202 why children lose their hearing and what we can do
Treatment for childhood illnesses
Children should stay in bed, drink lots of liquids, and eat nutritious food. If a
baby cannot breastfeed, give breast milk in a spoon.
For fever
Give paracetamol (acetaminophen — see page 195).
If fluid starts draining from the ear
Give an antibiotic by mouth as for sudden infections (page 195).
If signs of chronic ear infection develop
See pages 196 to 197.
If the child has diarrhea
Give rehydration drink in small sips, 1 glass for each watery stool.
In 1 liter of clean water mix half a teaspoon of salt with 8 teaspoons of sugar.
Or make a watery porridge with 1 liter of clean water, half a teaspoon of salt
and 8 heaped teaspoons of powdered cereal (rice flour, maize flour, wheat
flour, sorghum, or cooked and mashed potatoes).
If signs of pneumonia, meningitis, or severe pain in the ear or stomach
develop, get medical help.
Measles
Measles causes ear infections in many children. Measles may damage the
inner ear and also may cause a middle ear infection with an ear discharge
and hole in the ear drum. A few children also get encephalitis,
an inflammation of the brain that can lead to fits, and can leave
children deaf.
Sometimes there are black spots caused by bleeding into the skin.
This means the infection is very severe. Get medical help.
Prevention:
Children from other families should not go to a house where someone
has measles. They should stay away from children with measles and their
brothers and sisters. To prevent the illness from
spreading, children in a family where someone has
measles should not go to school, stores, markets, or
other public places for
10 days, even if they are not sick themselves.
No school for
you, Lan, until
Thuy is all
better.
Children who are weak, poorly nourished, or
who have tuberculosis or HIV/AIDS need to
be carefully protected from measles. It is
especially dangerous for them.
Helping Children Who Are Deaf (2004)