Suspect pneumonia if symptoms persist.
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA – Pediatrician, Prof. Soedjatmiko, prohibits kissing babies and toddlers if they have a cold or cough. The prohibition aims to prevent babies and toddlers from diseases caused by bacteria, viruses or fungi pneumonia during the current Covid-19 pandemic.
“Bacteria, viruses, fungi are everywhere. If a family has a cold, don’t kiss babies and toddlers,” he said on the sidelines of the online commemoration of World Pneumonia Day 2020, Thursday (12/11).
In addition, you should wear a mask and wash your hands before touching babies and toddlers and seek treatment immediately to restore the condition.
Soedjatmiko said the pathogens that cause pneumonia can enter the nose, airway of children and damage their lungs when their immune system is low. The cause of this low immunity is due to several factors, including cigarette smoke, dust in the house which then damages the airways, and the lack of children getting exclusive breastfeeding, causing malnutrition.
Not to mention if your little one is born with a low body weight, is not immunized, suffers from chronic disease and is late for treatment. These conditions put him at risk of losing his life due to pneumonia.
In terms of symptoms, the Head of the Indonesian Pediatric Association (IDAI) Respirology Coordination Work Unit (UKK), Dr. dr Nastiti Kaswandani, said pneumonia was marked by a number of symptoms. These include fever, cough and loss of appetite, which are often mistaken for colds and flu.
In addition to these symptoms, sufferers can also complain of shortness of breath and breathing is very fast than usual. The fever that lasts can continue for 2-3 days.
“Suspect pneumonia if the symptoms persist, (ie) fever for 2-3 days. Another important sign of the child is that he is breathing faster than usual, shortness of breath,” said Nastiti.
He suggested, when symptoms like this appear, immediately take the sufferer to the hospital to get early help and save his life. In terms of case numbers, Indonesia is one of the countries with a decrease in the number of pneumonia cases in 2019, namely 153.00 cases or 25,000 lower cases compared to 2007. Meanwhile, among children under five, the number of cases has reached 314,000 or decreased by 24,000 cases since 2007.
Even so, Soedjatmiko recorded a high mortality rate every year. Namely around 400-600 people then jumped to 1,750 people in 2017.
“In fact, in 2017 there were around 1,750s and in 2020 maybe partly because of Covud-19. Because the incidence of Covid-19 in children is high compared to other countries. June 2020, Covid-19 deaths in children, especially in infants and toddlers, partly pneumonia in infants under five maybe because of Covid-19, “he said.
Meanwhile, data from the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2017 noted that pneumonia is the second leading cause of under-five mortality in Indonesia after preterm delivery with a prevalence of 15.5 percent. In terms of causes, exclusive breastfeeding has not been fulfilled, namely only 54 percent, low birth weight (10.2 percent), and not yet complete immunization (42.1 percent), air pollution in closed spaces and high density in households are among them. .
source: Between
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