Published on 05/11/2022 06:57.
With the proliferation of viruses that cause respiratory diseases and the great demand for care in pediatric emergencies, some medicines are starting to be out of stock in pharmacies.
Laiane Cruz
With the arrival of autumn, the number of children who received care at the State Children’s Hospital (HEC), in Feira de Santana, affected by flu syndromes grew. According to data provided by the unit, in February this year 1,185 children were admitted to the emergency room, in March 2,096 and in April 2,138. In the first eight days of May, 648 children with respiratory problems were treated.
Photo: Ed Santos/Acorda Cidade
According to pediatric infectious disease specialist Igo Araújo, who works at the HEC, the numbers are frightening and reveal an accelerated increase in cases of respiratory syndromes in children.
“Even if we compare it with other years, we will see that there is really an important difference in the increase in cases. We usually say that from March to August are the months that pediatricians work the most in the emergency room. There was a 100% increase in cases, but we can see that there was an increase if we compare it to 2019, maybe there is no way for us to confirm or be sure, these children who were isolated for a long time, now they started to circulate and started to increase the circulation of these viruses”, he justified, in an interview with Acorda Cidade.
According to the specialist, most of the symptoms present in children are cough, runny nose, fever, abdominal pain, headaches, and sometimes, wheezing and bronchospasm.
“The great difficulty for us is to determine if it is an asthma condition for those children who already have a history of diseases before or if it is just a flu condition. The cold we say is caused by rhinovirus and often there is no fever, the flu usually already has a fever within the frame, but there are other viruses that can cause it, and then, it is the famous common flu. Most children have arrived at the hospital with the pattern of coughing, tiredness, difficulty breathing, sometimes just a runny nose, a hoarseness. Small children, under 2 years of age to under 1 year of age, are the ones who most require care, they get tired very quickly, they do not have the ease of mobilizing the secretion, as an older child and they will not say what they are sense,” warned the doctor.
Igo Araújo clarified that the beginning of the autumn/winter period has a drier, less humid climate and that actually causes pollution and these viruses to circulate more. Children with the return of classes, daycare centers, schools end up being clustered, closer together, facilitating the transmission of these viruses, such as covid-19, which is transmitted by droplets of saliva.
“Influenza, influenza, acute respiratory syndrome tend to be more aggressive than a cold, but depending on the public or the patient they affect, either one can be aggressive. Then the mothers get crazy, they get tired of us saying that the treatment is nasal wash and nebulization and they can trust that this is really it, some patients need some specific therapy, like we have Oseltamivir, which is an inhibitor of a replication of the virus of Influenza, but for some specific populations, under 2 years of age, some use specific medications, with some medications in nebulization such as steroids, but in fact that old grandmother’s syrup with honey is what will help many of them, remembering that the honey should be given over one year of age”, oriented the infectious disease specialist during an interview with Acorda Cidade.
With the proliferation of viruses that cause respiratory diseases and the great demand for care in pediatric emergencies, some medicines are starting to be out of stock in pharmacies. According to the infectious disease specialist, there is a lack of antiallergic and children’s antibiotics.
“When I think of antibiotics, when I think of a viral infection, which causes a bacterial infection, the first treatment ends up being amoxicillin, amoxicillin with clavulanate, and for the flu, some patients who have an allergic condition or a condition associated with asthma are now in need of treatment. Salbutamol or butazolidine, which are inhaled corticosteroids. Every viral condition, especially in children, can cause an accumulation of secretion, the infectious process, low immunity, and the child is not prepared for the bacteria, which lives in that environment and takes advantage of the opportunity and makes the infection. So we have it from otitis, which is ear infection, sinusitis of the face, pneumonia with some cases and unfortunately from children with cerebral empyema, which is pus in the head, especially after a sinus disease”, he informed.
With information from reporter Ed Santos from Acorda Cidade