Those who follow the blog daily will have noticed that last week I was absent. The fault was the bronchiolitis of my youngest daughter who has been admitted 3 days, and me with her.
It has not been an isolated case because at this time (in winter) bronchiolitis outbreaks are very common. Without going any further, at the same time that my daughter was admitted, two small babies were also admitted, one of 2 months and another of just 20 days (poor things!).
Doctors are not encouraged to call it epidemic but cases are increasing rapidly. No less than 20,000 pediatric consultations and 10,000 annual hospitalizations.
If bronchiolitis has also come to your homes for Christmas, I will tell you a little what the disease is about, how to treat it and especially how to be prevented.
Is a viral infection of the lower respiratory tract It mainly affects infants and young children. It is characterized by the inflammation of the bronchioles, the last ramifications of the bronchi. The person responsible for the infection is usually a virus, the most frequent is Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), although not all children who control the virus develop bronchiolitis.
The disease begins as a cold with cough, mucus and fever, but the infection descends to the lungs attacking the bronchioles. It causes wheezing (the famous whistles, noises when listening) and difficulty breathing, sometimes producing choking. The sensation is very unpleasant because you notice that the baby suffocates and cannot breathe. You can see how their chest is sinking and how they strain because they get in the air. It really is distressing.
The child may be somewhat down, disinterested in food and if there is a fever, it is usually not higher than 38 or 39 degrees.
In the most severe cases, hospitalization, sometimes with mechanical ventilation, is required to restore the child. But in the vast majority of cases, treatment at home can be followed.
What to do? There is no vaccine against Respiratory Syncytial Virus, so in addition to going to the doctor and following the treatment of the doctor (if you consider it, an aerosol bronchodilator), it is forbidden to smoke near the child, you must keep the environment moist, offer a lot of water (mine asked at all times), make the semi-incorporated child sleep and frequently clean the nostrils with physiological saline.
A secret that has been very good for me is that of patting the spoon-shaped hand on the baby's back (gently as a baby) to detach the mucus from the bronchial tubes.
As caused by a virus, the disease is contagious and takes a long time to disappear. It lasts at least 7 days and can be extended for 20 days or one month.
It is very important to take care of sudden changes in temperature to the child who has or has had bronchiolitis. Extreme care must be taken not to cool because a complication of the disease can lead to pneumonia.
As the pediatrician explained to me, in the case of my daughter (and I suppose that in many other cases too) having had a bronchiolitis predisposes the child to the disease developing again in future catarrhal processes because the bronchi become hyperreactive and react contracting and obstructing the passage of air. Another concern of repeated bronchiolitis during childhood is a greater predisposition for the child to develop asthma in the future. The incidence is 1 in 3 or 4 children who have episodes of bronchiolitis in early childhood.
I hope that my experience helps you to understand this disease that unfortunately is so fashionable and to take great care of your little ones with the cold that it is doing lately.
