Once again, as the school season approaches, for the young ones who are gearing up for the new academic term, parents like you, besides preparing your children for school, should also prepare to deal with the threats of ‘pathogens’ and ‘seasonal disease’ that often come with the beginning of the semester.
For illnesses that come along with the start of the semester or the season, parents should familiarize themselves to be able to observe symptoms and prevent them in time. Commonly encountered diseases or what could be called ‘trends’ during this period include:
- Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease (HFMD)
- Influenza
- Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV)
- Gastrointestinal Disorders
- Dengue Fever
Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease (HFMD) is commonly found in children, particularly those under 5 years old, HFMD often spreads during the rainy season. It is caused by the Enterovirus group. There are multiple strains of this virus, some of which can lead to severe symptoms and even death. The virus primarily spreads through the digestive system, respiratory system, and direct contract can occur via:
- Touching the nasal discharge, saliva, or feces of an infected person
- Contact through shared toys or objects
- Contaminated water and food.
HFMD typically spreads in Nursery school and Kindergarten. The incubation period is around 1 week, during which patients can spread the virus even without showing symptoms. Symptoms of HFMD include:
- Fever
- Painful mouth sores, loss of appetite
- Red spots or clear blisters on the hands, feet, around the buttocks, and genital area
- Rashes may also appear on the body, arms, and legs.
Treatment usually lasts for about 2-3 days, and patients tend to recover within a week. Most cases are not severe, though some individuals may experience dehydration due to reduced of food and water intake. Generally, HFMD is not considered severe and can be recovered. However, severe cases, often caused by Enterovirus 71, can lead to complications involving the encephalitis, respiratory system, and circulatory failure, resulting in rapid death. Children with severe symptoms often experience high fever, lethargy, hand tremors, unsteady walking, excessive vomiting, difficulty breathing, and seizures. If these symptoms are observed, it is important to promptly take the child to see a doctor.
Influenza
Infection with influenza varies according to the type of influenza virus that outbreak in a particular year. In early March 2024, there was a change in the strains of influenza virus from the Northern strain to the Southern strain, and a change in the viruses used to produce vaccines from 2 out of 4 strains, including:
- Strain A/H1N1: Remains the same strain, influenza A virus subtype H1N1 Victoria lineage.
- Strain A/H3N2: The original influenza A virus subtype H3N2 Darwin lineage changed to the Thailand lineage (H3N2).
- Strain B/Victoria: Remains the same strain, influenza B virus, Austria lineage.
- Strain B/Yamagata: Remains the same strain, influenza B virus, Phuket lineage.
In Thailand, influenza outbreaks occur throughout the year but are more common during the rainy and cold seasons. The incubation period ranges from 1 to 4 days, resulting in respiratory symptoms affecting both the upper and lower respiratory tracts. Key symptoms typically include:
- High fever of 39–40 degrees Celsius
- Muscle aches and extreme fatigue
- Runny nose, cough, and sore throat
- loss of appetite and nausea
- Severe headache
- Children may also experience abdominal pain or diarrhea.
In Thailand, this disease is found in up to 48 percent of patients with acute respiratory tract infections, especially during outbreaks. This disease usually presents with mild symptoms and resolves on its own within 5-7 days. However, there may be complications such as pulmonary edema or other severe conditions that require hospitalization and can lead to death. When children show severe symptoms, parents should promptly take them to see a doctor
RSV
RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus) is a kind of virus that causes respiratory diseases. It is commonly found in rainy season and often occur among kids under 3 years old. RSV can easily be transmitted through contact with secretions such as mucus, phlegm or close contact with an infected individual. The incubation period for RSV is approximately 5 days. RSV can be found in every age group but it is more common in children and baby whose symptoms can be severe and complications can be developed.
Symptoms of RSV
- Runny nose
- Fever
- Cough, Sneeze
- Inflammation of the lower respiratory tract may follow, such as bronchitis, bronchiolitis, pneumonia
The severe symptoms are cough with a lot of phlegm, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing or respiratory failure particularly in young children who have underlying diseases such as chronic lung problems, heart diseases, immunodeficiency, and premature babies, considered as risk group who may have serious symptoms
Because RSV is a disease that even if you have had it before, you can experience it again and currently no vaccine is available. Cleaning practice is the most important for preventing RSV. Parents should encourage cleanliness by regularly wash their hands and their kids’ hands. Washing your hands reduces germs on your hands by up to 70 percent; the children should eat foods from all 5 healthy food groups, have enough rest and exercise in the place with good ventilation. These will boost their immunity. If the children get sick, they should be absent from school until the symptoms disappear to prevent the spread of the virus.
Gastrointestinal diseases
Gastrointestinal diseases such as food poisoning and ulcerative colitis are also common among children. The main reason of experiencing gastrointestinal diseases is from eating whether it is the cleanliness of food containers, plates, bowls, spoons, forks, and cleanliness of food and methods of eating. For example, kids use hands to grab something to eat without washing hands so they get infection.
Noticeable symptoms
- Vomiting
- Diarrhea
- Abdominal pain
- Fever
- Headache and body aches
After getting infected, and treated according to symptoms around 1-2 days but not recovered, the child has a persistent high fever, is lethargic, eats less or loss of appetite, vomit a lot with continuous diarrhea. There are symptoms that may indicate dehydration such as dry mouth, lethargic, less urination and stronger color of urine, parents should take their children to the hospital immediately because they may go into shock.
Dengue fever can spread from one person to another and usually spread in the rainy season. In fact, dengue fever can be found in every season. Aedes species mosquitoes are known to be an important vector of virus transmission. This type of mosquito is active during the daytime, breed in standing water around the home such as water in a jar, vase, pantry saucer, and water-filled hole. The female aedes mosquito bites and sucks the blood from the sick person with dengue fever, the dengue virus incubates and multiplies in the mosquitoes, and they can spread the infection to the next person who is bitten. It is most commonly found in children aged 2-10 years old.
Symptoms
- Fever phase, the patient will have high fever all the times, loss of appetite, vomit, abdominal pain, often with symptoms like red faces, red rash on the body skin of the arm and leg, lasting 2-7 days
- Shock phase, the fever has subsides, the patients look tired and weak with the symptoms of sweating, cold hands and feet, light but fast pulse, abdominal pain, decreased urine output and may bleed easily. In the severe cases, the patient will have low blood pressure, develop shock and may lead to death. In patients with less severe symptoms when the fever subsides, they will be better and be able to eat, entering the recovery period.
- Recovery phase, the body recovers, and symptoms of dengue fever improve. The patient has improved appetite; blood pressure rises and pulse is stronger and slower with increase urine output. Some people have red rashes and small bleeding spots on the body. The symptoms will begin to disappear and return to normal.
