It's really cold, How can we prevent sickness?

•     During the winter months we all feel cold and some of us do not tolerate this weather and get sick.

•     If this is the way with adult subjects let us imagine how it is difficult for our young children.

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WHY CHILDREN ARE MORE PRONE TO GET COLd

Children are more often the victims compared to adults, it’s not uncommon for colds to start by six months of age, especially in large family households.

There are multiple reasons for this:

1) children under seven years of age have immature immune systems which makes them more susceptible to cold and flu viruses.

2) young children spread more germs to each other because of their tendency to cough and sneeze without covering their mouth. Additionally, they more often contact contaminated surfaces (desks, table tops and toys) and subsequently touch their nose, eyes or mouth facilitating germ transmission.

3) upper airways of young children (including the ears and surrounding structures) are not fully developed until well after school age. This allows for more frequent viral and bacterial invasion.

4) the fact that young children are often exposed to several other young children (for example daycare and pre-school) increases the risk of getting an upper respiratory infection. 

5) finally, proportionately more children (compared to adults) have allergic rhinitis and asthma which raises the likelihood of experiencing more upper respiratory infections.

WHAT IS the COMMON COLD??

More than 200 different viruses can cause this infection, but the rhinovirus is the most common, except in newborns, colds in healthy children aren't dangerous. They usually go away in 4 to 10 days without treatment.

What to expect

When your child gets a cold, it starts when he has a general feeling of not being well, often followed by a sore throat

As your child's cold gets worse, he may wake up with symptoms like these:

Watery mucus in the nose, sneezing, feeling of tiredness,

Fever (sometimes), sore throat, cough.

A cold virus can affect your child's sinuses, throat, bronchial tubes, and ears. He may also have diarrhea and vomiting.

How Many Colds Will My Child Get?

Kids who are preschool age have around nine colds a year, while kindergartners can have 12 a year. Adolescents and adults get about two to four a year.

How Can I Prevent My Kid From Catching One?

Cold season runs from september until march or april, so children usually get sick most often during these months. Our child can get sick when someone who's got a cold touches an object that's later touched by your child. Door handles, stair railings, books, pens, video game remotes, and a computer keyboard are some common "carriers" of cold viruses. They can live on one of those objects for several hours.

Washing hands is the best defense. Teach your child to do it after every bathroom trip, before every meal, and after playing at school or at home.

WHAT ABOUT SEASONAL FLU???

It’s not always easy to tell your child has the flu. The illness comes on fast and is more intense than a cold. Kids tend to feel worse during the first 2 or 3 days they're sick.

Symptoms include:

•      A high-grade fever up to 104 degrees f

•      Chills and shakes with the fever

•      Extreme tiredness

•      Headache and body aches

•      Dry, hacking cough

•      Sore throat

•      Vomiting and belly pain

Some parents mistake the flu for a stomach bug. That’s because unlike adults, children with the flu can have nausea, stomach pain, and vomiting.

WHAT CAUSES IT? HOW DOES IT SPREAD?

Three main types of influenza viruses can give you the flu. Types a and b cause the yearly outbreaks. Type c leads to mild, random cases.

The flu is highly contagious, particularly when kids share close quarters like they do in school classrooms. It spreads when they inhale droplets that are coughed up or sneezed by an infected person, or when they come in direct contact with mucus or spit from someone who has the flu.

Kids can spread the flu a day before their symptoms start, and 5-7 days after they get sick. It can easily move from kid to kid as they share things like pencils, toys, computers, remotes, spoons, and forks. Hand-to-hand contact is another main method.

How Do You Avoid the Flu?

The best way is to get a yearly vaccination. The cdc says all people 6 months and older should get one.

The seasonal flu vaccine protects against the influenza viruses that research indicates will be most common during the upcoming season. Traditional flu vaccines (called “trivalent” vaccines) are made to protect against three flu viruses; an influenza a (h1n1) virus, an influenza a (h3n2) virus, and an influenza b virus. In addition, there are flu vaccines made to protect against four flu viruses (called “quadrivalent” vaccines). These vaccines protect against the same three viruses as the trivalent vaccine and an additional b virus. Children 6 months through 8 years getting vaccinated for the first time, and those who have only previously gotten one dose of vaccine, should get two doses of vaccine this season. All children who have previously gotten two doses of vaccine (at any time) only need one dose of vaccine this season. The first dose should be given as soon as vaccine becomes available. Children should be vaccinated every flu season for the best protection against flu.