Stating that respiratory tract infections increase with the arrival of winter, Scientific Council Member of the Ministry of Health, İzmir Katip Çelebi University (İKÇÜ) Faculty of Medicine, Head of Infectious Diseases Department, Lecturer. Dr. Alper Şener said, “While we are fighting the Covid-19 process with a single virus, if you leave aside Covid-19 at the moment, we are fighting 4-5 different types of viruses. All of these are respiratory tract infections, transmitted by droplets.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PROTECTION FROM INFLUENTIAL INFLUENTIATION
Evaluating the recent flu infections with the winter months approaching, Prof. Dr. Şener talked about what needs to be done to protect citizens and children from flu infections.
Emphasizing that respiratory tract infections increase at a certain rate every year in winter, Şener said, “What we mean by winter months are the months of December, January and February. It seems that the flu has actually woken up from its hibernation, as we have seen less respiratory infectious diseases due to Covid-19 for about 2 years, and also almost no flu. Waking up from hibernation, this winter season has started causing respiratory infections in both children and adults. Currently, the flu is not alone, it is in a hand-in-hand position, there are sub-groups within the flu. Like swine flu, seasonal flu, there is parainfluenza, a variant of the flu. There RSV, especially in the respiratory tract, can cause hospitalization in children. May cause breathing difficulties. Adults also get the common cold, which we see the most in the field. These viral infections all together came back because we hadn’t seen them for two years. “Our immune systems started remembering them again,” she said.
Mentioning that flu infections are extremely important in children, prof. Dr. Şener said, “The mask measures cannot be applied very clearly in children in closed areas of schools. Because parents work, children may still need to go to school if they are ill. Distribution and diffusion is rapid, especially in the pediatric age group. We experienced this during the Covid-19 process, but while we are fighting a single virus in this Covid-19 process, if you leave Covid-19 aside, we are currently fighting 4-5 different types of viruses. All of these are respiratory infections, transmitted by droplets. It can also cause serious illness in children. In fact, some of the children should be warned that they can develop into pneumonia after overcoming the disease. They can cause inflammation of the lungs. The most common finding in children begins with fever, cough, joint and muscle pain. It is limited to about 5-7 days. In some age groups of children, especially in kindergarten age groups, it can cause severe breathing difficulties, even such as to require hospitalization, and even difficulty breathing. Especially if they are in the childhood age group, they shouldn’t go to school. If there are signs of fever, respiratory infection, because from the moment they go to school, children can spread a disease that we can pass off as a simple viral respiratory infection to many people in the sudden age group. These viral infections can sometimes occur together, one after another. Their succession is problematic for us in this sense, another viral infection comes soon after the full immune system has recovered. It usually starts with colds, runny nose and nasal congestion in the adult age group. Soon after, this time we add widespread body aches, joint pains, fever, chills and shivering. Sometimes these can turn some of them into sinusitis. We may be dealing with the flu or swine flu, some of which appear soon after. Extra precaution for the kids, there’s not much to do except go to school when they’re sick. Because when we look at respiratory infections, we don’t give medicine to the infant age group unless there’s a serious comorbidity, unless it’s the flu. Therefore, first of all, to protect ourselves and our environment, we must follow the mask, distance, hand hygiene measures that we have said from the beginning, and if our child is sick, we should not send them to school or keep them in isolation at home for a certain period of time so as not to put other children at risk. So that the virus doesn’t spread, it doesn’t spread, or that viruses spread and don’t endanger or threaten the entire school or the entire area you are in.”
