Since the beginning of February, high rates of spread of influenza and ARVI viruses have been recorded in Russia. Therefore, during the epidemic season, adults need to closely monitor the condition and behavior of children.
Recently it became known that in 37 regions of Russia there is an excess of epidemic thresholds among the population. That is why about 5 thousand schools had already been closed across the country for influenza and ARVI quarantine by mid-February.
As you know, epidemics arise from the fact that people infected with SARS or influenza continue to visit public places. However, sick people often do not take into account the main thing – in a confined space they pose the greatest threat to the health of others. Children are not always able to immediately detect signs of the disease on their own.
Children spend a lot of time in public places: attending kindergarten or school, walking with their comrades. That is why it is so important from an early age to form habits in a child that will allow him to reduce the risk of getting the flu or SARS.
To do this, you need to explain to your child a few simple, but effective rules:
- Wash hands after visiting public places and before every meal.
- Use wet wipes or disinfectant gels outside the home, even when there is no adult nearby to remind you of this.
- Do not touch your eyes and nose with your hands to avoid the entry of viruses into the body through the mucous membranes. According to statistics, a person unconsciously touches his face up to 20 times an hour!
- Do not share personal items with other children (dishes, handkerchiefs, etc.) during an increased incidence of viral infections.
And, of course, you should tell your child what to do if he / she does not feel well in school or kindergarten. First of all, you need to tell the class teacher about your condition, and then visit the first-aid post.
And what should adults know to protect their offspring from diseases and prevent their development?
- Avoid visiting crowded places with your child (public transport, shopping centers, cinema, swimming pool, etc.) If necessary, use disposable masks, changing them at least once every two hours.
- Ventilate the rooms in which the child is, keep them at the optimum temperature and humidity, carry out wet cleaning, wash toys and other objects with which the child interacts outside the house.
- Moisturize the baby’s nasal mucosa with special oils — this will create a barrier to the entry of infections.
- Rinse your baby’s nose with seawater irrigation therapy before bed.
- Walk with children more often in the fresh air, avoiding hypothermia. Do not forget to take water for walks so that the children can drink at any time.
- Provide your child with adequate nutrition, thereby increasing the resistance of the child’s body to viruses. Food should be rich in vitamins and minerals.
- For additional support, special safe drugs are suitable. For example, the prophylactic intake of “Otsillococcinum” once a week reduces the risk of contracting ARVI by three times.
But what to do in cases where the disease could not be “caught on the fly”? First of all, determine what exactly caught your child, because ARVI and influenza have different symptoms.
Often, safe natural drugs can help with ARVI. At the first sign of illness, agents can come to the rescue that act on the immune system as a catalyst. For example, Oscillocococinum – this drug is approved even for the treatment of young children and pregnant women.
Oscillococcinum demonstrates the greatest efficiency when used in the early stages of the disease. It is on non-prescription leave and can be used both to prevent ARVI and to relieve symptoms of the disease.
The following measures may be helpful in controlling the symptoms of a common cold:
- Rinse your child’s nose with seawater irrigation therapy – they will help clear the nasal mucosa of viruses.
- Use aromatherapy: for nasal congestion, it effectively relieves baby’s breathing and relieves nasal congestion. For this method, you can use sage, eucalyptus, juniper oils, which have bactericidal properties.
- Take Korizalia tablets for a cold (rhinitis), which, unlike vasoconstrictor drugs, do not have a negative effect on the nasal mucosa. Tablets can be used, in particular, and in order to reduce the duration of the common cold, as well as the frequency of use of vasoconstrictor drops.
- If ARVI accompanies a cough, then the cure can be accelerated thanks to inhalations using a nebulizer. Also, the drug Stodal, approved for use even by small children, will help to cope with coughs.
- To reduce intoxication, it is recommended to drink abundant – compotes, fruit drinks, decoctions and teas. It is better to use berries with a high content of vitamin C as active ingredients for drinks – cranberries, lingonberries, sea buckthorn, raspberries or currants.
- Maintain the strength of the child’s body with broths made from poultry — chicken or turkey.
If a child with ARVI is at home, it is often necessary to ventilate the room and humidify the air. The patient will also need the most comfortable sleeping conditions, during which the body accumulates strength to fight viruses.
Keep viruses at a distance and be healthy!
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