Swine flu and children

When my daughter spiked a 101 temperature on Tuesday my first thought was swine flu. Even though she has never been anywhere near Mexico in her lifetime, I couldn’t help but think about it. Although the pediatrician said she probably just has a little bug and to keep up with the Pedialyte, it’s still a scary thing.

I recently stumbled upon an Associated Press story regarding children and the swine flu since the first U.S. death was a 23-month-old child. I knocked down the story to the most important advice for parents.

Here is what AP’s sources suggest:
• Cover your cough, washing your hands often — and tell your children to do the same.
• Avoid sending children with fevers or other signs of illness to school and skip work if they have those symptoms.
• There is no reason to keep children home from preschool or day care to avoid other children just yet.
• Be sure to get annual vaccines to protect children against seasonal flu.
• Watch for classic flu symptoms, including fever of at least 100.5, cough and runny nose. Children old enough to talk might complain of sore throats and body aches. Young children sometimes just have a runny nose and a fever with the flu, and they’re more likely than adults to have vomiting. Parents should contact their physicians if children have these symptoms, but experts said most cases won’t even be flu, let alone swine flu.
• Young children with these symptoms who also are having trouble breathing, or who seem less alert or unable to drink liquid should see a doctor right away because these could be signs of dangerous complications.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 30th, 2009 at 7:29 am and is filed under Mama Knows Best. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.