SINUSITIS in Children and treatment - How to avoid it?

SINUSITIS

 The sinuses-the air-filled cavities in the bones around the nose-are subject to infections, less so in children than in adults. A tiny opening connects each sinus with the inside of the nose. During a cold, infection may spread to the sinuses, which will get clogged with pus. The pus drips out from the back of the nose into the throat, causing a "drip" which may make the child cough when he lies down. In more severe sinusitis, the child will have fever and headache. Redness and swelling of the inner parts of the eyelids, the portions near the nose, may be signs of a serious form of sinusitis (ethmoiditis).

The doctor can do many things, such as using nose packs, suction, and medication, to relieve sinusitis. Scarlet Fever This is an infection by a strep germ that happens to produce a special poison (scarlet fever toxin) which causes a scarlet-colored rash. Not all strep germs cause scarlet fever, and not everyone is susceptible to the rash-producing poison. Thus, if such a strep infection occurs in a family of three children, one child may get scarlet fever because he cannot resist the poison; a second may develop only strep sore throat; and the third may carry the germ without being sickened at all by it and may be able to pass it on to others.

As scarlet fever sets in, the child feels tired, restless, and irritable. Then he develops fever and sore throat, and begins to vomit. His skin feels hot and dry. After a day or so, bright red spots break out, starting in the body creases such as the armpits. The rash spreads to the neck, the chest, and the back. It may later cover the entire body and, from a distance, it may look like a uniform coat of redness except for the skin around the mouth which remains pale.

But the tongue will be inflamed, a blazing bright red. After about two weeks, peeling of the skin occurs. Medicines such as penicillin may shorten the course of the disease and are also tried in the hope of preventing complications like ear infections, swollen neck glands, and nephritis. Not only have antibiotics reduced the dangers of scarlet fever, but the disease itself has become less severe in recent years for reasons still not understood. For both these reasons, the complications that used to follow scarlet fever are much less common now, although the disease is still not to be taken lightly. Rheumatic Fever This serious disease (see also Heart Diseases, page 585) most often afflicts children between 5 and 15 years of age.