Symptoms of herpetic pharyngitis in children

Children nowadays often suffer from colds and fevers because they are young and their resistance and immunity are very weak. So children may have a fever due to viral or bacterial infection. Herpetic pharyngitis is a common childhood disease, mostly caused by children's lack of attention to hygiene or cross-infection of viruses and bacteria. Try to avoid taking your children to crowded public places. What are the symptoms of herpetic pharyngitis in children?

Clinical manifestations

The disease has an epidemic trend and is common in infants and young children, especially in summer and autumn.

1. Symptoms begin suddenly, including high fever, sore throat, irritability, drooling, anorexia, vomiting, general malaise, difficulty swallowing, mental depression and convulsions. If this disease occurs alone, there are often no systemic symptoms. Infants and young children often cry and make noise during feedings and are unwilling to eat.

2. Physical examination may reveal congestion in the pharynx. Several to dozens of grayish-white blisters measuring 2 to 4 mm in size may be seen on the mucous membranes of the pharyngeal palate arch, soft palate, and uvula. They are surrounded by red halos and will break down after 1 to 2 days to form small ulcers covered with a light yellow or white pseudomembrane. Herpes can also occur in other areas of the mouth. There may be submandibular lymphadenopathy with tenderness. The course of the disease is about 1 week.

treat

1. General treatment: Inform the parents of the child that the disease is self-limiting and the purpose of treatment to prevent cross infection and complications. Pay attention to rest, ventilate the room, drink plenty of water, eat liquid food, supplement vitamins, and perform nebulizer inhalation treatment, etc.

2. Anti-infection treatment

(1) Antiviral drugs that can be tried include ribavirin (virazole), which can be taken orally or intravenously, or ribavirin aerosol can be sprayed locally in the mouth. Some Chinese herbal preparations such as Shuanghuanglian, Isatis root, Qingyan Chongji and other heat-clearing and detoxifying medicines also have certain antiviral effects.

(2) Antimicrobial drugs: This disease is a viral infection and generally no antibiotics are used.

3. Symptomatic treatment

(1) For high fever, you can take acetaminophen or ibuprofen orally, or use physical cooling methods such as cold compresses or warm baths.

(2) Patients with febrile convulsions can be given sedatives and anticonvulsants. (3) For sore throat, you can take throat lozenges sublingually.

prevention

Children should develop the habit of washing their hands frequently, go to public places less often, ventilate the room more often, and avoid using antibiotics at will. Since the initial symptoms of herpetic pharyngitis are not much different from those of the common cold, it is easy to be mistaken for a cold and delay treatment. When a child shows symptoms of discomfort, parents should take the child to a regular hospital for diagnosis in time so that the correct method can be adopted for timely symptomatic treatment.