow or green.
Contagiousness
Colds are most contagious during the first appear 2-4 days after onset of symptoms and can be contagious for up to 3 weeks. You can catch a cold spread from person-to-person contact or by breathing in virus particles through the air by sneezing or coughing. Touching the mouth or nose after touching the skin or another surface contaminated with a rhinovirus can also spread a cold.
Prevention
As to cause so many viruses, there is no vaccine available to protect against colds. But to prevent it, children should:
try to steer clear who smokes or who has a cold. Virus particles can be up to 12 meters through the air when someone coughs or sneezes with a cold and secondhand smoke can make your child more likely to get sick.
wash their hands thoroughly and frequently, especially after blowing their noses
cover their nose and mouth when coughing or sneezing (have them sneeze or cough into a shirtsleeve, but not their hands - that prevents the spread of germs)
not the same towels or eating utensils as someone who has a cold. You also should not drink from the same glass, cans, bottles like any other - you never know who will be coming over with a cold and is already spreading the virus.
do not pick up other people's used tissues
Researchers are not sure whether taking extra zinc or vitamin C can limit how long cold symptoms last or how severe they become, but large doses taken daily can cause negative side effects.
The results of most studies on the value of herbal remedies such as echinacea, are either negative or inconclusive, and few properly designed scientific studies of these treatments have been done in children.
Talk with your doctor before you decide to no herbal remedy or more than the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of any vitamin or supplement your child.
Time
Cold symptoms usually occur 2-3 days after exposure to a source of infection. Most colds clear up within 1 week, but some last as long as 2 weeks.
Treatment
"Time heals all." This may not always be right, but in the case of the common cold, it's pretty close. The medicine can not cure the common cold, but it can be used to alleviate symptoms such as muscle pain, headache and fever. You can give your child acetaminophen or ibuprofen to the package recommendations for age or weight.
However, aspirin should not be given to children under 12 years, and all children under 19 years of age should not take aspirin during viral illnesses, because this use, the risk of developing Reye's syndrome, a rare but serious disease that can be fatal can can increase.
Although you may be tempted to your child over-the-counter (OTC) to give decongestants and antihistamines to try to ease the symptoms of the common cold, there is little or no evidence to support that they actually work. In fact, decongestants can cause hallucinations, irritability, and irregular heartbeats, especially in young children, and should not be used in children younger than 4 years old, consultation be used with a doctor without. And many experts now believe that there is usually no reason why these drugs in each child use younger than 6th
Some ways you can relieve cold symptoms include
Salt water falls into the nostrils to relieve nasal congestion (you can buy these - also saline nose drops - at any pharmacy)
into the air to raise a cool-mist humidifier humidity
Vaseline on the skin under the nose to soothe rawness
Candy or cough drops to relieve sore throat (for kids older than 3)
relieve a warm bath or heating pad for aches and pains
To help steam from a hot shower, your child breathe easier
But what about chicken soup? There is no real evidence that it can eat to cure a cold, but sick people who swear by it for more than 800 years. Why? Chicken soup contains a mucus-thinning amino acid called cysteine, and some research shows that chicken soup control congestion-causing white blood cell that helps so-called neutrophils.
The best plan, however, is not to consider whether to "feed a cold" or worry "starve a fever." So make sure that your child eats when hungry and drink to help much liquid as water or juice, replace the fluids lost during mucus production or fever. Avoid caffeinated beverages served, though, what can frequent urination (peeing) and therefore lead to increase the risk of dehydration.
When to call the doctor
Your doctor will not be able to identify the specific virus causes cold symptoms, but your child can examine the throat and ears and make sure that the symptoms do not require specific treatment of another disease, a throat culture. If your symptoms get worse instead of better after 3 days or so, the problem might be strep throat, sinusitis, bronchitis or pneumonia, especially if your son or daughter smokes.
A throat culture is a simple, painless involves brushing the inside of the neck with a long cotton swab. The study of bacteria, which helps with the swab stick the doctor determine if your child has strep throat and needs treatment with antibiotics.
If the symptoms last longer than a week, appear at the same time each year, or occur when your child is exposed, pollen, dust, animals or other substance, an allergy could be to blame. Children who have difficulty breathing or wheezing, asthma if they could catch a cold.
Always call the doctor if your child more than you could have a cold to think your child is getting worse instead of better, or if any of these symptoms:
Coughing up a lot of phlegm
Shortness of breath
unusual lethargy / fatigue
Keep inability food or liquids down or poor fluid intake
increasing headache or facial or neck pain
very painful sore throat with difficulty in swallowing, which disrupts
Fever of 103 ° F (39.3 ° C) or higher, or a fever of 101 ° F (38.0 ° C) or higher that lasts for more than a day
Chest or stomach pain
swollen glands (lymph nodes) in the neck
Earache
Like most viral infections, colds just have to run its course. Getting plenty of rest, avoid vigorous activity and drinking plenty of fluids - juice, water and noncaffeinated drinks - all to help your child feel better while can be on the road to recovery.
Keeping up regular activities like going to school probably will not make a cold worse. But it will increase the likelihood that the cold to classmates or friends to spread. So you might want to put some aside everyday until your child feels better.