What are the symptoms of pneumonia in children? Is winter the peak season for pneumonia in children?

Winter is the peak season for pneumonia, and the incidence and mortality of pediatric pneumonia in my country are higher than those in developed countries. According to statistics, respiratory tract infection cases in pediatric outpatient clinics in my country account for 60%-80% of the total number of patients, and the number of hospitalizations for bronchial pneumonia accounts for 25%-50% of urban children hospitalized. About 300,000 infants and young children die from pneumonia every year. Experts say that viral infections, bacterial infections, and mycoplasma infections can all cause pneumonia. Most children may be infected with pneumococci through social interactions and develop pneumonia. In addition, many children develop pneumonia because they suffer from influenza or common colds that are not treated in time.

Winter is always a high incidence period for pneumonia in children

As soon as winter comes, the number of children suffering from respiratory diseases in outpatient clinics shows a straight upward trend, and the majority of them are pneumonia patients. Experts say that since pathogens are more likely to breed in winter, children's resistance is weaker, and people are often in a closed environment with poor air circulation, children are more susceptible to pneumonia.

In addition, from the outpatient perspective, a considerable number of cases are due to influenza or common colds that develop into pneumonia due to untimely treatment. Many parents think that children's colds are trivial matters and that they only need to go to the clinic to get some medicine, but they do not pay attention to the care of their children during their colds, causing their children's colds to be delayed for a long time and thus easily lead to pneumonia.

Experts remind that many families now use humidifiers in winter to moisten the air and increase the moisture of the respiratory mucosa, which can improve its disease resistance and prevent respiratory diseases. However, if the humidifier is used improperly and the humidity is too high, it will cause too much water in the lungs. This can easily cause bacteria to grow, aggravate respiratory infections, and even cause pneumonia in severe cases.

Don’t think you can rest assured after getting vaccinated

Experts especially remind that some parents think that they can rest assured after their children have received pneumonia vaccine. This is wrong. Pneumonia vaccine is the abbreviation of pneumococcal vaccine or several bacterial vaccines including it. It only has a certain preventive effect on bacterial infection caused by pneumococcus or the bacterial vaccine contained in it, but has no effect on other viruses, bacteria, mycoplasma, chlamydia and other infections that cause pneumonia. Therefore, vaccination with pneumonia vaccine does not mean that you will not get pneumonia, but it reduces the chance of getting pneumonia.

Symptoms of pneumonia in children

1. Most cases of fever are high, around 39-40℃, irregular, with variable fever patterns, mostly remittent fever. Infants and young children with rickets and malnutrition may not have high body temperatures; newborns with pneumonia may not have high body temperatures.

2. Coughing is an early symptom of the disease, which starts with frequent irritating dry coughs, followed by phlegm sounds in the throat, and coughing may be accompanied by vomiting and choking on milk.

3. Shallow and rapid breathing, nasal fanning, mild cyanosis around the mouth and nails in some children

4. Lung signs are not obvious in the early stage, only coarse breath sounds or slightly reduced breath sounds. After a few days, medium and fine moist rales can be heard, especially fine moist rales. They are denser at the back of the two lung bases and beside the spine, and are clearer at the end of deep inspiration. When large areas of lung lesions are fused, signs of pulmonary consolidation such as increased vocal fremitus, dullness on percussion, weakened breath sounds on auscultation, or cast-shaped breath sounds may appear.