photo credit: Spigoo

I wrote about this topic earlier. In Part II, I will delve deeper into the subject to give parents more helpful information.

What causes diarrhea?

It is due to gastrointestinal (GI) infection caused by bacteria, viruses or parasites. Diarrhea can spread through various ways such as taking contaminated food or water, eating with dirty hands, through house pets and also through contact with fecal matter. Children are easily susceptible as they are always touching, holding or handling things and surfaces and like to put their fingers into their mouths later.

Viral gastroenteritis or commonly known as stomach flu is a highly infectious type of diarrhea. The normal symptoms are nausea and vomiting with fever. One type of viral gastroenteritis in children is the rotavirus and is a common cause of diarrhea outbreaks in child-care centers.

Some of the regularly heard types of bacteria or parasites that cause GI and diarrhea are:
• Salmonella enteritidis bacteria: This is normally found in undercooked chicken and eggs.
• E. coli bacteria: This is normally spread through contaminated food or water. Undercooked food or unwashed fruits or vegetables that came into contact with animal manure or even swimming in contaminated water are some of the sources.
• Giardia parasite: Giardiasis is spread through contaminated water (e.g. pools or streams) and is easily spread through child care settings.
• Campylobacter bacteria: This is normally found in raw and undercooked chicken.

Typical symptoms

• Fever
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Loss of appetite
• Dehydration
• Weight loss

Prevention steps

It is hard for parents to prevent their children from getting sick with diarrhea. Below are some steps parents can take to reduce the chances or likelihood of an infection:

• Wash dirty hands. Ensure that your children wash their hands often especially before eating and after using the toilet.
• Properly wash fruits and vegetables before consumption.
• Properly cook meat before eating and refrigerate freshly bought meat or leftovers as soon as possible.
• Wash or clean utensils that have been in contact with raw meat or poultry.
• Avoid drinking from streams or ponds.
• Clean bathroom surfaces to prevent the spreading of germs.

Get medical attention

Parents should bring their child to see the doctor if the child exhibits extreme discomfort or condition. For example:

• High fever (102 o F or higher)
• Acute abdominal pain
• Diarrhea that contains blood
• Frequent vomiting
• Shows dehydration (e.g. lack of urine, dry mouth, few tears when crying, lethargy, dizziness)

The doctor may or may not prescribe antibiotics or antiviral medications depending on the condition. Sometimes the sick child recovers on his own. A stool test may be done to identify the actual cause of the diarrhea but oftentimes it is unnecessary.

The doctor’s main concern is usually in making sure to replace the fluid loss from your child’s body through diarrhea or vomiting. An oral rehydration solution (ORS) may be recommended to your child to replace the loss fluid and electrolytes (salts and minerals). Other drinks like fruit juice, tea, plain water, ginger ale, sports drinks are typically not recommended and sometimes can make the diarrhea worsen.

For extremely severe cases of dehydration, your child may be admitted to the hospital to receive IV fluids to overcome the condition.

Useful websites

Below, I have listed several useful websites for parents to get more information or to get more answers on the subject matter.

http://www.kidshealth.org/

http://www.healthline.com/

One of the worries or sufferings parents have to go through is when a child is sick. This is a time when the parent’s patience is truly being tested. A simple case of fever and flu is very mild compared to when a child is sick with diarrhea.

The experience is very bad especially when the child is still very young (< 2 years old). Expect sleepless nights to soothe the sick and cranky child. Normally the mother suffers the most due to having strong maternal feelings for the child.

The parents have to ensure that the medicine is being administered according to schedule. The child has to be cleaned and changed frequently throughout the day and night. Whenever this happened with my kids, my heart would normally drop to the pit of my stomach. The first thing to do is to get the sick child to see the doctor. The parents will be supplied with medicines and plenty of advice. If the diarrhea comes with vomiting, then it makes it twice as hard to handle. The doctor of course would blame the parents for not taking care of the child’s personal hygiene. Never mind the fact that the parents or caregiver are powerless to stop a curious and active child running all over the house and handling a lot of things at the same time.

When a child has diarrhea, it normally takes days (could reach a week) for it to go away before the child returns back to normal health. I normally have to make at least two trips to the doctor just to get reassurance that my child is getting better for every case that happened. The doctor normally emphasize that the medicines are consumed (e.g. antibiotics & rehydration salt) to make a speedy recovery. A different type of milk is also recommended (lactose free soy based milk) as the child’s stomach may not be able to tolerate the normal milk powder (cow based).

In a young child, diarrhea is normally caused by a virus called rotavirus. There is a vaccine for it but it must be given when the child is under 6 months old for it to be effective. It is contagious, so the caregivers must ensure proper hygiene control throughout the period. The child’s hygiene must also be properly control to prevent re-infection or reoccurrence.

As with other types of sickness, prevention is always better than cure. Not only have both the parents or caregiver and child suffered tremendously, it is also costly due to visits to the doctor, the extra diapers used up and the purchase of the special milk powder. For those parents who have gone through similar experiences know what I am talking about. For those who haven’t, there is nothing wrong to be prepared in advance by having some knowledge about it.