More known to parents as mumps, mumps is an acute infectious disease. A child who has a mumps condition is easy to recognize - his lower face swells up. About why this happens, what other symptoms are there for this disease and, most importantly, how to treat it, we will tell in this article.
Symptoms of mumps in children
Nonspecific parotitis in children is mainly transmitted by airborne droplets. Through the upper respiratory tract, it enters the blood, nervous system and salivary glands. The latter, under the influence of the virus, begin to increase in size. The skin in the lesions is stretched and glossy. The tumor can sink to the neck. The area around the salivary glands is painful.
Much less often there are cases when parotitis becomes a consequence of a parotid gland trauma or a foreign body entering its ducts.
The main symptoms of mumps include:
- deterioration of well-being;
- headache;
- high temperature;
- decreased appetite;
- increased salivary glands;
- pain in the ear;
- dry mouth.
The disease does not immediately tell about yourself. The appearance of symptoms is preceded by a latent period. Its duration is about 11 - 23 days. Infection of a sick child of other children within two days before the development of the main symptoms of mumps.
The most common epidemic parotitis occurs in preschool children.
How does parotitis occur in children?
The course of the disease can be:
- easy (the temperature lasts 1 to 2 days, only the salivary glands are affected);
- moderate severity (prolonged fever, in addition to the salivary glands, testes in boys and pancreas are affected, sleep, appetite is broken, headache and pain during chewing are observed);
- heavy (the temperature can rise to 40 degrees, possibly damage to the central nervous system).
Treatment of parotitis in children
In the treatment of mumps, the main task is to prevent complications. Drugs are appointed by the attending physician.
Experts, during this period, recommended 10-day bed rest for a sick child.
Drinking during mumps should be abundant. Most often it is represented by hips, cranberry juice and juices.
Nutrition is also adjusted for the period of illness. Flour products are excluded from the diet, a vegetable-milk diet is recommended. Of cereals, rice is preferred.
The organism of the patient develops a permanent immunity to the mumps, therefore the repeated infection with mumps is excluded.
Quarantine is declared in groups of kindergartens and classes of schools in which there was a patient with mumps. Its duration is 21 days. If during this period another case of mumps is detected, the quarantine is prolonged for the same period.
The effectiveness of mumps vaccination
Parotitis in vaccinated children is a very rare phenomenon, as the vaccine has proved effective in 96% of cases. Disease
Vaccination is usually carried out at the age of 1 year and 6 years. Children are vaccinated at once from three diseases: measles, rubella and mumps. It is contraindicated only to children sensitive to chicken eggs and neomycin. The reaction to the vaccine is rare. It can manifest itself in the form of an increase in temperature and a slight swelling of the salivary glands. Most often there is redness and a slight hardening at the site of administration of the vaccine.
If a healthy child who has not previously contracted a pig and is not vaccinated from it, has been in contact with a sick mumps disease, it is possible to conduct non-specific prophylaxis. In such cases, children are given antiviral drugs, for example, interferon or grosrinosin.