Gastrointestinal diseases in children
Gastrointestinal diseases are very common in children. These diseases are very dangerous if not detected and treated promptly.
1. Intestinal obstruction
If there is intestinal obstruction, the child will not be able to defecate or pass flatus. In newborns, intestinal obstruction is often due to intussusception or strangulated inguinal hernia. In the first days after birth, the baby’s digestive tract may have some defects. Because it is not fully developed, it may be twisted in some places. A child’s first symptom is usually vomiting, sometimes bile. All cases of intestinal obstruction must be taken to the emergency room in the surgical department.
2. Rectal prolapse
Rectal prolapse is a phenomenon in which the end of the intestine attached to the anus (rectum) protrudes out naturally or when pushing hard, looking like a red circle. It can also be like that when a child coughs or cries a lot. This intestine will then automatically shrink or you will have to use your hand to press it. The main cause is usually due to long-term constipation or diarrhea, but sometimes children also have intestinal ligament dilatation or myasthenia gravis. This condition can often be treated with medication, rarely requiring surgery.
3. Diarrhea
When a child has loose, watery stools more than 3 times a day, it is considered to have diarrhea. The biggest risk of this disease is that it causes dehydration and most electrolytes, so the body will become exhausted and possibly die. According to statistics, for every 100 children who die from diarrhea, about 71 children die from dehydration. The viruses that often cause diarrhea are rotavirus and E.coli bacteria, found mostly in dirty places and in unhygienic food.
4. Dysentery
Mainly caused by amibe parasites and shigella bacilli, people with dysentery have very little bowel movements but are accompanied by sputum and blood along with symptoms of fever, abdominal pain, and always have the feeling of wanting to defecate. So children gradually weaken, struggle, fall into a coma and then die. The main risk of dysentery is that it becomes chronic and long-lasting. In addition, amebic parasites can penetrate the liver and cause liver abscesses. Shigella type often causes dysentery in children. This type is not chronic and does not cause liver abscesses, but when complications occur it can cause death within 24 hours.
5. Typhoid
There is also a risk of developing during the hot season. The main symptom is fever lasting for many days, accompanied by digestive symptoms such as slow digestion, abdominal pain, sometimes diarrhea, sometimes constipation. The culprit that causes typhoid is salmonella bacteria which carries many toxins that cause dangerous complications such as: intestinal bleeding, intestinal perforation which can be fatal. Another common complication in children is encephalitis: lethargy, fatigue, coma and death.
6. Cholera
In recent times there have been a number of cases. You must be very careful with this disease because cholera is both a dangerous disease that can quickly kill and easily spread into an epidemic. Three main symptoms of cholera: massive watery diarrhea, continuous vomiting, and abdominal pain. The most frightening symptom is diarrhea, the patient continuously defecates, cannot hold it, and has milky white watery stools. At that time, the patient became very dehydrated, exhausted and died very quickly. Comma-shaped bacteria (cholera bacteria) cause this disease.
The above mentioned bacteria are always present in dirty places, unsanitary water sources, spoiled or undercooked food, or where flies land. When our children eat and drink in that environment, the above-mentioned germs will follow the food into the digestive system, grow and excrete many toxins that cause disease and death, causing epidemics.
To prevent it, it is necessary to maintain food hygiene, that is to say: drink clean, use cooled boiled water, when drinking soft drinks, use sterilized drinks sealed in cans or bottles, not Children should be given dusty sidewalk water to drink. Eating clean means eating cooked foods that should not be left out for more than 2 hours. When eating raw vegetables, you must wash them thoroughly with salt water. All unused food must be covered carefully, and children should be trained to wash their hands thoroughly before eating and after defecating.