’Tis the season for holiday celebrations and wintertime illnesses.
Ivy Creek Healthcare pediatric nurse practitioner Heather Hyde said she is seeing three main illnesses in children this time of the year — cold viruses, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and the flu.
“These three are pretty steady throughout winter,” she said. “All three usually start out with the same symptoms and parents always ask if it is a cold or the flu.”
Hyde advises parents to get their children tested if there is a sudden onset of fever, loss of appetite or sore throat
“Flu equals a high fever,” she said. “With some flu symptoms there is vomiting and diarrhea.”
According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 3,000,000 people catch the flu every year.
A person can spread the flu starting one day before any symptoms appear and up to seven days after getting sick. Children can be contagious for longer than seven days.
The CDC said virtually all children get an RSV infection by the time they are 2 years old.
The report went on to say one to two out of every 100 children younger than 6 months of age with RSV infection may need to be hospitalized.
“RSV is a virus that has cold symptoms,” Hyde said. “In infants, you’ll look for signs like trouble breathing, nasal flaring, noisy breathing and dehydration.”
The Academy of Pediatrics advises parents look at a baby’s chest wall.
Chest wall retractions occur when a baby must use muscles between the ribs or in the neck to breathe. It is a sign the baby is having to work harder than normal to breathe.
If there’s an upside-down shape of the letter V under the neck, the child is working too hard to breathe.
While there is way to prevent children from catching RSV or the flu, Hyde recommends hand washing as the best method of prevention.
“We recommend parents show kids how to wash their hands,” she said. “Getting them into the habit of washing their hands, even when they are young, will help.”
She also recommended parents keep children home from school and daycare if fever is present.
“There is not much to prevent the spread of these (illnesses) in the winter,” she said. “I always remind parents to trust their gut instinct. If they suspect something is wrong they need to get it check out.”
Hyde has spent the last year working as a pediatric nurse practitioner for Ivy Creek Healthcare and the previous six in the same position at Children’s Hospital located in Birmingham.
