Diarrhoea

Here are symptoms, cause & treatment of Diarrhoea

Hi I am Dr JP Singh, Senior consultant in pediatrics and neonatologist at Tirath Ram Hospital Civil Lines Delhi. Today Vishal will discuss a very common problem in children that is Diarrhoea and how we can prevent its complication and also how we can prevent diarrhoea.

Diarrhoea is one of the most common problems which you see in all children and newborn specially in 3 to 5 years of age. Now it is associated with loose motions which may be either totally watery or may have blood. The number of stool and frequency can also vary. Diarrhoea can lead to serious problems like dehydration and if accompanied with blood it can frequently progress to septicemia and severe infections. In addition to loose motions the child may also have fever, cramps, nausea and vomiting. Now the next question is what are the causes of diarrhoea and why do they occur. The main causes of diarrhoea can be either infectious or noninfectious. Among the infections, viral infections are the commonest and out of the viruses it is the rotavirus diarrhoea which is most common now. This is the diarrhoea which causes a lot of dehydration because here the stools are copious and in larger number. In addition there is frequently associated when vomiting.

So when the child is unable to take adequate fluids. If he is not able to take adequate fluids, the urine output also goes down. If there is severe dehydration it can affect the Kidneys, leading to acute renal failure and therefore inability to pass urine. However the majority of viral Diarrhoeas and rotavirus diarrhoeas are self limiting and if you take care of adequate hydration and keep on giving the child Fluids by mouth they get controlled by itself. Other infectious causes can include bacteria infections and things like amoebiasis and Giardiasis. There are also some non infectious causes of diarrhoea which would include Cow's milk protein allergy, crohn's disease and other problems. In India nearly two million people suffer from rotavirus diarrhoea annually.

Out of this 6 to 8 million children needs hospitalization and nearly about 1 to 1.5 lacs children died because of this disease. That is why it is very important to prevent this diarrhea. Now talking about prevention of rotavirus diarrhoea alone we have a very effective vaccine which is available. This is a oral vaccine and therefore need no injection. This is given at monthly intervals and three doses are required. The starting age for this vaccine is between 6 to 13 weeks. This vaccine has also been added into the Government of India, national immunization programme and has been given in some States. Somehow Delhi still does not have this vaccine from the government of India. Teerathram Shah Hospital and Triveni turbine limited has combined to act and prevent the rotavirus diarrhoea. We are giving free rotavirus vaccination to all newborns between 6 to 13 weeks at Tirath Ram Shah Hospital.

I would like to end by mentioning that in case you want any more information about diarrhoea rotavirus diarrhoea and its prevention you are free to contact us at Teerath Ram Shah Hospital Civil Lines, New Delhi or contact us through lybrate.