1. Viruses Can't be Treated With Antibiotics
Both bacteria and viruses can cause illness and infection. However, bacterial infections can be treated with antibiotic and antibiotics do not kill viruses. Viruses cause all colds and flus, most coughs and most sore throats. Treating these illnesses with antibiotics will not provide the child with relief and may cause more difficulty--such as thrush and diaper yeast infections. Antibiotics, though common, are powerful medications and should be used only when appropriate.
2. Wash Your Hands
Kids spend a lot of time in the presence of bacteria and viruses--on the playground, at school, at day care or the doctor's office. Washing hands is one of the best ways to prevent the spread of viruses (and bacteria). Encourage your kids to wash with warm water and use vigorous scrubbing on all sides of their hands. Keep them washing for at least one minute. Many kids like to sing "Happy Birthday" or "The ABC Song" while washing to pass the time.
3. Teach Your Child Good Cough Ettiquete
Sure, we all encourage our kids to "cover up" when they cough as to not spread infections--bacterial or viral. Now, the recommendations on how they should cover up are changing. Instead of the traditional cover up with a hand, many pediatricians, day cares and schools are teaching kids to cough into the crook of their elbow. Why? Well, kids who do remember to cover up when they cough do so with their hands. Great. What they forget to do is wash their hands afterward--they end up spreading the germs anyway. Encourage kids to cover up and wash up to help prevent the spread of illness.
4. Fever: Good or bad?
Fever isn't itself an illness--it is a symptom of illness or infection. In infants and children, even a low grade fever can indicate an infection. Fever usually means your body is reacting to an infection--bacterial or viral--and the heat generated by the fever is intended to kill the germs that are invading. Unless a fever is higher than 102 degrees, do not treat it with medications that will bring the fever down. A rectal temperature over 100.4 degrees is considered a fever regardless of a child's typical temperature. Rectal temperatures are one degree higher than an oral reading (to estimate rectal temperature add one degree to an oral temperature reading).
5. The Most Common Virus?
Most children will have been infected with roseola by the time they reach kindergarten. The herpes virus causes roseola--a mild illness follows infection with symptoms such as fever (usually sudden and high--103 degrees is typical) and a rash. The rash, if it appears, will bloom once the fever has subsided. A typical roseola rash looks like small pink spots or patches. The rash begins on the trunk (back, abdomen and chest) and then moves to the legs and arms. Luckily, the rash is neither itchy nor uncomfortable and will fade within several hours to several days.
