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It appears that Influenza A is sweeping through Australasia right now, we just heard from Singapore yesterday.
Out of breath kids swamp hospital
By SARAH MACDONALD
Monday, 10 July 2006
EMERGENCY departments have been inundated with children suffering breathing difficulties, as winter illnesses take a toll on already busy hospitals.
Middlemore Hospital has treated more than 400 children under-six year olds in the past week, with half the admissions for respiratory conditions.
Asthma, bronchiolitis, pneumonia, upper respiratory tract infections and croup are common complaints, often striking in the early hours.
?There?s a lot of influenza around at the moment and we?re seeing a lot of adults with the flu and children are getting things like viral pneumonia,? says emergency medicine and paediatrics specialist Dr Jocelyn Neutze.
?The younger you are, the more likely you are to get bronchiolitis or croup.?
A child?s airway is much smaller than an adult?s and colds and flu can cause them to become inflamed and develop into more serious conditions.
Croup is inflammation of the voicebox, characterised by a distinctive cough sounding like a seal cry.
?They have a breathing pattern that sounds like a wheeze. But it?s when they breathe in, rather than out. It?s more common in under fives,? says Dr Neutze.
?There?s a lot of old wives tales about croup and people say, ?give them steam?. I say to parents try running a hot tap in the bathroom because the humidity might help a bit, though nothing has been proven in trials.?
She says children become frightened when they feel they can?t breathe.
?They work themselves up and it makes it worse. You need to calm them down, sit them up and just look for the danger signs,? says Dr Neutze.
?A child who makes no noise is actually much more sick. If they?re well enough to make noise, they?re usually not that sick because they?re getting enough air into the lungs to make them cough.?
Dr Neutze warns against parents self diagnosing and prescribing for young children.
?Cough mixtures and antihistamines don?t really help,? she says.
?Most of them work by suppressing the cough. We want the child to cough and bring up any secretions on the lungs.
?They also tend to sedate children and you don?t want that if they have a breathing problem.?
GPs or family doctors should be a first contact for children who are sick but with good critical signs.
?If any child is working hard to breathe, sucking in their chest or breathing really fast, they should be seen in the emergency department and it doesn?t really matter what the cause is,? says Dr Neutze.
?Any child that can?t swallow saliva and is drooling or looks dusky or blue, is drowsy or not alert when they normally would be should be taken to hospital.?
Children constantly vomiting with a very high fever that doesn?t drop with paracetamol treatment should also be regarded as critical.
?We encourage people to seek help from their doctor first. But these things often tend to get bad late at night. I always tell people to call the ambulance if they?re worried.?
She says it?s impossible for parents to stop children picking up winter ills.
?All the viruses thrive in the cold weather and they?re all incredibly infectious, so other than wrapping your child up in cotton wool and not letting them go anywhere, there?s not much you can do,? says Dr Neutze.
Heating the house well, feeding children a nutritious diet and keeping them bundled up against the cold can help.
?It?s really important to keep children away from cigarette smoke. It irritates the upper airway,? says Dr Neutze.
?The little hairs in the airways get killed. They have to regenerate and that delays the healing with any kind of infection.?
Out of breath kids swamp hospital
By SARAH MACDONALD
Monday, 10 July 2006
EMERGENCY departments have been inundated with children suffering breathing difficulties, as winter illnesses take a toll on already busy hospitals.
Middlemore Hospital has treated more than 400 children under-six year olds in the past week, with half the admissions for respiratory conditions.
Asthma, bronchiolitis, pneumonia, upper respiratory tract infections and croup are common complaints, often striking in the early hours.
?There?s a lot of influenza around at the moment and we?re seeing a lot of adults with the flu and children are getting things like viral pneumonia,? says emergency medicine and paediatrics specialist Dr Jocelyn Neutze.
?The younger you are, the more likely you are to get bronchiolitis or croup.?
A child?s airway is much smaller than an adult?s and colds and flu can cause them to become inflamed and develop into more serious conditions.
Croup is inflammation of the voicebox, characterised by a distinctive cough sounding like a seal cry.
?They have a breathing pattern that sounds like a wheeze. But it?s when they breathe in, rather than out. It?s more common in under fives,? says Dr Neutze.
?There?s a lot of old wives tales about croup and people say, ?give them steam?. I say to parents try running a hot tap in the bathroom because the humidity might help a bit, though nothing has been proven in trials.?
She says children become frightened when they feel they can?t breathe.
?They work themselves up and it makes it worse. You need to calm them down, sit them up and just look for the danger signs,? says Dr Neutze.
?A child who makes no noise is actually much more sick. If they?re well enough to make noise, they?re usually not that sick because they?re getting enough air into the lungs to make them cough.?
Dr Neutze warns against parents self diagnosing and prescribing for young children.
?Cough mixtures and antihistamines don?t really help,? she says.
?Most of them work by suppressing the cough. We want the child to cough and bring up any secretions on the lungs.
?They also tend to sedate children and you don?t want that if they have a breathing problem.?
GPs or family doctors should be a first contact for children who are sick but with good critical signs.
?If any child is working hard to breathe, sucking in their chest or breathing really fast, they should be seen in the emergency department and it doesn?t really matter what the cause is,? says Dr Neutze.
?Any child that can?t swallow saliva and is drooling or looks dusky or blue, is drowsy or not alert when they normally would be should be taken to hospital.?
Children constantly vomiting with a very high fever that doesn?t drop with paracetamol treatment should also be regarded as critical.
?We encourage people to seek help from their doctor first. But these things often tend to get bad late at night. I always tell people to call the ambulance if they?re worried.?
She says it?s impossible for parents to stop children picking up winter ills.
?All the viruses thrive in the cold weather and they?re all incredibly infectious, so other than wrapping your child up in cotton wool and not letting them go anywhere, there?s not much you can do,? says Dr Neutze.
Heating the house well, feeding children a nutritious diet and keeping them bundled up against the cold can help.
?It?s really important to keep children away from cigarette smoke. It irritates the upper airway,? says Dr Neutze.
?The little hairs in the airways get killed. They have to regenerate and that delays the healing with any kind of infection.?
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