How to treat chickenpox in a one-year-old baby

It is common for babies to get chickenpox, which will make the patient feel unbearable itching on the skin. The skin cannot be scratched, as scratching the skin will cause damage and easily cause skin inflammation, which will affect skin recovery. Parents are very anxious about infants and young children getting chickenpox. They don’t know how to treat their babies. How to treat chickenpox in a one-year-old baby? Let’s take a look at it next.

1. General treatment

The treatment of chickenpox in children is mainly to relieve itching and prevent secondary bacterial infection.

1. Anti-itching: You can apply calamine lotion containing 0.25% borneol topically or apply 2%-5% sodium bisulfate wet compress or wash. Oral astemizole anti-allergic drugs can also have an anti-itching effect.

2. To prevent secondary bacterial infection, the skin should be kept clean. Children should wear soft underwear, trim their nails, and wrap their hands with cloth before going to bed to avoid accidentally scratching the herpes during sleep. After the herpes breaks, 3% acyclovir eye ointment or 5% acyclovir cream can be applied. 1%-2% gentian violet can also be applied. If there is a secondary infection after the herpes breaks, gentian violet or antibiotic ointment can also be applied locally. In severe cases, especially when there are systemic symptoms (such as fever, etc.), systemic antibiotics can be applied. Generally, antibiotics against positive cocci (such as Staphylococcus aureus, etc.) can be selected. If conditions permit, bacterial culture should be performed and appropriate antibiotics should be selected based on drug sensitivity results.

3. Others: Patients with high fever can be given acetaminophen (paracetamol) to reduce fever. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs may increase the risk of bacterial infection and should not be used. Corticosteroids are generally contraindicated because they suppress the body's immune function and can spread and aggravate viral infections. Those who have already taken or inhaled them should consider stopping or reducing the dosage to 1/10-1/5 of the usual therapeutic dosage. Salicylic acid drugs may cause Reye syndrome and should not be used.

2. Antiviral treatment

For children with severe chickenpox, such as immunocompromised children, neonatal chickenpox, disseminated chickenpox, varicella pneumonia, varicella encephalitis, etc., antiviral treatment should be applied. Acyclovir is the first choice, 5-10 mg/kg intravenous drip, once every 8 hours, for 7-10 days. The dose should be reduced for patients with renal insufficiency. If treatment is started within 24 hours after the rash occurs, it can alleviate symptoms and shorten the course of the disease.

3. Acyclovir can be given orally in the following situations

①Age>12 years old, with chronic skin or lung lesions;

② Those who are taking corticosteroids or nebulized corticosteroids for a short period of time or intermittently;

③Infants;

④ Some immunosuppressants may develop severe varicella. Dosage: 5 mg/kg each time, once every 6 hours, generally used for 10 days. Patients with chronic lung diseases can take the medicine for up to half a year.

For children with severe chickenpox, adenosine monophosphate (Ara-AMP) 5-10 mg/kg.d can also be used intravenously or intramuscularly. For extremely serious cases, interferon (a and β) can be added, (1×106)-(3×106) U/d intramuscularly.