Childhood diseases - treatment in Russia

In pediatrics, it is customary to distinguish several age periods in a child’s life: neonatal period (first month), breast (from 1 month to 1 year), early childhood (from 1 to 3 years), preschool (from 3 to 7 years), primary school ( from 7 to 11 years old), senior school or adolescent (from 12 to 17-18 years old). In different age periods of a child’s development, one or another childhood illness predominantly occurs.

So, during the neonatal period, childhood diseases are manifested due to violations of intrauterine development (asphyxia, hemolytic disease of the fetus, intrauterine infections, congenital malformations, prematurity, hereditary syndromes, etc.), pathological course of childbirth (cephalohematomas, birth swelling, collarbone fracture, etc.) , as well as increased sensitivity of infants to viral and coccal infections (omphalitis, vesiculopustulosis, pemphigus of newborns, etc.).

Childhood diseases of infancy are associated, first of all, with a high functional load on the digestive and respiratory systems. Among childhood diseases of infants, there are often diseases of the gastrointestinal tract (dyspepsia, dysentery, malnutrition, colienteritis) and respiratory diseases (viral and bacterial pneumonia). Errors in feeding and the daily routine of an infant can lead to the development of an exclusively childhood disease – rickets.

Among the diseases of early childhood and preschool age, infections prevail: measles, whooping cough, chickenpox, diphtheria, scarlet fever, tuberculosis. This is due to the imperfection of the child’s immune system, as well as the expansion of contacts of children with others and peers. Also, during these age periods, the number of infectious and allergic childhood diseases increases: bronchial asthma, rheumatism, eczema, glomerulonephritis, etc.

Younger schoolchildren are more likely to face acute infections, endocrine disorders, diseases of the nervous system and heart. In adolescence, the structure of childhood diseases is dominated by disorders of the function of the endocrine glands, disorders of sexual development, vascular dystonia, psychoneuroses, etc.

The most common symptoms of childhood diseases are rash, swollen lymph nodes, pyrexia, runny nose, cough, vomiting, abdominal pain, and cramps. When these and other signs of the disease appear, it is imperative to consult the child with a pediatrician. Each parent should be familiar with the basics of pediatrics, know the main childhood diseases and their manifestations in order to be able to assess the severity of the baby’s condition, to determine whether the malaise poses an immediate threat to life.

Pediatrics does not stand still: new methods of diagnostics and treatment of childhood diseases appear and are being introduced, understanding of the mechanisms of development of diseases in children is developing and deepening. The successes of modern pediatrics have forced many once fatal childhood illnesses to retreat. This was facilitated by the creation of vaccines against a number of childhood infectious diseases, the development of balanced artificial mixtures, the emergence of modern antibacterial drugs, and the improvement of the quality of diagnosis and treatment of children.