Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/149404
problems, cough, and fever, but no other distinctive symptoms. Consequently, treatment for this infection may be delayed. For adults, this can mean several weeks or months of coughing so extreme that it can lead to cracked ribs and hernias. But for newborns, the consequences can be much more dire: convulsions, pneumonia, and even death. Of the 41,000 reported cases in 2012, 18 deaths occurred, mostly in infants.2 The public-health community speaks of cocooning newborns—that is, ensuring that they contact only people immune to pertussis until they are old enough to be vaccinated. Because whooping cough is a bacterial infection, it can be treated with antibiotics. These drugs shorten the duration of the infection, but damage to the respiratory system may take weeks to heal, so the cough may linger. The other main priority for whooping-cough treatment is to keep the breathing passageways open. In terms of home care, this may mean keeping the child in a warm shower so that heated water vapor can help clear out the bronchi. Impetigo Impetigo is such a common infection in children that a lot of people think it is actually called infantigo. This is a skin infection that could involve both staphylococcus and streptococcus bacteria. The bacteria cause a skin infection that usually begins with entry through a minor injury like chapped lips or irritated skin from frequent nose blowing. The lesions are itchy but not painful, and scratching spreads the bacteria to new areas. The hallmark of impetigo is clusters of small, red sores, usually on the face and around the mouth of a young child, which rupture and become honey-colored crusts. Lesions heal in two to three weeks, and although at its height the infection can be visually shocking, it usually heals without leaving permanent scars. One unusual form of impetigo, called ecthyma, can penetrate to deeper layers of the skin and cause permanent scarring, but this is relatively rare. When impetigo appears in an adult, the sores can be anywhere the skin is compromised. The face is possible, but other areas like the axillae or groin can also be affected due to friction injury. Impetigo is highly contagious and difficult to control (it is difficult for young children to resist scratching the sores), and it has some serious complications, including the possibility of blood poisoning, central-nervous-system infection, and kidney failure. For these reasons, it is usually treated quickly and aggressively with antibiotics. Caregivers are also counseled to keep the lesions dry and remove the crusts as they form, because the bacteria continue to grow under them. www.abmp.com. See what benefits await you. 43