How serious are childhood illnesses: They are responsible for devastating sequelae

Childhood diseases are no joke and can leave serious consequences, especially if we are talking about very young children or people with weak immune systems. Measles, for example, can lead to a drop in immunity, and a barrier to sterility and pancreatitis.

Considered childhood diseases are smallpox, measles, rubella, erythema infectiosum, roseola infantum and scarlet fever. All this is underestimated by part of the population, seen as something natural or as a good way to give the child a natural vaccine. In addition, there are Romanians who refuse to vaccinate their children with the free doses included in the national vaccination scheme, just to prevent these viral diseases. Doctors say that this idea and attitude towards childhood diseases is completely wrong. These diseases are very real and can leave serious consequences, especially among very young children or those with a weakened immune system.

“Childhood diseases are very bad”

The epidemiologist Irina Alecu, from the Botoșani Health Directorate, says that these childhood diseases can change the human body a lot. That is why the decision was made to create vaccines for vaccination and to prevent possible sequelae. Some very heavy. “Childhood diseases are extremely serious, which is why medicine in the last hundred years has been fighting hard to prepare a vaccine that prevents such diseases. Just because their effects were heavy. We have all heard about the great diseases of whooping cough, of poliomyelitisof diphtheria, which reduced the total population of children or left very serious sequelae. We all know what polio can do. Diphtheria is fatal if not treated early. In addition to the whooping cough that, through infection, causes a lack of oxygen in the brain and the child is left with lifelong sequelae.“, says the doctor Irina Alecu. And the diseases mentioned above are part of the vaccination scheme. The lack of vaccination, doctors say, makes the body susceptible to illness and automatically to potential problems, especially in very young children.

The childhood disease that collapses the immune system

Measles is one of the worst childhood diseases. It is also called measles and is caused by a virus. It can be easily prevented by vaccination. Without the vaccine, measles can have serious complications. It is manifested by high fever, cough, runny nose and red eyes. After 3-5 days, the rash also appears on the skin. It can be fatal for small children. Complications with measles occur in 30% of cases and are serious. First, measles leads to a decrease in immunity. This is why many children, around 6 out of 100 children, with measles get pneumonia. Others encephalitis, meningoencephalitis or even subacute sclerosing panencephalitis lead to brain degeneration. “Measles causes the immune system to collapse and restore the body’s immunity for many years. During that time, the child will contact everything that surrounds him and automatically the body crawls more through fatigue.“, says Irina Alecu. In extreme cases, 7 cases in 1000, epilepsy can occur.

Sterility and pancreatitis

Another childhood disease with possible lifelong sequelae is mumps. This is caused by the Urlian virus. At first it looks like a cold. Headache, fever or fatigue occur. It is further characterized by inflammation of the salivary glandswith knotty pain. In particular, 50% of boys and 25% of women can develop a number of related problems if they are not vaccinated or have a weakened immune system. For boys older than 7 years and without vaccination there is a risk of sterility. “If the boy gets it after the age of 6-7-8 years, without vaccination, it actually produces sterility. Because there is tropism. And not just sterility, it can cause pancreatitis. Because we are talking about localization at the level of salivary, pancreatic or seminal glands. That is why sterility occurs“, says Irina Alecu. rubella,

Another childhood disease, which manifests itself with mild symptoms and a rash, can cause sequelae under certain conditions or in certain categories of people. It is also caused by a virus and in some cases is asymptomatic. For most, rubella is a mild illness. But not for women who are pregnant in the first trimester. Because of this, rubella can cause serious problems. It is thought that about 90% of babies born to mothers who had rubella in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy will have congenital rubella syndrome. The effects are serious, from deafness to problems in the development of organs including the heart.