Children with respiratory diseases are on the rise

Hospital overload

At the Pediatrics Department of Khanh Hoa General Hospital, in the past week, the number of children coming to see a doctor and receive treatment for respiratory diseases has increased dramatically, and all the hospital beds are full of sick children. In previous months, the department received an average of 30-40 new cases per day, now it is 70-80 cases, a 2.5-fold increase. On average, the department receives and treats about 300 sick children per day, of which more than half are children with respiratory diseases. With 50 beds for respiratory diseases, the number of children treated for this disease every day is more than 150, leading to an overload. Many children have to share two, three, or even four children per bed.

Doctor checks the health of a child with severe pneumonia in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.

Taking care of her child at the Pediatrics Department, Ms. Tran Thi Kim Diem (Ninh Hoa ward ) said that her 2.5-year-old child had a fever and cough, so she was taken to the hospital. The doctor diagnosed the child with a relatively severe respiratory illness and ordered a chest X-ray to determine the disease more clearly. Ms. Kim Diem shared: "At home, the family took good care of the child and kept him warm, but due to the constantly changing weather, the child got sick." In another room, Ms. Vo Ngo My Hanh (Tay Nha Trang ward) struggled to find a suitable place to breastfeed her child because there were 2 children in the same bed. Ms. My Hanh said: "The child had an unusually high cough and fever, so the family took him to the hospital. Here, the doctor diagnosed the child with relatively severe pneumonia. Before that, the whole family had a cold and fever, so it could have been transmitted to the child."

Many severe cases

Not only is the number of cases increasing rapidly, what is worrying is that 80% of hospitalized children are under 3 years old, a group with weak resistance, an incomplete immune system, very vulnerable to erratic changes in weather. In addition, many children are brought to the hospital when the disease has become severe, in a state of pneumonia, severe bronchitis.

In the pediatric intensive care unit, due to the severe condition of the disease, 4 children under 1 year old were treated here and had to be supported by a ventilator. Baby T. (5 months old, Khanh Son commune) was assigned to special care. The baby was admitted to the hospital with severe pneumonia, sepsis, and had to be breathed with the help of a ventilator. Baby T.'s mother said that she had a fever and cough at home for nearly a week. The family bought medicine for her because they thought she had a common cold. When her illness became severe, she coughed a lot and had difficulty breathing, the family took her to the hospital for treatment. At the hospital, she was in a state of severe respiratory failure, her chest was sunken, and her lips were purple. In the bed next to her, baby K. (1 month old) had been off the ventilator for 3 days and her health was now stable. Before that, she was admitted to the hospital with severe pneumonia, her body was purple, she had difficulty breathing, and her chest was sunken...

Respiratory diseases in children often increase sharply during the changing seasons - when humidity and temperature change continuously, creating favorable conditions for viruses and bacteria to develop. However, many parents are still subjective, arbitrarily using antipyretics, antibiotics or delaying taking their children to the doctor, causing the disease to worsen quickly, causing dangerous complications. With increasing patient pressure and many severe cases, the Pediatrics Department, Khanh Hoa General Hospital must implement many solutions to reduce the load and minimize cross-infection. Dr. Vo Minh Hien - Department of Pediatrics said: "The department will allow children with mild illness, or stable treatment, to be taken care of during the day combined with outpatient treatment. Accordingly, after being examined and getting medicine, parents can take their children home to take care of them and return to the hospital the next day for a health check. Parents should pay attention, children after getting the flu are prone to pneumonia, especially children under 2 years old (this age group accounts for nearly 80%). In recent days, many students have been hospitalized with pneumonia after getting the flu. Therefore, at this time of changing seasons, parents need to ensure adequate nutrition for their children; do not let children come into contact with sick people in the family; should fully vaccinate children, of which the seasonal flu vaccine should be given before September to quickly create antibodies for children."

Khanh Hoa is entering the transitional season, the weather is erratic, rain and sunshine alternate, which is also the "peak season" of respiratory diseases in young children. Therefore, along with the initiative of the health sector in prevention, control and treatment, raising awareness of disease prevention in the community is also an important factor to help effectively control the increase in disease and protect children's health. In particular, educational institutions, especially kindergartens and primary schools, need to strengthen measures to prevent respiratory diseases for children, keep the classroom environment airy, clean school supplies, limit children's contact with sick people...

LY THAO

Source: https://baokhanhhoa.vn/xa-hoi/y-te-suc-khoe/202510/tre-mac-benh-ho-hap-tang-cao-be50cdb/