Why do many children in Hai Duong with hand, foot and mouth disease not get better at home?

For the past month, on average, every day, the Department of Infectious Diseases at Hai Duong Children's Hospital has had 10-15 inpatients with hand, foot and mouth disease. Children with this disease admitted to the hospital are all at level 2a with common symptoms such as: high fever above 39 degrees Celsius, frequent startles, lethargy, weak limbs, crying, blisters on the palms, soles, mouth, buttocks, knees... Before being admitted to the hospital, the patients were all treated at home and did not respond to fever-reducing drugs.

Master, Doctor Tran Thi Thanh Nhan, Head of the Department of Infectious Diseases, said that there are many reasons why children with hand, foot and mouth disease are treated at home but do not respond to fever-reducing drugs. When children get sick, parents often buy Hapacol for their children to take to reduce fever. With this medicine, to stop continuous fevers, it must be taken at a maximum dose of 15mg/1kg of body weight/time, but due to lack of knowledge, parents are afraid that taking too much medicine is harmful to their children's health, so they only give them 10mg, making it difficult for children to reduce fever. There are cases where children refuse to take the medicine or take it but vomit it so it is not effective.

In addition to hand, foot and mouth disease, a small number of children also have diarrhea and pneumonia viruses, but their parents do not know. Just giving patients regular fever-reducing medicine is very difficult to reduce fever, and if left for a long time, it can even cause dangerous complications such as encephalitis and myocarditis, endangering the health and life of children. In fact, in the past, the hospital has received several such cases, which had to be transferred to a higher level for treatment.

For children with hand, foot and mouth disease level 2a, in addition to taking the correct dose of fever-reducing medicine, they must also take sedatives to be effective. However, pharmacies or private clinics outside often do not prescribe or have this medicine...

For patients with hand, foot and mouth disease who do not respond to fever-reducing medication at home, when admitted to the hospital, the doctor will perform a heart and lung X-ray, an ear, nose and throat endoscopy and a blood test to determine the infection status and proactively detect complications early. In case the patient has complications, a CT scan and fluid aspiration will be performed to find the cause of the symptoms.

Depending on the health status of each patient, doctors will monitor and provide appropriate treatment regimens. Usually, when children have hand, foot and mouth disease level 2a, doctors will prescribe a combination of 2 drugs, Habacol and Brufen, to reduce fever, plus sedatives. Patients are regularly monitored for progression. If the fever still does not decrease, tests will be done to determine the cause of the infection and combined treatment with other drugs.

Most patients with hand, foot and mouth disease treated at Hai Duong Children's Hospital will have a fever that goes away after 1-2 days or some children will have a fever that goes away immediately. Children can be discharged after 2-3 more days of treatment.

When children have symptoms of hand, foot and mouth disease or other diseases, parents should take their children to the hospital for timely examination and treatment. Arbitrarily buying medicine to treat children at home without proper regimen can cause dangerous complications.