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Treatment Influenza In Children

Flu symptoms may last more than a week. Caregivers can relieve and soothe children’s aches and pains with basic home care.Rest in bed,Allow the child to drink lots of fluids of the child’s choice.Treat fever with acetaminophen (Children’s Tylenol, Infant’s Feverall, Junior Strength Panadol) or ibuprofen (Children’s Advil, Children’s Motrin) taken according to package instructions or consult the child’s doctor (do not give aspirin because it poses a risk of causing Reye syndrome).Use a humidifier in the child’s room to make dry air easier to breathe.Children may need more careful attention for these symptoms.Runny nose: Younger infants usually breathe through their nose and cannot breathe through the mouth. Even older children have difficulty breathing through the mouth and sucking on something at the same time. Therefore, it is very important that the child’s nose should be clean before feeding and before putting the child to sleep.Suctioning is the method to clean the nose. For younger infants, use a rubber suction bulb to remove the secretions gently. Older children can blow their noses, but forceful blowing can push the secretions into the ear tubes or sinuses. Encourage the use of tissues and gentle nose blowing.Dry or stuffy nose: It is important to remember that most stuffy noses are blocked by dry mucus. Blowing or sniffling alone cannot remove dry mucus.

About Treatment Influenza In Children:

Use of saline nosedrops is helpful in loosening the mucus. These nosedrops are available at most drug stores. One minute after using the nosedrops, use a soft rubber suction bulb to gently suck out the loosened mucus.Influenza (or “flu”) is a respiratory infection caused by influenza virus. A virus is a germ that makes people sick.Influenza outbreaks happen every year, usually between November and April. Because influenza viruses change – often from year to year – people don’t stay immune for very long. That’s why people can catch the flu more than once. The term “seasonal flu” is used for the influenza viruses that spread every year.From time to time, there is a major change in the influenza virus, and no one is immune. When this happens, many people of all ages around the world become sick with the flu within a few months. This is called a pandemic. Pandemics have occurred in 1889, 1918, 1957 and 1968, and 2009 (H1N1).Keep your child as comfortable as possible. Offer plenty of fluids and small, nutritious meals.  If he has fever, dress him in lightweight clothing and keep the room temperature around 20°C.

More Treatment Influenza In Children:

Check your child’s temperature. To ease pain, aches or a fever with a temperature greater than 38.5°C, use acetaminophen. Ibuprofen may be used for children over 6 months old. Unless your doctor says otherwise, give the dose recommended on the package every 4 hours until the child’s temperature comes down. Don’t give acetylsalicylic acid (ASA [eg, Aspirin])—or any medicine containing it—to children and teenagers with colds because it can lead to brain and liver damage.Influenza is an acute infection caused by any of three types of viruses (A, B, or C). Type A strains are associated with the most severe disease. Many people confuse influenza or flu with the common cold. In 2009, a new type A strain emerged called H1N1. Because there is little immunity in the human population, to the H1N1 strain, it has the ability to spread easily from person to person worldwide and sicken even more people than a usual seasonal strain. When this happens, it is called a pandemic.Flu is an acute infection of the airway tract in the nose and throat that can sometimes spread down into the lungs. Flu in adults is a frequent cause of acute respiratory illness. Flu, however, affects people of all ages. Children are among the groups most at risk for developing flu and its complications and are more likely to spread the infection to others.Flu season begins every year mainly in late fall and early winter and usually spreads widely. The peak season for the flu in the northern hemisphere is from November through March.