Baby Health Care | Baby Infectious Diseases

Baby Infectious Disease - Chicken Pox

Chicken pox is preceded by a mild fever and a fussy baby for a day or two. The rash starts as small, raised pink spots that turn into blisters and then form crusts, usually on the baby's trunk.

The incubation period of chicken pox is 12 to 21 days, so there can be a three-week gap between one family member and another becoming infected. Treatment aims to relieve the itch and fever. Give paracetamol and warm to hot baths. Add some anti itch solution such as Pinetarsol to the bath water.

A vaccination is available, and is recommended at 18 months of age (may differ, depend on your state policy). If a pregnant woman comes in contact with chicken pox, she should consult her doctor to check that she has immunity.

Baby Infectious Disease - Measles

Immunization is started at 12 months (may differ, depend on your state policy), but a small number of baby do catch measles before they are immunized. If this happens, your baby will still need her immunization at 12 months.

The incubation period of measles is seven to 14 days. Measles first appear as a cold. The baby is miserable with a runny nose, watery eyes, a cough and a fever. Two days later spots appear on the neck, behind the ears and on her face.

Within hours the whole body is covered, the rash often joins together and becomes one red mass or a series of blotches. Give paracetamol to bring the fever down and encourage extra fluids. Although measles is an unusual illness now because of high vaccination rates, when it does occur it can sometimes be a very severe illness. If you think your baby may have measles, it is very important that your doctor checks him. In recent years there have been some scares about the possible dangers of measles vaccination, but careful studies have shown that the measles vaccination is not associated with any increase in the incidence of autism.

Baby Infectious Disease - Mumps

Mumps is now relatively uncommon, but is an unpleasant disease mainly affecting children between the age of five and 15. The infection affects the glands just below and in front of one or both ears, they become swollen and painful for six to seven days. The child can become feverish and lose his appetite.

Mumps is treated by rest, a soft diet and plenty of fluids. There is now a very effective vaccination against mumps included in your baby's usual immunization program.

Baby Infectious Disease - Rubella (German Measles)

Immunization against this disease is included with the measles / mumps immunization at 12 months (may differ, depend on your state policy).

Rubella has an incubation period of 14 to 21 days. It is often difficult to diagnose in baby and is frequently confused with measles, roseola, an allergy or a viral rash.

The baby may have cold symptoms. The rash rapidly spreads over his arms and body. It appears as small, pink, separate dots unlike the measles rash that is red and blotchy. It only last three days. The most reliable sign of rubella is swollen glands at the back of the neck and behind the ears.

If a pregnant woman comes into contact with a child with rubella, she should consult her doctor to have her immunity to rubella checked. If the woman has good immunity to rubella, then there should be no risk to her baby.

Baby Infectious Disease - Roseola

An acute viral disease that is most often seen in baby between six and 24 months. The incubation period is about 10 days.

Roseola begins with a high fever for several days, but often there are no other obvious signs of illness. However, there may be slightly swollen glands at the back of the baby's head or neck. After a few days, the fever comes down and the baby breaks out in a fine, pink, slightly blotchy rash on his trunk. The rash usually fades within a couple of days. Treatment involves bringing the high fever down with paracetamol and, if necessary, tepid sponging.

Baby Infectious Disease - Whooping Cough (Pertussis)

Whooping cough's continued presence is partly due to the fact that immunization offers only 70-80 % protection, but is mostly because there is a rise in the number of families not immunizing against it. If your baby has been immunized and does get whooping cough, the illness is usually milder and less likely to cause complications.

Whooping cough starts with a runny nose and progress over a week to include a dry cough. The cough then develops into bouts of repeated coughing, sometimes followed by a 'whoop' or by vomiting.

Small babies tend not to 'whoop' but have difficulty breathing and 'blue' attacks. They are at great risk and usually need hospital care so they can have round the clock attention. Even a mild case lasts six weeks.

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Common Illnesses 1 : Cold, Cough, Croup, Diarrhea
Common Illnesses 2 : Ear infections, Fever
Infectious Disease : Chicken pox, Measles, Mumps, Rubella, Roseola, Whooping Cough
Common Problem : Scalp, Eyes, Ears, Nose, Mouth
Other Issues: Vomiting, Constipation, Natural Medicine
Immunization

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Common Skin Rashes : Eczema, Nappy rash, Miliaria, Seborrhoeic dermatitis
Common Skin Blemishes : Milia, Dry skin, Cradle cap, Cheek rashes.
Common Skin Marks : Port wine stains, Strawberry marks, Stork bites, Mongolian blue spots

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