Laser Surgery Treatment Birthmarks, Moles Removal, and Warts

Filed Under Our Illnesses | June 30th, 2007

Many infants are born with some kind of birthmark or mole somewhere on their bodies. They may appear as a light pinkish spot on the face, neck, or torso, or they may be a coffee-colored mark. Occasionally, a child is born with a deeper red wine-stain birthmark. Unfortunately, many of these wine-stain marks are found on the face or head where sometimes they don’t look very nice.

Some birthmarks are pretty difficult to get rid of, but actually, most of them don’t need to be gotten rid of because they aren’t disfiguring. Birthmarks don’t cause any pain and the ones on covered parts of the body can’t even be seen unless one is undressed.

Many light-colored pink birthmarks II fade out and disappear by themselves before the child is a few months old. Ugly-looking, darker-colored birthmarks on the face can often be removed by a surgeon when the child has grow’ up a bit and is better able to undergo an operation.

A great many boys and girls will develop a mole or two by the time they reach five or six years of age. Moles are round in shape and are raised slightly from the surface of the skin. Some are light tan while others are. a deeper- brown or even a bluish-black color. Moles can be as small as a pinhead or may be extremely large, occasionally reaching the size of a lemon or orange. Children with many moles usually have a mother or father, or both, who also have a lot of moles on their bodies.

Moles that aren’t ugly or disfiguring can be left alone unless they begin to grow rapidly or change from a lighter to a darker color, or bleed because they are rubbed against by clothing. It is also a good idea to remove moles that are on the toes or feet or fingers or hands, because they often get irritated. To have a mole removed, a child usually goes to the hospital for a day. Most moles can be removed very easily, either with a little injection to relieve the pain or by getting an anesthetic so as to go to sleep during the operation. Operations to remove moles are not painful and children don’t mind the experience very much at all. If a mole happens to be especially ugly, the scar following its removal will look much better than the mole looked before it was removed.

Warts are caused by a virus infection and can appear anywhere on the body. Even though warts are caused by a virus they are not contagious.

Almost every child sooner or later will have a wart. Warts are caused by a virus infection. There used to be a story that warts came from playing with frogs or toads, but we now know that this just isn’t true. Warts are round and hard and raised above the surface of the skin. The top of a wart feels rough and horny.

Warts can appear anywhere on the body, but favorite places are on the hands and feet. It is not known why some youngsters have lots of warts and others have practically none. Doctors think that certain children just naturally seem better able than others to protect themselves against the viruses that cause warts.

Often, warts will last for a few weeks or months, and then, with nothing done about them, they disappear. Other times, warts do not go away, or they may grow larger and the child may develop more of them in the same or a different part of the body. And, sometimes, a doctor will remove just one wart, and all the rest of them will disappear all by themselves.

Symptoms of Tick Parasite Infection Medication and Cleanse Diet

Filed Under Our Illnesses | June 30th, 2007

A parasite is a plant or animal that lives on the outside or inside of another plant or animal. It gets its nourishment from the animal or plant on which, or in which, it lives. Some parasites are so small that they can only be seen under a microscope. For example, the parasite that lives in human blood and causes malaria is so tiny it can only be seen under a microscope. However, some parasites, like the tapeworm which attaches itself to the inside of an animal’s or human’s stomach, may grow to b several feet long.

The world is full of all kinds of parasites. An orchid plant that attaches itself to the bark of a tree is a parasite; many vines are parasites; a tick that attaches itself to a dog’s skin and sucks its blood for nourishment is a parasite; and many kinds of worms that get inside an animal’s or human’s body and gain their nourishment from the animal or human are parasites.

Diseases caused by parasites are fairly common in children who play in dirt where worms and other parasites live. The parasites often go from the ground into a child’s body when the child puts his dirty hands into his mouth. Parasites also get into children’s bodies when they kiss or hug or play with pets who have infected worms or ticks on their bodies. And finally, parasites may enter the body when an infected insect, like a mosquito carrying the malaria parasite, bites someone’s skin.

There are a great number of different diseases and conditions caused by parasites. Here are just a few of them, and how they affect children:

Malaria
This is an infection caused by one of four kinds of malarial parasite. It comes about when a person is bitten by a mosquito that is infected with the. parasite.

During the first week of malaria, the patient will have attacks of fever, headaches, and chilly sensations. Then, during the weeks afterward, he may feel fine one day, and the next day he may have a high fever and severe chills lasting for a few hours. Then, he will break out in a great sweat. This situation continues with one day high fever and chills, the next day no fever or chills.

The mosquitoes that carry the malaria parasites breed primarily in the humid, hot climate of the tropics and subtropics. They are seldom found in temperate regions.

An ameba is a single-celled animal organism that may cause diseases in children. The most common of such diseases is dysentery caused by Endamoeba histolytica.

The diagnosis of malaria is made by taking a little sample of the patient’s blood and examining it under a microscope. On examination, the malaria parasite will be found.

Malaria attacks may go on for many weeks or months if treatment isn’t given. Fortunately, there are several excellent medications to control malana, but they must be given over a long period of time in order to cure the condition.

To prevent this disease, someone who is in an area where malaria exists should take antimalarial pills every day. Also, he should protect himself against being bitten by mosquitoes.

Amebic dysentery

This is a form of diarrhea caused by a tiny one-celled animal parasite called the ameba. A child with amebic dysentery will have crampy pains in his abdomen, many watery, loose bowel movements, loss of appetite, loss of weight, and anemia.

The diagnosis of this condition is made by examining the stool in a laboratory and seeing the ameba parasite under a microscope. Luckily, there are excellent medicines to kill the parasite and cure the child.

To prevent amebic dysentery, a child must be very clean about his body and his eating habits. Also, if he isn’t careful, he may spread the infection to other members of his family.

Worms

Tapeworm sometimes grow to be many feet long. Medicines may cause the worm to be passed out of the intestines. Unless the head of the worm comes out with the segments, the worm will continue to grow.

Various worms can easily get into a child’s body if he runs barefoot outdoors, if he has the habit of putting 1 dirty fingers into his mouth, or if he plays with animals who have worms.

There are dozens of different kinds of worms, including the hookworm, the whipworm, the pinworm, and the tapeworm. Each one can get into the body, and each one can cause a different disease.

Some of the worms that get into the stomach and intestines finally come out in the stool. When they appear in the stool, doctors can examine them and will therefore be able to tell the exact kind of worm that is causing trouble. Occasionally, a worm will get into the blood, or will reach the muscles or other organs of the body. These worms may be harder to find, but there are ways of discovering and getting rid of them.

People are fortunate that doctors have discovered medicines to kill practically every type of worm that can get into the body.

Precautions
Here are some good rules to follow if we want to avoid conditions caused by parasites:

1. Don’t drink any water in the country or in a foreign land unless you are positive it is pure. Don’t eat the skins of raw fruits and raw vegetables when you are visiting in the country. Fresh fruit should be peeled, and raw vegetables should be cooked.
2. Children should protect themselves against mosquitoes, and against lice and other insects that might carry parasites. Mosquito sprays should be used. Long slacks or jeans, long-sleeved blouses or shirts, should be worn in areas where there are mosquitoes.
3. Vaccinations should be given against diseases carried by insects and viruses. For example, before traveling to some foreign countries, it is a good idea to be vaccinated against typhus fever, yellow fever, the plague, and other contagious diseases. When going to an area where there is malaria, a child should take antimalarial pills every day. And when camping out in woods where there might be ticks, it might be wise to be vaccinated against Rocky Mountain spotted fever.
4. Children should not kiss and hug dogs or cats or other pets that run wild in the fields. Such animals may carry insects that can transmit parasites.
5. Children should wash thoroughly when they come indoors and, of course, they should never put dirty fingers in their mouths!

Among the parasites found in children are: whipworm, hookworm, trichinosis larva in muscle, adult trichinosis worm, and liver fluke.

Kidney Stone Disease Infection Symptoms and Bladder Cancer Infections

Filed Under Our Illnesses | June 30th, 2007

The kidneys filter out waste materials and poisons from the blood and get rid of them in the urine. However, sometimes the blood that reaches the kidneys is so full of toxins (poisons manufactured by germs) from a severe inflammation elsewhere in the body that the kidneys themselves become inflamed.

For instance, it is possible that a very bad infection of the tonsils may allow a great deal of poisonous toxin to get into the blood and eventually reach the kidneys. And these toxins can be so strong that they cause an inflammation of the kidneys. Also, every once in a while, germs will travel through the blood to the kidneys, where they will cause an infection.! And, sometimes, an infection of th bladder may travel up the ureters (the tubes connecting the kidneys and the bladder) and cause a kidney infection.

The kidneys and bladder are parts of the body’s waste-disposal system, and so when we have a kidney infection, we often have an infected bladder, too. The way to get over a kidney infection is to stay in bed, drink plenty of water and other liquids, and take the antibiotic or other medicines the doctor prescribes.

An inflammation or infection of the kidneys can usually be diagnosed because the child has a high fever, a pain in his back under his ribs where t. kidneys are located, and he is tender when the doctor touches the kidneys during his examination. Also, when the doctor examines the urine, he finds pus or other cells which show that the kidneys are inflamed. In order to get over a kidney inflammation or infection, a child must do following:

1. Stay in bed.
2. Drink the proper amounts of fluids that the doctor tells him to drink.
3. Take antibiotic medicines or other medicines that the doctor prescribes.

In most cases, a kidney infection will get well without too much trouble, but some of the inflammations caused by toxins may take a long time to get over. Often, when the kidneys are infected, the bladder also becomes infected. That is quite natural as the urine, containing germs, travels from the kidneys down to the bladder. It is easy to know when children have bladder infections. Here’s what happens in most cases:

1. There is a desire to urinate much more often than usual. Sometimes, a child wants to go every hour, or even more often than that.
2. The urine may burn as it passes out of the body.
3. Even though the child has finished urinating, he or she still feels like doing more.
4. There may be a fever, and the child may perspire a great deal.
5. The urine, instead of being clear, looks cloudy. That’s because it contains germs and pus cells.

Luckily, almost all bladder infections can be cleared up quickly if the child stays in bed, drinks large amounts of liquids, and takes the antibiotic medication that the doctor tells him to take. But even after the bladder is all better, it is important to drink lots of water for several weeks afterward. That will prevent the infection from coming back.

Hernia in Women and Pain Bloated Abdominal Fat Liposuction Abdomen

Filed Under Our Illnesses | June 30th, 2007

A hernia, or as some people call it, a rupture, is a weakness in the wall of the abdomen. It allows intestines or other tissues from inside the abdomen to bulge through the weakened area. The two most frequent places for hernia in children are the bellybutton and the groin. Hernias may also occur at other places, including the diaphragm which separates the chest from the abdomen.

Some children are born with hernias due to a weakness located at the bellybutton, or in the groin where the thigh joins the abdomen. These hernias are thought to be caused by incomplete development of the child in his mother’s uterus. In other words, the child was born before he was completely finished.

A hernia in the bellybutton is called an umbilical hernia. It is recognized by the way the bellybutton bulges out, especially when an infant cries or strains. Beneath this bulge, one can sometimes feel a little opening in the muscle of the abdominal wall. Many umbilical hernias get smaller as the child grows during the first year of life, but other umbilical hernias stay the same size or grow larger. If an umbilical hernia is larger than a dime or nickel, and remains that way even after the child has passed his first birthday, it will probably not go away of its own accord.

Inguinal hernias, or hernias in the groin, can be very serious if a loop of intestine is caught in the hernial sac. Such hernias should always be repaired surgically. Hernias occur most frequently in the groin, because at this site there are gaps in the abdominal wall for blood vessels and the genital cord.

Doctors used to place a penny or dime in the opening of a hernia of the bellybutton, would strap it there with adhesive tape, and would leave it in place for several weeks at a time. They thought that this might make the hernia heal by itself. We now know that this doesn’t do much good. If an umbilical hernia is going to heal, it will heal even if we leave it alone.

An umbilical hernia can easily be cured by having a surgeon fix it. This is a simple operation, carried out in a hospital. It is not a painful operation because the child goes to sleep before it is performed. Afterward, there might be slight pain for a day or two, but it is not enough to keep the child in bed. Youngsters get out of bed the day after this type of surgery and they go home from the hospital a day or two later.

A hernia in the groin is called an inguinal hernia. Inguinal hernias are just as common as hernias of the bellybutton. When a hernia appears in one groin in a child under one or two years of age, there is a good chance he w develop a hernia in the other groin, too. Every once in a while an inguinal hernia will clear up by itself by the time a baby reaches the age of a year or a year and a half. However, most of them II do not clear up and have to be operate upon.

It is a good idea to operate on inguinal hernias, because there is a tendency for intestines to stick through the bulge of the hernia. When this hap-I pens, a child may get sick to his stomach and have pain in his abdomen. And, once in a while, a piece of intestine gets caught in the bulge of the hernia and doesn’t go back into the abdomen where it belongs. When this happens a child gets truly sick and must go to the hospital at once.

Most doctors recommend that inguinal hernias be repaired soon after they appear. If they appear at birth, they can be repaired when the child is a few weeks old. If they appear for the first time when a boy or girl is five or six years of age, they are repaired then.

The operation to cure an inguinal hernia is just as simple as the one to fix a hernia of the bellybutton. The child feels no pain during the surgery, as he goes to sleep beforehand. There is some discomfort in the groin for a day or two after the operation, but it doesn’t prevent the child from getting out of bed and walking around his hospital room. About two or three days after repairing an inguinal hernia, the child can go home.

After any operation for hernia, a child must take it easy for a few weeks so that the tissues heal solidly. This means that he may not be able to run and play, to roughhouse or to ride his bicycle for a few weeks. However, he can go back to school just two or three weeks after surgery. When the wound of the operation has healed solidly, he can do everything that he did before he was operated on. The bellybutton and the groin, after a hernia operation, are just as strong as they would have been if no hernia had existed.

Sometimes, in some hospitals, a mother may stay overnight with the child who goes in for a hernia operation. This depends upon the rules of the particular hospital to which the child goes.

Irritable Bowel Function Incontinence Syndrome due to Infection

Filed Under Our Illnesses | June 30th, 2007

By the time a child reaches three to four years of age, he can control his bowels pretty well. Once in a great while, an accident does happen, but that’s not a serious matter. It can happen to a grown-up, too. But it is rather important to develop good bowel habits when young, because habits in childhood often continue on into adulthood. And if a child develops good bowel habits, he will probably maintain them as a teenager and grown-up. Also, if he is careless about his bowels as a child, he may remain that way always.

Good bowel habits are:

1. Try to go to the bathroom at the same time each morning. Many children go after breakfast, while others prefer to go before breakfast. Either is all right, if the bowels function properly.
2. Always leave plenty of time for taking care of the bowels. If a child is late for school, he will hurry and may not perform his duties the way he should. This will lead to poor bowel habits.
3. Don’t sit on the toilet for longer than necessary. Ten to fifteen minutes should be the limit. Some children like to read while on the toilet. When they do that, they frequently forget why they are there. It is perhaps best just to do one’s job and to get on with the day’s activities.
4. Don’t strain too hard if it is difficult to move the bowels.Straining can cause a scratch in the delicate tissues in the anal region. If you can’t do your business, let your mother know, and she will give you a medicine to make it easier for you.
5. If the bowels are too loose, it is also a good idea to let your mother know. She may give you some medicine to correct the condition. Of course, she will notify your doctor if the loose bowels continue for more than a day or two.
6. Make sure to clean yourself thoroughly before leaving the bathroom. The delicate tissues get irritated very easily if they are unclean. And some irritations in the anal area may last for quite some time and cause a great deal of unpleasant itching.
7. Be sure to wash your hands, too, before leaving the bathroom.
8. Tell your mother if it is very painful to move your bowels. Normally, the process shouldn’t be painful. Pain is most often caused by constipation, with very hard stools.
9. Tell your mother if you ever notice blood on the paper. This may mean that there is a scratch in the membranes, or it may mean that there is an inflammation of the large intestines or rectum.

The body’s system for absorbing nutrients from food and getting rid of solid waste products begins in the mouth and ends in the bowels. To keep the system in good working order, we must develop regular bowel habits.

Children who neglect their bowels and are irregular about the time each day that they go to the bathroom often become constipated. Constipation is nothing to get excited about when it happens once in a while, but if a child always finds it difficult to move his bowels, it is a matter for concern.

A child who is always constipated may not have as much energy and pep as a child who is regular. Furthermore, children who are constipated sometimes don’t have very good appetites, and they may lose valuable weight. The best treatment for constipation is to drink plenty of water and eat those foods which are most likely to lead to regular movements. These foods include fresh fruit and fruit juices like prune juice and orange and grapefruit juice, plenty of fresh vegetables like lettuce and tomatoes and celery and cabbage and string beans, and plenty of cereals and breads. Foods like whole- wheat bread and cereals contain bran, and bran helps to keep the bowels regular.

Foods that promote regular bowel function are fresh fruits and fruit juices, fresh vegetables. and whole-grain cereals and breads. Wholewheat breads and cereals contain bran, which is very helpful in keeping the bowels regular.

If a child is constipated only occasionally, he may be given a laxative or an enema to clear up the condition. However, it is not a good idea to give a child laxatives or enemas regularly. It is a much better ides for the child to develop good bowel habits. That will solve most problems of constipation it is not natural for youngsters to have loose stools all the time. (Loose stools mean diarrhea.) If they do, it may mean that their diet is poor and needs to be improved. Perhaps they are getting too few vitamins in their diet, or perhaps they are eating foods to which they are allergic. One child once had diarrhea for many weeks until it was discovered that he had unexpectedly become allergic to milk. When he stopped drinking milk, the loose stools disappeared.

In some instances, diarrhea is caused by an infection or inflammation within the small or large intestine. If this is the cause, a doctor will give medicines to control it. Any child who has loose stools for I more than a day or two should not neglect to tell his or her mother. Diarrhea can be cleared up much more quickly if it is treated early.

Appendicitis, Removed Small Intestine Appendix Pain with Operation

Filed Under Our Illnesses | June 27th, 2007

Until recently, appendicitis was one of the most common conditions affecting young people. Except for removal of the tonsils, removal of the appendix used to be performed more often than any other operation. However, within the past fifteen to twenty years, inflammation of the appendix doesn’t take place so often. Doctors think that the widespread use of the antibiotic medicines has cut down on the power and strength of the germs that used to cause appendicitis. Still, today, in undeveloped countries where they don’t have too many antibiotic medications available, appendicitis continues to be extremely common.

Appendicitis usually starts out like an ordinary stomachache, with crampy pains all over the abdominal area. Then, instead of the cramps disappearing by themselves, the patient develops nausea and vomiting. Following this within a few hours, the pain gets worse and travels down to the lower right side of the belly.

The appendix is about as long as a grown-up’s little finger and is shaped something like a worm. It is about as thick as a lead pencil. The appendix connects with the large intestine but, so far as we know, it has no function and isn’t really needed by our bodies at all.

When the appendix becomes infected, it swells and fills with pus. A child with appendicitis not only will feel pain in the abdomen, but when a doctor examines the area with his hand, it will feel very tender. Appendicitis causes fever and an increase in the number of white blood cells in the blood. The increased number of white cells helps to fight the germs that have produced the infection.

Because appendicitis often starts out like an ordinary upset stomach, a child is sometimes given a laxative or an enema. These are not good ways of treating appendicitis, and in many cases, it makes the condition worse. And so, there is a rule that almost all mothers know: Never give a child a laxative, an enema, or even food or liquid, when he has a stomachache.

The normal appendix Is three to five inches long and pinkish gray with a glistening coat. The inflamed appendix is much thicker, is altered in color, and contains pus.

An appendectomy is considered a routine operation in which a structure of no value to the body is removed. There are no problems unless the appendix is ruptured.

There are a couple of good ways to tell appendicitis from an ordinary upset stomach. Stomachaches caused by an upset stomach usually clear up by themselves within a few hours, while the pain of appendicitis continues in the belly and often gets worse if something isn’t done to treat it. Also, a child with a stomachache caused by an upset stomach will usually develop loose stools and diarrhea, while those with appendicitis are constipated or don’t move their bowels at all.

Once a doctor has decided that a child has appendicitis, he will recommend that he go to the hospital. Occasionally, a mild attack of appendicitis can be treated at home by giving antibiotics, but most cases will require that the appendix be removed by a surgeon in a hospital. It has been discovered that a child who has had one attack of appendicitis, even if it was very mild, will eventually get another attack. Therefore, the sensible thing to do is to remove the appendix with the first attack. Then the child will never have appendicitis again!

The operation for removal of the appendix is called an appendectomy. It is not a very serious operation, unless the condition has been neglected for a day or two. In the ordinary case, the child goes to sleep in the operating room and the appendix is removed in about fifteen to twenty minutes. The cut to remove the appendix is only about two to three inches long and is located in the lower right side of the abdomen.

After the operation, the child will have some pain where the incision was made, but in most cases the pain is not severe enough to prevent him from getting out of bed the day after the operation. The appetite may be poor for a few days after the appendix has been removed but it returns to normal within about a week’s time.

On the sixth or seventh day after an appendectomy, the stitches are removed. And, if the temperature is normal, in all probability, the child will be able to go home from the hospital.

Some youngsters worry about pam from removing stitches. Actually, it is not very painful at all. It takes less than a minute to cut them, and all a
child feels is a slight sticking sensation. Rarely does it cause enough pain for a child to cry.

Children who have had their appendix removed usually stay home from school for about three weeks. This period of time is necessary for the cut to heal solidly. Of course, a child could go back to school earlier, but then he would have to be very careful not to run or play too hard with his classmates. And it isn’t always easy to do that, is it?

About two months after the appendix has been taken out, the wound has healed so solidly that children can resume all their activities, such as bicycling, tennis, swimming and diving, dancing, baseball, and all other sports.

Constant Stomach Ache Causes in Children

Filed Under Our Illnesses | June 21st, 2007

Many people think that the stomach takes up, or occupies, the whole belly area. This is not true, as one can see from the diagram. The stomach is mostly in one corner of the belly, high up on the left side underneath the ribs. In addition to the stomach, the belly, or abdomen, contains the small and the large intestines, the liver, the spleen, the pancreas, the kidneys, and several other organs. And so, when somebody says he has a “stomachache,” it might not come from the stomach at all, but from one of the other organs.

Actually, more stomachaches come from the intestines than from the stomach itself. However, in this part of the book we will talk mainly about the various causes of pain in the b whether that pain comes from some disorder in the stomach or some other organ. Here are some common causes of pain in the belly and what should be done about them:

Upset Stomach
One of the most frequent causes of a pain in the belly comes from eating too fast and not chewing thoroughly. When we do this, we swallow a lot of air with our food and drink, and this for a big gas bubble that stretches our stomachs and gives us pain. Also, if we don’t chew slowly and thoroughly, th stomach must contract and wonk harder to churn up the food into small pieces. Hard contractions of the stomach can be painful, too.
Overeating is another -cause for stomachache. If we stuff our stomach, it will have to stretch to hold all the food and will have to contract harder to chop it up into small pieces. Sometimes, these hard contractions and the stretching of the muscles of the stomach can give us an awful pain.

If we eat foods that are spoiled or infected with germs, we can get a terrific stomachache, along with nausea and vomiting. Our stomachs are pretty smart organs, and they seem to know when spoiled or poisoned foods are swallowed. It doesn’t take long for the stomach to refuse to handle this kind of food, and bingo—the stomach goes into reverse, like an automobile. Then, instead of contracting to push the food further along into the small intestines, the stomach contracts in the opposite direction so that we throw up the rotten food we have accidentally eaten.

We can easily get a stomachache if we eat when we are very upset or nervous about something. In order to do its work properly, the stomach must work slowly and steadily. And when we are very unhappy, or very angry, or very sad, the stomach may not work smoothly in churning our food. It may just let the undigested food lie where it is in the stomach, and after a time, this will give us a stomachache. Or, the stomach may contract violently, or in the wrong direction, causing us to throw up.

The abdominal cavity contains all of the intestinal tract except the esophagus. Also within its confines are the liver, spleen, pancreas, and, in the female, Fallopian tubes, and ovaries. Behind the abdominal cavity lie the kidneys and adrenal glands. The abdominal cavity is lined with a thin, smooth sheet of cells known as the peritoneum.

About one out of ten children has some sort of food allergy. This means that a particular food disagrees with him and may cause the lining of the stomach to be irritated and swollen. When this happens, the stomach will try to get rid of the food by vomiting or by hurrying up its churning so that the food is passed on to the intestines before it is ready to go there. Allergies sometimes cause stomachache because of the violent stomach contractions.

Stomachs can handle proteins and sugars more easily than they can handle fats. But some children, especially overweight ones, like to eat greasy, fried, fatty foods. Then, when they eat too much fat or fried foods, their stomachs rebel and try to get rid of the stuff. Of course, this gives a stomachache.
Once in a while, a child will get an inflammation of the lining of his stomach from a virus. When the lining of the stomach is inflamed, pain can result. In addition, the child will probably lose his appetite for a few days.

Gastroenteritis
When the stomach is upset by spoiled or infected food, even though it may have gotten rid of most of it by vomiting, a certain amount of it will pass down into the small intestines. The small intestines act the same way toward this food as the stomach did. They contract very hard and quickly in order to get rid of it. These hard and rapid contractions can cause a very severe pain in the belly. And when the small intestines pass the food on quickly toward the large intestines, the child soon develops loose stools, or diarrhea.

In most cases in which the stomach lining is inflamed by a virus infection, the lining of the small intestines is affected, too. There is a big, long name for this condition. It is called gastroenteritis. Really, all it means is that both the stomach and the intestines are affected. But there is no reason to worry; the stomachache and the diarrhea caused by gastroenteritis will last only a few days and will clear up completely.

Constipation
Constipation means that we are unable to move our bowels as often and as completely as we should. It also means that when we do move them, the stool is harder than it ought to be. Most children have a bowel movement once or twice a day, but others only have one every second or third day. And in some cases, constipation can lead to pain in the belly.

The quadrants of the abdomen are the four regions into which the abdomen may be divided for purposes of physical examination and diagnosis.

Most children who are constipated get that way because they are careless about their bowel habits. Instead of trying to move their bowels at the same time each morning after breakfast, they rush out of the house without going to the bathroom. And, it is often impossible to take the time out of the classroom to have one in school As a result, they let their movement go until the next day. However, they then discover that it is much more difficult to have a movement the next day as the stool has become very hard.Also, it may be somewhat painful to have a movement when the stool is exceptionally hard. A child who is always constipated soon finds out that he gets frequent pain in his belly, especially when the large intestines try to get rid of the stool.

Inflammation of the appendix
Appendicitis is an inflammation of a little structure attached to the beginning of the large intestine called the appendix. Appendicitis is discussed in the next chapter. We can’t help getting a stomachache once in a while, but there are certain things we can do to.avoid getting them too often:

• Eat slowly and chew thoroughly before swallowing.
• Do not overeat.
• Don’t eat too many greasy, spicy, fried, or fatty foods.
• Don’t drink too many sodas. The gas in them may give you a stomach- ache.
• Don’t eat any food that has been lying out in a hot sun for hours, especially salads that have salad dressings.
• Don’t eat too much when you are nervous or upset.
• Don’t eat strange new foods unless your parents tell you it is O.K. to do so.
• Don’t eat anything you think you might be allergic to.
• Eat very little when you have diarrhea.
• Go to the bathroom regularly each morning after breakfast to move your bowels.

Polymyalgia Rheumatic Arthritis Disease Symptoms and Fever

Filed Under Our Illnesses | June 17th, 2007

Many years ago, rheumatic fever was one of the most common and one of the most serious diseases affecting children. A child with this condition would run a very high fever that would come and go almost every day for a period of a few weeks to a few months. In addition, there would be painful swelling with redness and tenderness of the joints, such as a knee or an ankle or an elbow or a shoulder.

Sometimes the pain in the joints would be so severe that the child could not move an arm or stand on a leg. And other organs, too, like the heart, the lungs, and the kidneys, and the nerves, would be affected by the germs that caused rheumatic fever. When the rheumatic fever germs attacked the heart, the heart muscles were frequently damaged and a heart murmur would result. When the nerves were affected, the child often developed jerky, uncontrolled movements of his arms and legs and other muscles of the body that had affected nerves going to them. When rheumatic fever hit the nerves, the condition was known as Saint Vitus’ dance, because the child might look as if he were doing some sort of peculiar dance.

Rheumatic fever is caused by a particular type of streptococcus germ. Nowadays, we have extremely powerful antibiotic medicines that can kill these germs. As a result, we don’t see many children who develop rheumatic fever after a streptococcus infection. In the days before the wonderful antibiotic drugs were discovered, a child might have an attack of tonsillitis or strep throat, or would have scarlet fever, and a few weeks later, he would develop rheumatic fever. Today, a child with tonsillitis or scarlet fever or strep throat is given antibiotic medications. The germs that would have caused the rheumatic fever are killed by these medications before they can do any serious harm, and the child never gets rheumatic fever.

If a child is unlucky enough to get rheumatic fever, he must stay quietly in bed for several weeks. During that time, he will be given large doses of antibiotics to kill the streptococcus germ. He may also be given large doses of aspirin or some similar medicine to get rid of the pain and swelling in his joints. In some cases, a medicine known as cortisone is also given to control the rheumatic fever.

If a child is obedient and stays quietly in bed and takes his various medicines without too much fuss, the chances are good that no damage will occur to his heart or lungs, or to his nerves or muscles or joints.

It is thought that some cases of rheumatic fever are influenced by infected tonsils that contain a streptococcus germ. Therefore, when a child has fully recovered from an attack of rheumatic fever, the tonsils are removed. But that is not enough to prevent another attack of the disease, because the streptococcus germ may be growing in other places in the body. To prevent another attack of rheumatic fever, children are often given antibiotic medicines every day for months, or even years, at a time.

The mitral valve lies between the atrium and ventricles on the left side of the heart. The normal mitral valve is strong and tightly closed.

The mitral valve shown here has been weakened and damaged by disease. Its muscles cannot relax or contract completely. As a resuit, it has become a leaky valve that wont function normally.

Cure mrsa Recrotizing Pneumonia and Shot for Children

Filed Under Our Illnesses | June 17th, 2007

Pneumonia is an infection of the lungs, caused either by a bacteria or a virus. The commonest bacteria is a germ called the pneumococcus, but the disease can also be caused by other bacteria such as the streptococcus, the staphylococcus, Klebsiella, and others. One of the most common viruses to affect the lungs is the influenza virus.

Pneumonia used to be much more common and serious than it is now. Today, people don’t get pneumonia as often because they take better care of themselves when they have a cold or sore throat or grippe or bronchitis or influenza. Also, the antibiotic medications kill many of the germs that cause pneumonia, and if a patient is given antibiotics when he has bronchitis or influenza, or some other infection of the nose or air passages, he is less likely to develop a lung infection such as pneumonia.

Some types of pneumonia come on suddenly with a high fever, a chill, a cough, and a pain in the chest. In many cases, the patient has had a cold or other infection for a few days before the symptoms of the pneumonia begin. Within a few hours after the onset of pneumonia, the patient begins to breathe more rapidly and may feel short of breath. Next, he may begin to cough up mucus that is pink-colored or contains little streaks of blood. Usually, someone with pneumonia loses his appetite and may vomit if he attempts to eat too much.

When a doctor examines the chest of a patient with pneumonia, he will hear abnormal sounds through his stethoscope. And, if he X-rays the patient’s lungs, he will see an abnormal shadow in the infected part of the lung where the pneumonia is located. And, finally, when a blood count is taken, it will show an abnormally high white blood cell count.

Many different kinds of bacteria, and viruses too, can cause pneumonia. The bacteria shown in this picture are called pneumococci, and they produce a very common type of pneumonia. This type of pneumonia can be cured with antibiotic medications.

One effect of pneumonia is that the lungs - become congested with fluid, which the doctor can detect by listening o a child’s chest with stethoscope. Most cases of pneumonia can be cured by the giving of antibiotic medications

Here are some of the things that are done in treating pneumonia:

1. Rest in bed. Often, the patient is more comfortable sitting up, rather than lying down flat.
2. Large amounts of fluids are taken, including water, fruit juices, and eve soda.
3. Antibiotic medicines are given. The particular antibiotic that is will depend upon which germ is causing the pneumonia and how sensitive the germ is to the particular antibiotic drug. Although pneumonias caused by a virus are not cured by giving antibiotics, the antibiotics are given anyway. This is done so that bacteria (which can be killed by the antibiotics) do not attack the lungs that have already been weakened by the virus infection.
4. Oxygen is sometimes given if the patient is very short of breath.
5. If coughing is severe and is interfering with rest and sleep, a cough medicine is given.
6. If the patient is constipated, as frequently happens in cases of pneumonia, a laxative or an enema is given.

Children usually get over a pneumonia caused by bacteria within a week or two. Pneumonia caused by a virus may take several weeks before it completely clears up. However, no matter what kind of pneumonia the patient has had, it will usually take several weeks or even a couple of months before all his or her strength and pep are regained. Children are sometimes anemic after pneumonia, and they may require iron and vitamin pills to help them to feel as strong and energetic as they did before the attack of pneumonia. And, of course, during the period of recovery, children should take it easy and not do strenuous exercise. Also, they should be sure to get plenty of sleep each night.

Antibiotic for Chronic Asthmatic Bronchitis Treatment and Cure

Filed Under Our Illnesses | June 12th, 2007

Bronchitis is an inflammation of the air passages leading to the lungs. Actually, the condition should be called traronchitis because the trachea (the windpipe in the neck and upper chest) is almost always involved in the inflammation, too.

Bronchitis often comes on after a very bad cold or sinus infection. It is usually caused by a virus. Germs such as the streptococcus and the pneumonia germ can also cause bronchitis.

Most children who take good care of themselves when they have a cold don’t get bronchitis. However, if a child is anemic, or too thin, or neglects to stay in bed and do what he is told when he has a cold, he is more likely to develop bronchitis. Also, youngsters with allergies seem to get bronchitis more often. Wintry, damp weather also makes it easier for the viruses and germs to infect the bronchial tubes.

Bronchitis is an inflammation of the air passages leading to the lungs. It causes fluid to collect in the bronchial tubes and air cells, and it not treated, may result in pneumonia.

Here is how a doctor knows that a child has bronchitis:

1. There is a great deal of coughing, often bringing up large amounts of mucus or pus.
2. The temperature goes up, sometimes as high as 102° to 103°.
3. On listening to the chest with a stethoscope, the doctor will hear squeaky sounds called rhonchi.

It is important to take special care of a boy or girl who has bronchitis because, if not treated properly, pneumonia (an infection of the lungs) may develop. This is the way most cases of bronchitis are treated:

1. The child should stay in bed until his temperature has been normal for at least two days.
2. A good deal of the time in bed should be spent in a sitting or semi sitting position. This makes it easier to cough up mucus and pus from the bronchial tubes.
3. The air in the bedroom should be kept warm and moist. Dry, cold air tends to irritate the bronchial tubes.
4. Cough medicines are given to help the child bring up and get rid of the mucus or pus.
5. Aspirin, or some other drug with the same effect as aspirin, is given to relive aching pains and to bring the temperature down to normal.
6. Antibiotic medicines are frequently given if the fever isn’t controlled by giving aspirin, or if the bronchitis lasts longer than a few days. By giving antibiotics,, the child is often protected against developing pneumonia.

Children with severe cases of bronchitis may take a couple of weeks, or even more, to fully recover. And if we want to do our best to prevent another attack of bronchitis, here are some things that should be investigated:

1. If a child has a sinus infection, it should be treated. Sinus infections quite often lead to bronchitis.
2. Infected tonsils and adenoids should be removed because they may lead to an attack of bronchitis.
3. Allergies should be controlled as best as possible. As mentioned before, allergic children are more apt to get attacks of bronchitis.
4. If a child is underweight or anemic or doesn’t have enough vitamins in his diet, these situations should be corrected. Lowered resistance results from being anemic and underweight, thus making it much easier for viruses or germs to invade the bronchial tubes.

Antibiotics for Chronic Sinus Infections Remedies and Cure

Filed Under Our Illnesses | June 12th, 2007

The ordinary cold, followed by an infection of a sinus, is seen in large numbers of children who live in places where the temperature changes greatly from season to season. Children who live in climates where it is nice and sunny and warm most of the time do occasionally get sinus infections, but not nearly so often as those who live where it rains and snows and is damp and cold a lot. To a certain extent, all children can protect themselves against sinus infections and other illnesses affecting the nose and throat, but those who live in wet, cold places can’t protect themselves as well as those who live where the weather is always nice.

The sinuses are empty spaces—called cavities—in the bones surrounding the nose. Their purpose is to make the bones of the skull lighter and to make the voice sound better when we speak. When the sinuses are infected, our voices often sound as if we had a clothespin clamped across our nostrils. Just pinch your nostrils shut and then speak; you’ll see how your voice would sound if you had a sinus infection.

There are 4 pairs of nasal sinuses, as shown in the diagram above. These sinuses are air spaces within the skull. Their main purpose is to lighten the weight of the skull and to give resonance to the voice. They are also a frequent site of infection.

There are eight sinuses in the head, and each one of them has an opening that connects with the inside of the nose. Each sinus is lined with a membrane much like the membrane that line the inside of the nose. These membranes normally secrete a little watery mucus that keeps the sinuses and the inside of the nose from becoming too dry.

When someone has a cold, the membranes of the nose become inflamed and swollen. Most such colds are caused by viruses rather than by bacteria (germs). If the cold is taken good care of, in all probability the infection will not spread into the sinuses. But if the patient is careless and gets overheated or overtired, or dives and swims a lot under water, the membranes of the sinuses may get inflamed, too. And although most colds are caused by viruses, in neglected cases germs such as streptococci and staphylococci may take hold and cause an infection within the nearby sinuses.

A child can get a sinus infection without first having a cold. One of the commonest ways to get a sinus infection is to dive and swim underwater in a pool or lake where the water is not to clean. Then the contaminated water gets into the sinuses and creates Infections. Also, youngsters with allergies such as hay fever seem to get sinus infections more often than those who have no allergies.

Here are the ways we know there is trouble in one or more of our sinuses:

1. A cold may last much longer than usual and the nose stays stuffed for two or more weeks after the start of the cold.
2. A child may develop headaches with his cold. These headaches are worse when the head is down and the child bends over.
3. The voice sounds flat and nasal.
4. Mucus keeps draining out of the nose and down the back of the throat. This often causes a great deal of coughing, especially when the child is lying down.
5. There is pain when pressing over the sinuses at the sides of the nose or on the bones over the eyes.
6. If the infection is severe, the patient will have fever and will feel generally sick.
7. In many cases, X rays of the sinuses will show that they are infected.

Here are some things the doctor may prescribe in order to cure a sinus infection:

1. Rest in bed for a few days until the temperature is normal and the child feels better.
2. Apply warm compresses to the face, using a washcloth or towel. This may relieve some of the pain and might help to drain out some of the pus that has collected in the sinuses.
3. Breathing in steam, either from a faucet, a steam kettle, or a steam inhaler, often helps to get the mucus and pus to drain out of the sinuses more easily.
4. Special nasal sprays or nose drops are sometimes given to shrink the inflammation of the membranes and thus allow the mucus and pus to drain better.
5. Antibiotic medicines are given to kill the germs that have gotten into the sinuses.

Most sinus infections will clear up within a couple of weeks, but there is a tendency for them to come back again if people aren’t especially careful when they get their next cold. To prevent this from happening, when the next cold rolls around, here are some things I to do:

1. The cold should be treated by rest in bed until everyone is absolutely sure that there is no temperature for at least two days.
2. If there is any fever, antibiotic medicines might be given. This will not cure the cold, but it may prevent a sinus infection from developing.
3. Drafts and cold air should be avoided.
4. No one should ever blow his nose too hard, even if it means that some of the mucus stays up in the nose. Hard nose-blowing may force some of the infected mucus to go from the nose into the sinuses.
5. If the child has allergies, these should be treated by a specialist who knows how to control them, thus lessening the chances of a sinus infection

One of the commonest ways to get a sinus infection is to dive and swim underwater in a pool or lake where the water is not too clean. When contaminated water is driven up into the sinuses, it can create a sinus infection.

Catching Cold

Filed Under Our Illnesses | June 11th, 2007

Everyone hates to get a cold. Who wants to have his nose run or to cough or to feel stuffed up, anyway? And then, too, most colds are accompanied by a sore throat, a fever, and eyes that are red and teary. Sometimes, when a child has a cold, he develops aches and pains in his muscles in various places in the body. And, of course, we know that a bad cold means not going to school, no playing outdoors, no movies, no going to parties. Most times, a bad cold means lying around the house or being in bed for a few days. That’s not much fun. And, finally, what fun is it to take medicines even if they do get you to feel better?

It is strange animals seem to know better how to take care of themselves than we do. And even if our animal friends did catch cold, we wouldn’t catch it from them because their germs and viruses don’t often infect human beings. And our germs and viruses that cause colds don’t seem to affect them, either. But you just sneeze without covering your nose, or cough without covering your mouth, and you can give a cold to anyone who is in the same room with you.

Every once in a while, no matter how careful we are, we do get a cold. But if we follow certain good rules, we won’t get colds very often. Here’s what all of us, grown-ups as well as children,should do:

1. Don’t kiss or hug anyone, big or small, who has a cold. Colds are so contagious that one hug or kiss may cause you to catch it.
2. Stay as far away as you can from someone who is sneezing or coughing because he has a cold. Actually, people who have colds should stay in their own rooms as much as possible.
3. If you can help it, never walk around with wet or damp feet. Put on your rubbers or boots before going out in the rain or snow. And if you accidentally get caught in the rain or snow without your rubbers or boots, head for home where you can dry out. Remember, you can miss a lot of fun and good times by catching a cold unnecessarily.
4. Another thing that seems to bring on a cold is getting chilled, especially after being overheated from playing. Don’t forget that clothing gets damp and wet from perspiration. And many children, instead of going home to change into dry clothing, hang around in wet clothes and get chilled. Cooling off too quickly after being overheated, especially in cold weather, may lead to a cold.
5. Getting part of the body in a cold draft seems to bring on colds in some people. It is odd, but exposing the entire body to wind and cold, as we often
do on wintry days when we go outdoors, does not seem to cause a cold nearly as often as when only part of our body is exposed to cold or wind.
6. Of course, a child who doesn’t dress warmly enough when he goes out in chilly or cold weather takes a great chance of getting a cold. Mothers and fathers are pretty smart when it comes to knowing what their children should wear, and it is a good idea to take their advice when they tell you how to dress. All too often, when youngsters refuse to put on a sweater or coat in cold weather, they punish themselves by getting colds.
7. Many doctors believe that people catch more colds when they neglect to eat the right foods. For example, we should always eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables. This will supply us with most of the vitamins we need. Those who have a vitamin deficiency seem to catch colds very frequently.

A good way to avoid catching cold is to never walk around with wet or damp feet and clothing. Always wear proper clothes when you have to go out in the rain or snow. And if you do get caught out in the rain without protection, head for home, where you can dry out.

If we are unlucky enough to catch a cold, we certainly don’t want to give it to other members of our family, or to our playmates. Here are some good ways not to spread colds:

1. Always cover your mouth with your hand when coughing. This will help to stop the spread of the cold viruses.
2. When sneezing, always sneeze into a tissue or handkerchief. A tissue is better than a handkerchief because it can be thrown away.
3. If a sneeze comes on very suddenly and there is no time to get a tissue or handkerchief, sneeze into your hands and cover your nose.
4. Don’t kiss or hug anyone until your cold is all better.
5. Don’t play in the same room with anyone while you are still sneezing or coughing from a cold. Your mom or dad will know when you have recovered sufficiently to play with others.
6. Go to parties or play groups or to school only after your cold is better. This may take as long as four or five days if it is a bad cold.

Prevention and Treatment for Influenza, Influenza Incubation Symptoms Period

Filed Under Our Illnesses | June 7th, 2007

Influenza is a disease caused by a virus. It affects the nose, throat, windpipe, bronchial tubes, and lungs. Of all the contagious diseases, influenza is one of the most easily spread from one person to another. There are many different kinds of influenza viruses; some cause only a mild illness, others can make a person extremely sick. A popular name for influenza is the flu. Mild cases used to be called grippe, but that name is not used much anymore.

Influenza is so contagious and the virus is so widely present that huge numbers of people can be affected at a time. In some epidemics, millions of people in one part of the country may get the disease within just a few weeks’ time. The two main viruses of influenza are called Influenza virus A and Influenza virus B.

Scientists who study contagious diseases are able to tell when and where epidemics of influenza can be expected to break out. For example, if there is an epidemic of influenza in Europe or Asia, these scientists can usually guess when the disease will strike the United States, and what part of the country will be hit hardest. They can also forecast fairly accurately how many people will catch the disease. In some epidemics, one out of every three or four children can be expected to get the disease. Luckily, in most cases, the condition is mild, especially if one has been vaccinated beforehand.

Epidemics of influenza don’t come every year. For some peculiar reason, the virus doesn’t attack many people one year but may hit extremely hard another year. But to be safe, people should do their best to prevent the disease each year by getting influenza vaccine injections. Since the condition comes most often in the winter and early spring, it is wise to get your flu shot late in the fall.

Magnified by an electron microscope, Asian influenza virus particles can be seen as round dots. The long lines are bacteria. These germs can be seen only with the aid of a powerful microscope that magnifies them tens of thousands of times.

Here are some of the symptoms of influenza:

1. Fever. In some cases it may go as high as 104°.
2. Marked aches and pains in the muscles and joints throughout the body, especially in the back and thighs and legs.
3. A runny nose with discharge of tubes as well.
4. Cough, with the bringing up of yellow or greenish mucus.
5. Weakness and tiredness with lack of pep and energy and a strong desire just to lie in bed and do nothing, not even to look at television.
6. Headache, and sometimes a sick- to-the-stomach feeling.
7. When the doctor has a blood count mucus from the throat and bronchial taken, it is usually found that there are fewer than the normal number of white blood cells.

The severe symptoms of influenza last for five to six days, but it takes another couple of weeks before the patient begins to feel normal again. During the time he or she is sick, the influenza patient must be kept away from friends and family members, because influenza is so terribly contagious. The disease is spread by coughing or sneezing. It is therefore important to teach everyone with the flu, and also those who just have a simple cold, to cover his mouth when he coughs and to cover his nose when he sneezes!

Most youngsters recover from influenza without complications, but here are things to do to make sure everything goes well:

1. Stay in bed until temperature has been normal for three days.
2. Aspirin, or a similar medicine, should be taken to relieve the aches and pains, and to help bring down the temperature to normal.
3. Large amounts of water, fruit juices, and other liquids should be taken. This will help to flush the poison from the influenza virus out of the body and will aid in getting rid of the fever.
4. Room temperature should be comfortably warm and the air in the bedroom should be moist. This will help the patient to bring up the mucus when he coughs.
5. If coughing is severe, a cough medicine is given.
6. In order to prevent complications like an ear infection or pneumonia, antibiotic medicines are given. Unfortunately, the antibiotics aren’t very effective in killing the influenza virus.

Of course, it is much smarter to prevent influenza than it is to cure it once it has infected a child. To do this, doctors recommend that children be given influenza vaccine. The vaccine should be given a month or two before the epidemic is expected to strike. It would be nice if the vaccine always worked, but it is thought that it protects against influenza in only about seven out of ten people who take the shots. But the three who get influenza anyway, even though they received the vaccine, will probably get mild cases.

Children who are allergic to eggs cannot be given flu vaccine, because the vaccine is manufactured by growing it in chicken eggs. Therefore, if they were given the vaccine, they would get an allergic reaction. Many doctors think it is wise to keep children who have not received the vaccine, because of their allergy, home from school during an influenza epidemic.

Influenza vaccine has proved to be effective In protecting children from the disease. To prepare vaccine, viruses are injected into chicken eggs that are placed in incubators to promote viral growth. Eventually, the virus is removed from the eggs and processed to yield vaccine.

Treatment for Osteoporosis Fractures and lumbar spine fracture

Filed Under Our Illnesses | June 6th, 2007

Girls play almost as many strenuous games as boys, and so they, too, strain muscles and ligaments, and break a bone occasionally. And when a girl skis or plays hockey or basketball or tennis, she must do the same things the boys do if she wants to avoid serious injury.

People used to be happy when their doctors told them that a bone was not broken and that the injury was only a strain or a torn ligament or cartilage. Now we realize that some sprains and tears of ligaments or cartilages are just as serious, and sometimes more serious, than a broken bone. Injuries to the ligaments and cartilages of the knee are extremely common in girls as well as in boys, and they often cause more trouble and take longer to heal than a fractured bone. (The word fractured means broken). In some cases all a broken bone needs is a plaster cast for a few weeks, but some tears of ligaments or cartilages may need an operation to repair them.

Muscle sprains and sprained or torn ligaments or cartilages are very painful when they happen. The best first-aid treatment for such an injury is to keep the arm or the leg as still as possible and not to move it. Certainly no one should try to walk on an injured hip, knee, or ankle. If he does, he may make the injury a lot worse. A good deal of bleeding beneath the skin usually takes place when a muscle or ligament is torn. As a result, there will be a great deal of swelling in the area. Soon after the tear one may sometimes notice that the skin around the area is taking on a bluish color. This is caused by bleeding that has taken place under the skin.

The only sure way to know whether a bone is broken is to take an X ray, and this, as we know, must be done either in a doctor’s office or in a hospital. If a bone is found to be broken, the doctor will see whether the broken parts are separated and out of line. If the broken parts are out of place, the doctor “sets” or “reduces” the fracture. This means that he puts the broken parts back into their normal position. To set a fracture, the patient is usually given an anesthetic so he can go to sleep and feel no pain while the bones are being handled and put back in place. Occasionally, it is possible to set a fracture just by giving an injection of a local anesthetic, like Novocain, into the area of the break. In these cases, the patient feels no pain, either, but does not go to sleep.

After putting the broken bones back into their proper position, the doctor must make sure that they stay that way until they are completely healed. He does this usually by putting on a plaster cast. A cast is a bandage that is wet when first put on but later dries out and becomes hard and stiff. The stiffness and hardness of the cast protects the broken bones and keeps them from moving out of position. Once in a while, when the bones are broken in several places or are far out of position, the doctor will have to operate to put them together again. When he has done that, he sometimes keeps them in place by wrapping a wire around them or by putting in a metal plate from one part of the broken bone to the other. Naturally, these operations are done under anesthesia while the patient is asleep

If the X rays show that a bone is broken but the broken paris are not out of place, then a cast is applied while the patient is awake. It is not painful to put on a cast. Also, it doesn’t hurt when a cast is removed, although the electric machine they use to cut a cast makes an awful racket.

A cast should be put on so that it prevents movement of the broken bones. To do this, the cast must cover the joints both above and below the break. As an example, if someone breaks a leg, the cast must cover the foot, ankle, and the knee. If someone breaks an arm, the cast may have to go from the hand all the way up to the shoulder.

Casts stay on anywhere from three weeks to three or more months, depending upon which bones are broken and how badly they are broken. Naturally, if the broken bones are not out of place, a cast will not have to stay on nearly as long as when the bones are badly broken and are far out of their normal position.

Plaster casts are sometimes used for arms and legs when there is a severe muscle or ligament tear, even if no bone is broken. As mentioned before, some muscle and ligament injuries cause just as much trouble and take just as long to heal as some fractures. Casts are also applied in certain cases where the back has been badly injured. In these cases, the cast is applied to the entire body from the chest down to the hips.

There are certain rules everybody with a cast should follow:

1. Don’t allow a cast to get wet in a bath or shower. It won’t make much difference if it gets wet in the rain, as it will dry out quickly. Also, if we accidentally spill something on it, no great damage will be done.
2. No one should walk or put full weight on a cast unless the doctor has given permission to do so. Some casts can have special walking attachments put on, and then, it is O.K. to walk on them. People should know that walking or placing weight on a cast without the doctor’s permission may cause the cast to crack or break. Then, the fractured bone may get out of position. And even if that does not happen, it may become necessary to put on a new cast to replace the damaged one.
3. Don’t try to trim the edges of a cast by yourself. If necessary, the doctor will do it.
4. If there is a lot of itching beneath the cast, ask your doctor what to do about it. Don’t go poking things beneath your cast; you may scratch your skin or get a skin infection, and they might have to remove the cast before it is ready to come off.
5. It is perfectly O.K. to have your friends write or draw pictures on your cast. That won’t hurt it.

A sprained or torn muscle, ligament, or tendon may be painful for several days, or even weeks. Most broken bones, however, stop hurting within a couple of days after a cast has been put on. The reason a bad sprain or tear of a ligament or muscle hurts longer than a fracture is that there are many sensitive nerves in muscles and ligaments, but bones do not have so many nerves.

Did you know that people have more than two hundred bones in their bodies, and that the chances are very great that they will some day break one of them? But we shouldn’t worry too much when we do break a bone because when it heals, it is as strong as ever! And even if the arm or leg looks funny when the cast comes off, it will look normal again in a few weeks’ or months’ time. Children, especially, should not worry if an arm or leg looks a little crooked after recovering from a fracture. Children’s’ bones straighten out as the child grows older, even if they looked strange right after the cast came off.

Knee Sprain Treatment and Compensation for Broken Bones Diet Recovery

Filed Under Our Illnesses | June 4th, 2007

The wild way some children play, it is no wonder they sprain a muscle or ligament, twist an ankle or knee, and sometimes even break a bone. The remarkable thing is that sprains and broken bones don’t happen more often. Luckily, children have muscles and ligaments and tendons that are much more elastic than they are in grownups. Therefore, they can stretch to greater lengths without tearing. Also, a child’s knees are much less brittle than grown-ups’, so they can stand greater strain without tearing a ligament or cartilage or breaking a bone.

When athletes train to play a strenuous game like football or basketball or baseball or hockey, or when they go skiing, they are taught how to fall so that they avoid serious injury. Did you know that more injuries happen from trying not to fall than from falling? It’s true. An athlete must learn how to roll with a fall and not to tighten his muscles and ligaments. And often, it’s better to lose one’s balance rather than to try to keep it. By relaxing his muscles, allowing himself to fall and rolling with the fall, an athlete—and a young person, too—gets hurt less often. Next time you watch a football game, notice how many somersaults the players make when they are tackled or blocked.

Treatment and causes for Leg, Chest, Neck Muscle Spasms Pains and Strain

Filed Under Our Illnesses | June 4th, 2007

From time to time boys and girls may come on until several hours later may feel pain in their hips, thighs, or legs. that time, the child may have forgotten that these pains come and go, sometimes about straining himself or herself during the day and sometimes while in bed at night. People used to think that these pains were caused as the child’s muscle and bones were growing. That is why they were called “growing pains.” But nobody thinks that anymore. Doctors say that no pain at all comes from the natural growing of muscles or joints or tendons or bones. Instead, they think that these aches and pains result from muscle strain or muscle spasm.

Do you know what a strain is? Well, it is an over stretching of a muscle or tendon due to strenuous exercise. If someone twists his joints very hard,, or falls when running fast, he or she might easily strain a muscle or tendon. But the pain from the strain might not come on until several hours later. By that time, the child may have forgotten about straining himself or herself.

Do you know what a muscle spasm is? Well, when a muscle has been over worked from hard play and exercise, or has been strained, it may contract very strongly and not be able to relax. In other words, it tightens and can’t loosen itself. This is called a spasm, and if it keeps up for very long, it can be extremely painful. Some people call muscle spasm “muscle cramps.”

Growing pains are not so severe that we have to do much about them. Perhaps we should be a little more careful how we play and run, but certainly, we shouldn’t stop our play activities just because we get pains once in a while. If the pains are severe, lying in a nice hot tub for twenty minutes to a half hour usually relives the problem.

Mold, Pet Food, Dog, Gluten Allergies Medicine and Medication

Filed Under Our Illnesses | June 4th, 2007

We are surrounded by a tremendous number of things in this world. There are millions of plants and trees and flowers; there are millions of insects and fish and furry animals; there are tremendous amounts of dust and pollens that travel through the air on the winds; there are vegetables and fruits and milk and meat and nuts and chocolate candy that we eat; there are cottons and wools and nylons and Dacrons that we use to clothe us or to furnish our homes; there are thousands upon thousands of chemicals that are used to make plastics and deodorants and detergents and cleaning fluids and medicines and other valuable household things; and there are so many other things that we taste and touch and feel every day of our lives that they are too numerous to list.

Nine out of ten children have no trouble with any of the things we have just mentioned. They can breathe anything, eat everything, wear anything, and touch and have close body contact with anything without bad results. But some children are not so lucky! They may be irritated and made sick by one more of the things they have breathed, or eaten, or touched. These children are sensitive, or allergic, children. Of course, thank goodness, children are never allergic to everything.

The bronchial tubes are narrowed due to spasm in an asthmatic attack. To release the spasm and to permit free breathing, it is frequently necessary to give injections of special medications or to breathe in medications through the mouth.

Usually there are just a few things at irritate them and cause them to have an allergic reaction. For example, we knew a child who was allergic only to shrimp, and to absolutely nothing else in the whole world. Or, children may have no food allergies at all, but may be allergic to a pollen or a dust that they breathe. And finally, some children may be able to eat and breathe everything without developing an allergic attack, but they cannot wear nylon or Dacron or wool without breaking out in a skin rash.

There is an old saying, “One man’s meat is another man’s poison.” This is very true insofar as allergies are concerned. A perfectly wonderful thing like cow’s milk may make a particular allergic child terribly sick. That same child may be able to drink goat’s milk without any bad effect at all!

As we all know, it is healthier to live in the country where there is fresh air to breathe, free from pollution. But, if a child is allergic to the pollen from certain grasses and trees and weeds, he may develop a very serious allergy.

That particular child might be happier living in the middle of a big city where there is a great deal of air pollution but less pollen from weeds and grasses and trees. We call the things to which a person is sensitive, allergens. Most doctors agree that the tendency to have allergies is inherited from one’s parents or grandparents. There are, however, children who develop an allergy even though their parents and grandparents don’t have any. But allergies are much more commonly seen among children whose parents or grandparents are allergic.

A pretty cat is not to be sneezed at, but baby does it when the cat is close, he may be allergic to animal hair dander

These are some of the things to which people may be allergic:

Things we breathe
These include pollens, mold spores, animal hairs, dust, smoke, and perfumes.

Pollen is a fine, powdery, yellowish substance produced by grasses and weeds and plants and trees when they are flowering. This pollen is carried through the air from one place to another where it drops onto other grasses and weeds and plants and trees, and causes them to form seeds. The seeds are thus fertilized and can form new grasses and weeds and plants and trees.

Mold spores are much like pollens except that they cause funguses, rather than grasses and plants and trees, to multiply and grow.

In almost any place we live, we breathe in pollens and mold spores and tiny bits of animal hairs and dust and smoke. We can be allergic to none of these things, or one or more of them eats or drinks, but those most responsible for allergies are: milk, eggs, wheat, fish and seafood, chocolate, nuts, strawberries and other kinds of berries, and spices.

Medicines and drugs
A child can be sensitive to almost any medicine, but perhaps the most frequent allergy is to medicines like aspirin and penicillin. Children may also be sensitive to some vaccines, especially if they happen to be allergic to eggs.

Contact substances
These are things that cause an allergic reaction when we touch or wear them. For example, we may be allergic to poison ivy or other plants, or to rubber, plastics, metals, various dyes, furs, cosmetics, leather, or chemicals.

Infectious substances
Children may be allergic to contact with certain bacteria or viruses or funguses or parasites.

Insect bites
Everyone gets an allergic reaction to the sting of a mosquito or fly or bee or Yellow jacket Vespula maculifrons wasp or hornet or scorpion. The itchi nes and swelling from the bite of an insect is an allergic reaction.

Physical allergies
can cause allergies like hay fever or rose These are allergies due to exposure to fever or asthma or allergic reactions of extreme heat or cold.
other kinds. The reactions most often seen when someone is allergic depend upon the Foods we eat cause of the allergy. Some of these Anyone can be allergic to any food he symptoms are:

1. Itching of the skin.
2. Hives, or other skin rashes.
3. Swelling of an eyelid or lip some other place on the body.
4. Tearing and redness of the eyes.
5. Sneezing.
6. Stuffed up or running nose.
7. Coughing and wheezing.
8. Trouble with breathing.
9. Headache.
10. Nausea and vomiting.
11. Pain in the abdomen and charrhea.

Parents are pretty bright when it comes to recognizing when their child is having an allergic reaction. Perhaps the first time they may not recognize it, but when the same things happen every time a child eats fish, or every time a child plays with a cat, or every time a child takes an aspirin tablet, the parent comes to understand the situation.

The best way to treat an allergy is to remove the allergen from the child’s environment. In other words, if a child is allergic to fish, parents should see to it that the child never eats fish; if a child is allergic to aspirin, he should never be given aspirin; or if a child is allergic to cat fur, he should not own or play with a cat.

Children can be allergic to anything they eat, smell, wear, or touch. Very often it is the simplest thing that will cause itching, hives, sneezing, wheezing, or any of the other allergic manifestations. Any child who has an unusual reaction to new or old contacts should be examined for possible allergies.

Unfortunately, a parent can’t always protect a child from every type of allergy. For instance, if a child is allergic to a mold or pollen in the air, the parent can’t get that child new air to breathe. Of course, the child will feel somewhat better if he or she stays indoors in a house where air-conditioning gets rid of me of the molds and pollens in the air. But children can’t always stay indoors, can they?

The next best thing to removing the allergen is to take the child to a doctor who specializes in treating allergic conditions They are pretty smart in find- out exactly what the child is allergic to, although many tests may have be given first. They also are pretty successful in treating children with certain medicines and injections to make them less sensitive to the things which give them allergic reactions.

These pollens often cause hay fever in sensitive children. Pollens are fine, powdery substances produced by flowers and trees and grasses. They are carried through the air to fertilize the seeds of other plants and thus form new ones.

Here are some of the main allergic disorders and what is done for them:

Hay fever
This is a condition in which there is inflammation and redness and itching and tearing of the eyes, a stuffed-up, clogged, or running nose, and itching of the nose and throat. Also, with this, there is an awful lot of sneezing. Hay fever comes in the springtime and summer when the pollens are flying in the air from grasses and trees And hay fever comes in the late summer and fall from the pollens of ragweed and mold spores of funguses. After the child breathes in these pollens or mold spores, his trouble begins.

The treatment for hay fever is to give injections of tiny, tiny amounts of the pollen until a child builds up a resistance to the allergen. By giving the injections, a child can become so much less sensitive to the pollens and mold spores that he gets very few symptoms of hay fever. If a child does have the inflammation of the eyes, the runny nose, and the other signs of hay fever despite these injections, then the doctor will probably advise that he or she be given antihistamine tablets. These will clear up many of the symptoms and make the child feel much better.

Asthma
Some children don’t get hay fever from the usual allergens we have mentioned, but they do get bronchial asthma. Asthma causes great difficulty in breathing, and during an attack of asthma there is a dry cough, wheezing, and trouble with getting rid of the air breathed in. In an allergic child, an attack of asthma can be brought on by breathing an unusually large amount of pollen or mold spores. Or, it may be brought on by an infection like a cold or flu, or it can even be brought on by a child being very upset about something. Asthma is also treated by finding out what allergen is causing the trouble and by giving injections to make the child less sensitive to the irritating substances. Sometimes, in a severe attack of asthma, a child must be taken to the hospital to get special treatment with medicines like adrenalin and cortisone.

Food allergies
To treat food allergies successfully, one must first discover the foods to which the child is allergic. Once this has been done, never let the child eat the food again! If a child breaks out into hives, or a rash, or has an upset stomach after accidentally having eaten something to which he or she is allergic, antihistamine medications should be given. These medicines may help somewhat, but it may take quite a few days for full recovery from a particular food allergy.

Drug allergies
Medicines and drugs cause the same kind of reactions as food allergies, and are treated in the same way. Of course, every parent knows that it can be dangerous to give a child again a medicine that once produced a bad reaction. A severe attack of a drug allergy may require that the child go to a hospital for treatment with antihistamine medicines, or even treatment with more powerful medicines such as adrenalin and cortisone.
Children who know that they are allergic to certain medicines should carry that information with the wherever they go.

Contact or skin allergies
Skin allergies are caused by contact of some part of the body with an irritating substance or allergen. Perhaps of the best known contact allergies due to touching the poison ivy plant. I can also be caused by hundreds of r substances that come into contact with our bodies. The first thing to do with contact allergies is to discover exactly what the child is allergic to. Is it certain clothing, or a certain detergent or soap, or a certain plastic? Sometimes, it is not too easy to find a contact allergen; other times it is simple. But once we know, we try to keep that thing away from our bodies.

The rashes of a skin allergy can be very troublesome and may cause a great deal of itching. To relieve it, we apply certain medications. Also, it is frequently advisable to take antihistamine medicines. Once in a .while, if the rash continues for a long time even though it has been treated with antihistamines and local medications, it is necessary to give the child cortisone drug.

Mold spores may cause marked allergic reactions and symptoms similar to those of certain forms of hay fever. Fortunately, the unpleasant symptoms resulting from mold allergies can be greatly relieved by appropriate injections.

Insect bites and stings
People almost always know what kind of insect bites them. Therefore, they almost always know how to treat the bite. The swelling and itching of an insect bite is best treated by applying a cold compress to reduce the swelling. Also, if the swelling and itching are severe, an antihistamine medicine can be given. Some children are especially allergic to the stings of bees and wasps and hornets. If such children are going to amp, or live in an area where there are great many bees or wasps or hornets, why should be given a series of injection to make them less sensitive to the stings of these insects.

A child who gets enough rest is not so likely to show allergic symptoms as a child who is often fatigued.

Physical allergy
Children who are especially sensitive to heat or cold may break out in hives, or they may get an attack of asthma, or break out in hives may even faint. There are three ways to treat physical allergies:

1. If the patient can move somewhere that isn’t too hot or too cold, the allergy will disappear.
2. The acute attack is treated by antihistamine medicines and by taking the person with a heat allergy into a cooler place, or by taking the person with a cold allergy into a warmer place.
3. Some physical allergies can be overcome by making the patient less sensitive to the allergen. For example, the cold allergy is treated by giving the patient daily baths with cooler and cooler water until he eventually gets accustomed to the cold. The person with a heat allergy is given baths with warmer and warmer water until he eventually gets used to the heat.

Allergies sometimes last for a lifetime, but most people learn how to handle their condition so that they don’t suffer too much. As children grow older, they learn what brings on allergic attacks and what to do to avoid them or to treat them before they become severe.

Food Diet to Cure mediterranean Anemia in Children

Filed Under Our Illnesses | June 1st, 2007

Anemia is a condition in which there are too few red cells in the blood or too little iron in the red cells. Sometimes, anemia is caused by too few red cells and too little iron in those cells. There are many different kinds of anemia, and before anyone can be cured of the condition, it is necessary to find out what type of anemia is present.

Children frequently do become anemic and, as a result, they may tire easily and have very little pep. Also, anemic children are much more likely to get infections than those who have the right number of red blood cells and the right amount of iron in those red cells.

When we say that the blood has insufficient iron, we really mean that there is too little hemoglobin in the red cells. Hemoglobin gives blood its red color, and it is the hemoglobin within the red cells that carries the oxygen from the lungs to all the tissues of the body. To have a sufficient amount of hemoglobin, we must have a sufficient amount of iron. It is the iron that makes the hemoglobin.

Every cell, every organ, every tissue in the body, requires an adequate supply of oxygen in order to work properly. If there are too few red cells circulating in the arteries, or if the red cells don’t contain enough iron, then the organs and tissues won’t receive the necessary amount of oxygen.

People used to think that a well- nourished, heavy, or overweight child couldn’t be anemic. But we now know that even the huskiest child may be anemic if his diet contains too few vitamins or too little iron or other important minerals. It is simple for a child to stuff himself with candy and cake, or other fattening foods, yet neglect to eat the proper amounts of meats and vegetables and fruits that are so full of vitamins and iron and other necessary minerals. People also used to believe that a child had to look pale in order to be anemic. We now know that lots of children can look healthy and still be anemic. Aiid some youngsters can look pale and not be anemic at all.

Many girls and boys can have a mild anemia without even knowing it. It is only when the anemia continues without treatment that a child begins to lose energy, shows weakness in his muscles, loses his appetite, tires easily, and seems to lose interest in his schoolwork and playmates. We must remember that the brain needs tremendous amounts of oxygen to function at its best, and if a child has a severe anemia, the brain is just not going to get all the oxygen it needs.

Anemia can be diagnosed simply by pricking the finger with a needle and performing an examination of a little blood under a microscope. Doctors call this examination a blood count. It includes testing to see if there is enough hemoglobin in the red cells and a count to see if there are the right number of red blood cells. Other tests are done, too, in order to distinguish one type of anemia from another. This is important because the treatment will depend upon what type of anemia is present.

Here are some of the various forms of treatment that might be carried out to cure an anemia:

1. If a child is anemic because he has lost a great deal of blood in an accident, a blood transfusion may be given. As we have mentioned elsewhere, the bone marrow manufactures new blood very rapidly. Within a few days, a child may regain all the blood he requires, and it is therefore necessary to give a transfusion only when really large amounts of blood have been lost.

2. If the anemia has resulted fro some long-lasting illness, it can be cured only when the long-lasting illness has cleared up. For example, if a chil has had a serious kidney infection tha has kept him in bed for several wee he will probably develop anemia. Tha anemia will only disappear when the kidney infection is cured.

3. Certain kinds of anemia occur children who suffer from repeated atItacks of diarrhea (loose bowel move : The diarrhea interferes with the absorption of substances that are necessary to form iron and red blood cells. This type of anemia will not clear up until the diarrhea is cured.

4. The commonest type of anemia is due to insufficient iron in the red cells. It is treated by making sure the child eats a proper diet, including plenty of foods rich in iron and other minerals. It can also be treated by giving the child iron pills or, once in a while, by giving injections of iron. Children should remember that liver, meats, green vegetables, and certain fruits contain iron.

5. There are several rather rare kinds of anemia that are present from the time a child is born. For some of these anemias, treatment is difficult. There are certain anemias that require repeated blood transfusions to keep the child healthy; others are often benefited by removing the spleen. One of the spleen’s functions is to destroy old red cells, and it has been found that sometimes the spleen destroys healthy red cells as well.

6. Occasionally, a girl will develop anemia when she reaches puberty and starts to change from a child into a woman. Because of this tendency, it is pretty important that older girls make sure to get plenty of iron in their diet when they approach the teen years.

The red blood cells of a person suffering from anemia (right) are a very light pink when stained, and they are often less round and full when viewed under a microscope. The round, plump bodies of normal red blood cells (left), when stained, are a bright pinkish-red. Hemoglobin is the substance that gives normal cells their bright color.

Antibiotics Treatment for Yeast, Urinary Tract, Bladder, Kidney, Ear, MRSA, and Ear Infections

Filed Under Our Illnesses | June 1st, 2007

Youngsters are pretty good at fighting infections, and it doesn’t make much difference whether the infection is brought on by bacteria or viruses. But some things are important: Children must be in good general condition, or else it will be much more difficult for them to overcome an infection; furthermore, when they have an infection that affects the whole body, they must make certain to rest in bed and to drink large amounts of fluids.

Everybody is surrounded by various bacteria and viruses all the time. They cover the entire surface of the earth on which we live. They are everywhere in the air, in the water, on the ground, in the fluids we drink and the food we eat, the skin of our bodies, in our noses and throats, in our mouths, in the tubes leading to our lungs, and in our intestines. But most of the time these germs and viruses don’t get into our blood or into the tissues of our and dies. They just stay on the surface of our membranes and our skin. As long as they stay on the surface of these structures, they don’t cause an infection and hey don’t make us sick.

A boil has only one opening, or “head.” It is an infection caused by bacteria, most often a staphylococcus germ, and can appear anywhere on the body. A child should not attempt to open a boil himself—this could cause the infection to spread. Boils should be drained by a doctor when the pus is ready to come out.

Some bacteria and viruses are so powerful that unless we are vaccinated against them, no matter how good our general health, they will enter the tissues and the bloodstream of our bodies and we will get sick. For example, unless we take injections against measles, the measles virus can get into our bodies and give us the measles; unless we take injections to protect us against the diphtheria bacteria, we are likely to get this disease.

A child’s resistance and ability to fight off an infection can be poor if that child is undernourished and lacks the proper amounts of proteins and vitamins. If a child is anemic and has too few red blood cells, it will be more difficult to fight off an infection. And, finally, if a child has a disease in an organ such as the kidneys or the liver or the bone marrow that manufactures white blood cells, the child is more apt to have trouble keeping infections from entering the body and causing illness. The commonest types of skin infections are called pimples, boils, and abscesses. They can appear anywhere on the body. Pimples are usually no bigger than the size of a pea; a boil may grow to the size of a grape, or a prune, or even larger. Some abscesses are small, while others can grow to the size of a lemon, or even larger.

Pimples, boils, and abscesses are filled with pus, usually cream-colored or a light green color. These infections hurt quite a lot before they are opened by a doctor—or sometimes open by themselves. Then, when the pus comes out, most of the pain disappears within a few hours.

There are certain things that children should remember about pimples, boils, and abscesses:

1. If the infection causes fever, the child should stay in bed. Pimples don’t often cause temperature, and many boils don’t, either. However, large boils and abscesses do cause fever, and bed rest is important until the temperature returns to normal.

2. Pimples, boils, and abscesses should never be squeezed. This will cause them to spread and grow. Sometimes, if a child squeezes a pimple, it will become a boil. Squeezing a small boil may turn it into a large, spreading abscess.

3. The best way to hurry up a pimple, boil, or abscess so that the pus is ready come out by itself, or ready to be punctured—or lanced—by a doctor, is apply nice, warm, wet compresses to the area. (A compress is made of a piece of gauze, or a washcloth, or a towel that has been soaked in warm water.) Frequently, a doctor may recommend that some salt be mixed with the warm water before it is applied to the infected area.

4. Doctors sometimes recommend that children be given an antibiotic medicine to overcome a large boil or the pus will be absorbed by tile body instead of draining to the outside.

5. A pimple, boil, or abscess should never be opened until it is “ripe,” or until the pus is ready to come out. Many pimples burst by themselves and the pus runs out, but most boils and larger abscesses have to be opened by the doctor. To do this, he gives a little abscess. Antibiotics aren’t needed for ordinary pimples. But antibiotics may make a boil or abscess disappear, and freezing spray to the area and quickly sticks a knife into the boil or abscess. It is over so quickly that there isn’t much pain.

6. Germs that cause pimples, boils, and abscesses can spread to other members of the family, so it is very important to wash your hands thoroughly after touching or treating such an infection. Also, washcloths, towels, handkerchiefs, and other things that might have pus on them should be boiled so that all the germs are killed.

A carbuncle is a deep-seated infection of the skin, and is different from a boil in that it has more than one “head,” or opening. In order to cure a carbuncle, each of the parts of the underlying abscess must be drained. The patient must then rest, drink plenty of liquids, and take antibiotics.

When someone has a boil or abscess, lymph glands nearby may get enlarged and tender. As we mentioned earlier, the lymph glands help to prevent the germs, or the poisons the germs produce, from getting into the blood and spreading the infection to other parts of the body.

Although viruses can cause many infections that affect the whole body— like measles, German measles, chicken pox, and other childhood diseases— they don’t cause pimples, boils, and abscesses. The bacteria that cause most pimples, boils, and abscesses are the staphylococcus germ and the streptococcus germ. Unfortunately, vaccination against these germs doesn’t work very well, and as a result we can get infections with these germs over and over again.

Do you know the best way to avoid pimples, boils, abscesses, and other infections? Well, the best way is to keep ür resistance high by eating a good diet rich in fresh fruits and vegetables and milk, and by getting plenty of sleep. And one more thing: We should keep our bodies clean so that the germs are washed off our body surface frequently. Children who are always dirty and don’t wash their hands often and don’t bathe regularly are much more likely to get infections.

Two germs which may cause infections of the body’s various organs are shown in these photomicrographs. Left: the chainlike formation of streptococcus bacteria. Right: th characteristic grapelike clusters of staphylococcus bacteria.