NOT EVERYTHING IS CORONAVIRUS!
Cough, fever, mucus, diarrhea, body pain, headache ... These are the symptoms that occur each year in the little ones and that are expected in these winter months. However, in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, this will bring more concern to parents, who will ask themselves: What does my child have: a cold, flu or Covid-19?
Until half a year ago, these situations, the most common in families, did not seem of great importance. It is known that childhood is a reservoir for viruses such as the flu or colds, and it is common for them to take it home without major consequences. With SARS-CoV-2 things get complicated
What are the differences between the symptoms of flu and Covid-19
It is practically impossible to differentiate with certainty if the symptoms that a child has are due to Covid-19, a flu or a cold, especially in the first moments of the disease. At the beginning, which is when a patient is most contagious and it is more important to identify what type of infection it is, the three processes present with a very similar catarrhal picture.
All respiratory viruses in children manifest themselves in a similar way, that is, a catarrhal picture with more or less mucus, fever or low-grade fever for two or three days ... and these may be the symptoms of coronavirus in a child. It is practically indistinguishable. The only way to know is to put them through laboratory tests to see if it is SARS-CoV-2 (PCR)
However, for this test to be functional for the control of the epidemic, the PCR must be done on time, quickly, in 24 or 48 hours. Which due to the shortage of reagents (specific chemicals to do the test) for so many suspects, and due to other factors, makes the results take time to arrive and is not practical.
Shortness of breath and fever
Despite the fact that in children there are no specific symptoms that unequivocally suggest a coronavirus infection, there are slight differences between these diseases. "The three clinical pictures share similar symptoms, but, in general, respiratory distress together with fever are more frequent in Covid-19
"The presence of high fever, above 38, is common to the flu and Covid, while it is occasional in the cold. The cough appears in all three pictures and is, more frequently, dry in the coronavirus infection. Muscle and headache pain, as well as fatigue, are more common in colds and flu. " "Diarrhea can appear in flu and coronavirus infection, but not in the common cold. And respiratory distress is very common in Covid and does not appear in the other two tables."
Gastrointestinal symptoms in infants less than one year old and preschool children under three, with diarrhea and some low-grade fever, is the usual form of presentation of the coronavirus in this age group. However, for the reassurance of parents: "In the vast majority of children, if it is a case of coronavirus, they do not develop symptoms and, if they appear, they will go practically unnoticed. In a healthy child, they will be, for general rule, very banal and they will recover quite well ".
How to react to the Symptoms
In the event that a child begins to present symptoms, the recommendations for parents are clear: at the slightest symptom, in the presence of cough, increased mucus, diarrhea or fever, they should stay home isolated and notify the your pediatrician to see what steps to take. "They should not be separated from parents, who should always be in contact with their children, but from risky people who live with them at home"
Another important piece of information is:
Flu and covid are different infections and can coexist, as well as other respiratory diseases. Health experts are looking at how common this can be.
Let's have a detailed record of our children's daily contacts.
Knowing, at a glance, if that cough or that fever is coronavirus or not, «is going to be an impossible task -. Similar symptomatology is common in almost any of the respiratory diseases of childhood. It will force us to heal a lot in health. Do many tests, our obligation should be to discard, rather than confirm.
