What should I do if my child is positive? What medicine should I prepare at home? Expert explanation

　　China News Service, Beijing, December 8 (Reporter Kan Feng) Recently, with the changes in the development of the epidemic situation in some areas and the release of policies such as home isolation for positive infections, many parents are worried that their children, especially infants and young children, will be infected. what to do.

　　What are the symptoms of children infected with the Omicron variant compared with adults?

How should parents take medication?

What symptoms should the child have to be sent to the hospital for diagnosis and treatment?

On these topics, Chinanews.com interviewed Cao Ling, director of the Department of Respiratory Medicine, Capital Institute of Pediatrics, and Li Min, director of the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Data map: Photo by Zhai Liqiang

Chinanews.com: What are the characteristics of the positive children admitted to the hospital recently?

Li Min:

The Amicron BF.7 mutant strain is the main strain of the current outbreak in Beijing.

In the past 20 days, the positive children diagnosed by the Capital Institute of Pediatrics, from the perspective of the age distribution of the confirmed children, range from newborns to 18-year-old children, of which children under the age of 3 account for a relatively high proportion.

Most of the children had fever as the main reason for seeking medical treatment, accounting for 98.31% of the population of all ages. The second common clinical symptoms were cough, runny nose, and sore throat. Some children had diarrhea, headache, vomiting, nasal congestion, and abdominal pain.

Chinanews.com: What symptoms will children have if they are infected?

How many days will the general course of disease last?

Cao Ling:

The Amicron BF.7 variant mainly causes upper respiratory tract infection. The symptoms in children are mild. Fever, dry throat, sore throat, cough and other symptoms may occur. , generally no more than 3 days.

If there are obvious symptoms of suffocation during the course of the disease, lung imaging examination should be used to diagnose whether there is a lung infection.

People who have been vaccinated against the new crown vaccine and completed booster immunization have a shorter duration and milder disease.

　　On the first day of the onset, the symptoms are mild, and you may feel a slight dry throat, sore throat, and physical fatigue.

　　On the second day of the onset, fever symptoms began to appear, and some children had a high fever of about 39 degrees Celsius.

Pharyngeal discomfort increased at the same time.

　　On the third day of the onset, the day when the symptoms were the most severe, the high fever was above 39 degrees Celsius, the whole body was sore and weak, and the sore throat aggravated.

　　On the fourth day of the onset, the peak temperature began to drop.

Many people's body temperature dropped to normal from this day, and they no longer had fever.

But still sore throat.

Some people started to runny nose and cough.

　　On the fifth day of the onset, the body temperature basically dropped to normal, but nasal congestion, runny nose, sore throat, cough, and physical fatigue still existed.

　　On the sixth day of the onset, there was no fever, and symptoms such as cough and runny nose aggravated. Because of the damage to the respiratory mucosa caused by the early virus, the human body excreted necrotic cells through runny nose and cough. On this day, some patients may turn negative for nucleic acid.

　　On the seventh day of the onset, all symptoms began to improve significantly, and the nucleic acid was likely to turn negative.

Chinanews.com: How should positive children be treated?

How long does it usually take to heal?

Cao Ling:

In terms of the treatment of the new coronavirus, except for some patients with high risk factors of underlying diseases and tumor diseases who will use "new coronavirus antiviral drugs", most infected people only need symptomatic treatment.

Winter is the season of high incidence of respiratory diseases, both new coronavirus and influenza virus are very active.

In order to cope with the occurrence of respiratory diseases in winter, it is suggested that parents can simply prepare some commonly used over-the-counter drugs for children, and use them according to different ages, which are effective for alleviating symptoms of new crown and flu.

　　1. If fever, headache, and sore throat obviously affect rest and sleep.

Antipyretic and analgesic drugs can be taken.

It is recommended to use ibuprofen and acetaminophen suitable for children;

　　2. If there is excessive phlegm and laborious coughing, it is recommended to use acetylcysteine ​​​​granules, etc.;

　　3. If the nasal congestion is severe, short-term use of oxymetazoline nasal spray can be used.

　　According to the characteristics of the self-limiting nature of the virus, it will usually recover within 1-2 weeks.

In addition to medication, fighting against the new coronavirus requires a good rest, a light diet, drinking plenty of water, eating more fruits and vegetables, and eating less or no spicy food.

　　Chinanews.com: In terms of Chinese patent medicines, what medicines can parents prepare?

Li Min:

The TCM syndrome characteristics and core pathogenesis of children are basically the same as those of adults.

Combined with the clinical symptoms and physiological characteristics of children, it is possible to select appropriate Chinese patent medicines for children based on syndrome differentiation.

But special attention should be paid to the fact that one kind of traditional Chinese medicine preparation for clearing away heat is enough to avoid the risk of drug overdose.

　　(1) Fever treatment

　　1. For children with fever, sore throat, dry stool, red tongue with white or yellow fur, you can use Qingre Sanwen Oral Liquid, Xiaoer Chiqiao Qingre Granules, or Shuangzihuang Granules;

　　2. People with mild cough can use Lianhua Qingwen capsules/granules;

　　3. For those with sticky and sticky stools or diarrhea, red tongue with white and yellow greasy coating, Huoxiangzhengqi soft capsule/oral liquid can be added on the basis of the above traditional Chinese medicine.

　　4. If you are afraid of cold and your hands and feet are obviously cold, you can add Xiaoer Chaigui Antipyretic Granules on the basis of the above traditional Chinese medicine.

　　(2) cough, runny nose

　　1. If you have a cough, you can use Xingbei Zhike Oral Liquid, Qingfei Huatan Oral Liquid, Compound Xianzhuli Liquid, etc.

　　2. If the nasal congestion and runny nose are obvious, you can use Biyanqing Oral Liquid, etc.

　　3. It should be noted that after taking traditional Chinese medicine, children may have more frequent stools, more than 3 times per day, and the dosage can be reduced by half as appropriate.

If other uncomfortable symptoms appear, it is necessary to determine whether to stop the drug or further treatment under the guidance of a doctor.

Those with a history of drug allergy should take it under the guidance of a doctor.

　　Chinanews.com: Under what circumstances should parents take their children to the hospital for diagnosis and treatment?

Cao Ling:

If you have persistent high fever for more than three days at home and still have no relief, or even other symptoms are getting worse, you have obvious shortness of breath, wheezing, especially after activities, or lethargy, convulsions, food refusal or feeding difficulties If you have neurological or gastrointestinal manifestations, you should go to the hospital immediately.

For children with underlying diseases, it is recommended that the hospital be the first choice for observation and treatment.

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