Prevention of respiratory infections during changing seasons

Causes of inflammatory respiratory disease
According to Assoc.Prof.Dr. Nguyen Thi Dieu Thuy of the Pediatrics Department, Hanoi Medical University, every year when the season changes in hospitals, many children and the elderly come to be examined due to respiratory infections. The symtoms of respiratory infections are easy to recognize including cough, sneezing, runny nose, sore throat ... and headache and fever.

Viruses are the main cause of respiratory infections when changing seasons

There are many causes of respiratory infections. However, the main cause is because the patient is infected with the virus. In normal times the virus is already locally localized in the body. However, they are in an inactive state. The changing weather, making children and the elderly the subjects with sensitive terrain will stimulate the virus to turn from static to dynamic form. From there cause respiratory inflammation.

Respiratory infections usually start with inflammation of the upper respiratory tract and are mostly not severe. However, if the patient is subjective, it can make the disease worse, causing complications down to inflammation of the lower respiratory tract with diseases such as bronchitis, pneumonia.

How to prevent respiratory inflammatory diseases
The nose and throat are the gateways of the airways. To prevent respiratory infections, we need to pay attention to proper wash of the nose and throat, especially with children. However, not so that parents often wash their child's nose and throat. Note, only wash the nose when the child has rhinitis, throat, runny nose. If normal, you should not overdo drugs that affect the child's nose. There have been many cases of children because too much washing their nose and throat, leading to complications. And even in the case of a child with rhinitis should not wash too much, up to 10 days.

In addition, when contacting someone with the flu, we need to wear a mask. Because flu can spread very easily through the respiratory tract. To prevent influenza and other respiratory diseases, you also need to pay attention to ensure that the body is warm enough, with adequate nutrition and diligent exercise.

Should wear a mask when in contact with patients with respiratory infections

Another very effective way to prevent influenza and other respiratory illnesses is vaccination. In addition to giving their children all the vaccinations in the expanded vaccination program, every year parents should give their children a flu shot. Because flu is usually a starting point for other respiratory illnesses.

Honey - A remedy for preventing and treating respiratory infections for everyone
To strengthen the resistance and prevent disease, every day you should drink a glass of warm water with honey in the morning before eating.

To cure coughs caused by respiratory infections, you can combine honey with chives, lemon basil ginger or garlic ... to help treat cough extremely effectively.

Honey can be used for adults and children from 1 year and up. Not causing sub effects like modern medicines, honey also has many other uses, so many people believe it.

Honey is an effective remedy to prevent and treat respiratory infections

How to determine if a child has upper respiratory tract infection?
Some of the following expressions will help parents recognize inflammation in the upper respiratory tract of child.

Runny or stuffy nose
Cough and sneeze
Sore throat, hoarseness
Red, itchy, watery eyes
Tired and irritable
Chills and fever for 1 to 3 days
Headache, body aches, muscle aches
The above manifestations can appear individually or in combination. For example, if the child has only a mild illness, the symptoms are runny or stuffy nose. If your child already has a fever, it is usually a symptom that the illness is getting worse and the immune system is actively working to kill the pathogenic microorganisms.

Children with respiratory infections have many characteristic symptoms

How should a child with upper respiratory tract infection be cared for?
Usually, after 5 to 7 days, the disease will subside, after that, upper respiratory diseases will gradually decrease and disappear in 5 to 7 days, which means it takes about 2 weeks from onset to cure.

When the child is sick of the upper respiratory tract, the child does not eat well, the phlegm accumulates a lot in the throat, and flows down the esophagus, making the child sick and vomiting easily. During this time, parents should prepare for their children liquid and easy-to-swallow foods such as porridge, soup ... In addition, let your child eat little by little. Many children eat almost nothing during sick days but still drink milk. Try to be patient and calm, although your child has lost a lot of weight, after recovering from the illness, the body will have a need to compensate for energy and parents will see the child eat more than before.

During the baby's illness, avoid letting the air in the baby's room get too dry. You can keep the air conditioner on, but it's a good idea to keep the windows open or use a humidifier. Do not let the fan blow into the child's nose, mouth or neck.

When taking care of the child, parents also need to monitor symptoms to promptly handle when the disease gets worse, such as wheezing, hissing breath, chest shrinkage, severe cough often caused by disease affects the lower respiratory tract and causes bronchiolitis, bronchitis, or lung inflammation.

When taking care of children with respiratory infections, attention should be paid not to subjective prevention of more serious complications

What drugs can be used when the baby has inflammation of the upper respiratory tract?
Some drugs can be used to relieve pain, reduce fever in case of need:

-Acetaminophen (paracetamol): Present in popular pain relievers and fever reducers such as Efferalgan, Hapacol ... Parents need to buy the correct kind for children and use the correct dose for the child's weight.

-Ibuprofen: As a popular anti-inflammatory, in addition to its anti-inflammatory effect, it also helps relieve pain, swelling, and fever.

Parents should be aware that cough medicines and antibiotics are only used when prescribed by a doctor, including herbal cough syrups.