16 electric children
The HEALTH | OCTOBER , 2018
16 electric children
Chronic fatigue syndrome in children and adolescents
Childhood asthma
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome ( ME / CFS ) is a protracted and persistent illness that produces a variety of debilitating effects in children and adolescents .
Ramsay Sime Darby Subang Jaya Medical Centre
Cigarette smoke outside the house an attributing factor
STHMA is a chronic
A disease . With asthma , breathing is sometimes difficult due to the swelling of the lining in the airways , tightening of the muscles around the airways and extra mucus in the airways .
Ramsay Sime Darby Subang Jaya Medical Centre Consultant Paediatrician Dr Ali Azman Minhaj ( pic ) pointed out that asthma is not contagious . It is a lifelong disease which can be controlled with daily medications . Although asthma is a chronic disease , anyone with asthma can have an acute ( sudden ) attack of symptoms .
“ Asthma is quite common in children . Many who come to the clinic have cough – and this is due to asthma . Children frequently cough at night , early in the morning and parents might notice that the cough is repetitive – again and again following simple flu . These is actually a very mild form of asthma . They may not wheeze , but they may just cough and this could be asthma . Then there are children who would start wheezing but may not cough , and as time progresses may have difficulty breathing .”
“ In more severe cases , a child may start wheezing , have difficulty breathing and shortness of breath .”
What triggers asthma
Main causes are attributed to hereditary factors and the sensitivity of the lungs .
“ Children tend to over-react to the irritants that gets into the lung . Many of them suffer with flu , virus and some
of them breathe in cigarette smoke and dust . The worst smoke is passive smokers who live around those who smoke – especially children . A family member may claim that they smoke outside the house , but the chemicals , the smell of the smoke can still linger around the house . That ’ s the one that triggers the asthma .”
“ Sometimes they are quite sensitive to temperature changes while others may be sensitive to certain kinds of foods .”
“ But not all children react the same way to certain foods . Some may be allergic to certain types of fruits such as citrus – oranges while the rest may not be . Those who are able to take cold food may have a trigger attack with chocolates or peanuts . Again , each patient may be sensitive to different types of food .”
What parents should know
Ali emphasised for parents to try with usual medications if a child coughs for two to three days . However , if the cough persist for over six days , then they should come visit a doctor for suspicion of asthma especially when they have a family history .
“ Many of these cough usually doesn ’ t get cured with regular cough mixture . Paracetamol may make no difference either .”
Hand , foot and mouth disease ( HFMD )
HAND , foot and mouth disease ( HFMD ) is caused by a virus .
Ramsay Sime Darby Subang Jaya Medical Centre Consultant Paediatrician Dr Ali Azman Minhaj explained that you can get this from all over the place – from over the floor , especially among young children when they start putting things into the mouth .
“ Toys that are dropped and later put into the mouth causes virus to get into the system . Even things that are dropped and later picked up by another child causes the virus to spread .”
“ The sharing of food through the usage of the same cutleries with somebody who has HFMD is another way how the disease is spread to another child especially among family members or children of the same kindergarten .”
“ Basically , it is a harmless condition unless that child has very poor nutrition . This factor combined with a child who is unhealthy and has illnesses causes it to be quite dangerous for the child .
Symptoms
“ Normally , they would start with slight
Guiding a child to healthy meals at school fever and the child drooling excessively due to the pain in the mouth . Sometimes , there would be rashes around the knees , elbows , bottoms , genitalia along with red dots that appear over the thumbs and over the sole of the feet . The mouth may also be filled with ulcers . Fever would be around 38 or 38.5 degree celsius but very rarely does it go up to 39 degree celcius .”
“ Basically there ’ s no medicine to kill the virus , to start with . Physicians might just treat it symptomatically to reduce the pain inside the mouth . That is what prevents the child from eating . A lot of children are unable to suck properly due to a lot of ulcers .”
Ali suggest giving children liquids through a straw , cool the milk if possible and for older children – putting them on ice-cream and a soft diet such as jelly . He also cautions against having hot food .
“ For those who are quite bad who are unable to take the feeding – then physicians would put them on drips for one or two days and be admitted in the hospital until the child is able to start feeding within three or four days . Again
EFFORTS to healthify school canteens began in 2016 , in collaboration with the Education Ministry under the purview of the National Plan of Action for Nutrition of Malaysia 2016-2025 . Enforced this year , the revised Healthy School Canteen Management Guide limits the accessibility of unhealthy food and drinks to school children .
However , the irony still remains where canteens as well as food vendors right opposite the school premises sell processed food such as burgers , nuggets , sausages and fried chicken to children who are easily lured .
Indra Balaratnam Nutrition consultant dietitian Indra Balaratnam pointed out that the weakness lays in the administration and the enforcement of these guidelines .
“ So , what happens is the canteen vendor then sells what he feels are popular items , based on what children tend to go for . Inevitably , in any school canteen here in Malaysia , you would have fried food , the sugary drinks – even if it ’ s not