Diarrhea in Children
March 31st 2011 03:40
Diarrhea is one of the common problems among children. We may have seen at times that it had caused mortality among the younger age group especially in developing countries. The causes vary from overfeeding, allergic reactions, malabsorption, anatomic defects to infectious agents like viruses, bacteria, and parasites.
Children below 5 years old are the more susceptible group to gastrointestinal infections.
Mind you! Diarrhea doesn't always mean increased frequency of voiding. An individual might evacuate stool more than three times in a day but doesn't have diarrhea. on the other hand one may have only voided a few times but if the consistency is watery, not as hard as usual, then we may consider diarrhea.
One of the dreaded complications of diarrhea is dehydration. Indeed it destabilizes the body's homeostasis leading to multiple organ dysfunction. and so prevention of dehydration is an important key to management. We have to take note however that presence of diarrhea does not always mean presence of dehydration.
And so a child's caregiver should be able to distinguish someone who has dehydration and someone who has none. It is better though to consult a physician promptly once diarrhea is considered.
TO BE CONTINUED...
| 79 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog
