Among children, the most common gastrointestinal disease is viral gastroenteritis. Characterize this disease can be inflammation of the gastric mucosa and small intestine. Gastroenteritis develops in children for completely different reasons, among which the most common are infections that enter the body of a child through contaminated water and food. This intestinal disease is classified according to the cause, which caused it to the following types:
- The disease is most often caused by noro-, entero-and rotavirus infections;
- Bacterial gastroenteritis causes salmonella, staphylococcus and other pathogens;
- The parasitic type of the disease is caused by parasites that may have been ingested in a child or adult patient.
In addition to these three most common varieties of the disease, there is a rather rare species of this intestinal pathology - eosinophilic, the etiology of which has not been fully understood, but many experts point to food allergy.
Timely detection of all these infectious agents in children's institutions plays a very important role in the prevention of acute viral gastroenteritis in young patients, the most susceptible of which are children under 3 years old. All patients who have this disease, become carriers of this infection and, accordingly, a source of infection for others.
Gastroenteritis virus
As all infectious diseases of the gastrointestinal tract cause various parasites, viruses and bacteria, the gastroenteritis developing in children will have clinical manifestations depending on the causative agent and the response of the child's organism to infection:
- The most frequent sign is watery diarrhea,vomiting or diarrhea with an admixture of blood;
- Sign of the gastroenteritis virus can be chronic diarrhea, as well as various extraintestinal manifestations.
The disease, which occurs in a mild form, regardless of its etiology, is accompanied by a single, mild-to-severe manifestation, lasting from a few hours to 3-4 days. If the type of the course of the disease turns into chronic, all its manifestations take a recurrent character. At the time of the onset of relapse, the symptoms become sufficiently acute and longer.
The estimated etiologic factor of infectious gastrointestinal pathology is established on the basis of information on the pathophysiology of the disease, the results of a physical examination, the clinical picture, and epidemiological data. Laboratory verification of a bacterial pathogen of acute viral gastroenteritis in children is often not required, since most of such cases are resolved on their own.
There are two main types of viral gastroenteritis with diarrhea in children - non-inflammatory( caused by enteroviruses, which release toxins into the sick child's body) and inflammatory ones, usually developing under the influence of bacteria such as staphylococcus and salmonella, which penetrate the wall of the small intestine or stomach.
The etiology of viral gastroenteritis in children of different age groups is similar, although it does have some differences. So most of the company-entero, and norovirus, as well as bacteria such as staphylococcus affect the digestive organs of children from 1 to 4 years. But babies up to a year and children older than 5 years are much less affected by these pathogens.
Treatment of viral gastroenteritis
When a disease is caused by an infection, treatment is prescribed depending on the severity of its course and can be performed on an outpatient basis in an easy form. But patients with moderate-to-severe form or severe course are subject to immediate hospitalization, and all medical measures are conducted under the supervision of a specialist.
Therapy for infectious diseases of the digestive tract in children should be only complex and include both medicines and folk medicine, as well as a strict diet, as well as exercise therapy and annual spa treatment.
When the patient's body is infected with enterovirus or norovirus gastroenteritis, which is accompanied in children by severe watery diarrhea and frequent vomiting, which leads to severe dehydration, in therapeutic techniques, in addition to heavy drinking, intravenous administration of water-salt solutions is used.
Also, in the case of norovirus and enteroviral gastroenteritis, it is necessary to take enterosorbents, drugs having different structures that bind the harmful substances that have appeared due to the action of these pathogenic microorganisms on the gastrointestinal tract with their subsequent excretion.
The treatment of bacterial gastroenteritis in general terms is similar to that of other types of intestinal infections and is carried out in a complex method with the use of medicinal and folk remedies, as well as a strict diet. In the event that children are found to have staphylococcal gastroenteritis or caused by salmonella, antibiotic therapy is mandatory, taking into account the sensitivity of microorganisms to the main groups of drugs. Also, according to the indications, you can use an anatoxin, which can neutralize the action of microbial poison.
For the prevention of viral gastroenteritis, the fight against nosocomial infection is applied, consisting in the following activities:
- Detection of carriers;
- Isolation of patients with a history of staphylococcal lesions;
- Compliance with the rules of antiseptics and asepsis.
In addition, in order to prevent the development of viral gastroenteritis in children, it is necessary to instill in them from the earliest age the skills of observing the rules of personal hygiene.