The North started season inflammation of the brain and meninges

Pediatrics at hospitals in Hanoi began receiving cases of encephalitis and meningitis for several weeks now. This disease can be difficult to recognize for early examination because many children only have fever and headache.

At the Pediatric Department of Bach Mai Hospital, out of 100 children who come to see each day, about 10 children show the brain-meningeal syndrome, some of them are confirmed diagnosis. Common diseases are viral encephalitis, internal meningitis and purulent meningitis.

Dr. Nguyen Tien Dung, Dean, said that this is only the beginning of the season, no death or serious sequelae. Often the number of patients will increase in the future, and this is when mothers should pay attention to taking care of their children, recognizing early signs of suspicion:

Encephalitis

To detect early cases of encephalitis without typical symptoms, it is recommended to take the child for examination if the fever is more than 3 days.(Photo: Hoang Ha)

In addition to Japanese encephalitis virus (decreased compared to previous years due to vaccination program), an important culprit in this disease is intestinal virus, especially entero. In addition, many other viruses can cause encephalitis.

Signs of encephalitis can only be headache, anorexia, fatigue. More severe, patients with high fever, may be accompanied by severe headache, nausea and vomiting, convulsions, lethargy, coma . In young children, symptoms are often atypical, but can be recognized at signs of vomiting, swelling of the bulge, stiffness of the body, crying without coaxing or crying more when changing positions.

Cases of encephalitis to the hospital when severe have a high mortality rate, if it is also susceptible to severe sequelae.

Meningitis

In May, Vietnam recorded 32 cases of meningococcal meningitis in 18 provinces, bringing the cumulative total from the beginning of the year to 305, doubling the same period last year. No patients died.

Source: Ministry of Health.

Meningitis: Due to different types of bacteria, mainly pneumococci, staphylococcus and the most dangerous is the spherical tissue. Often bacteria from another infection on the body, follow the blood to the brain. The disease has a serious prognosis, high sequelae rate, long-term cure (average 2 weeks) with special antibiotics.

Common symptoms are high fever, vomiting, poor appetite, headaches, convulsions, bulging, stretching, crying, stiff neck, fear of light, if severe, coma.

Meningitis: Caused by viruses, often occurs after a viral disease, such as diarrhea, measles, chickenpox . This is the most common disease in Bach Mai Hospital during the time. This time, mainly in children 2 years and older. The rate of death and neurological sequelae is lower than that of meningitis and encephalitis, treatment is also less difficult. However, if not treated early, children are still at risk.

Many children with clear meningitis have only fever, vomiting, and older children may complain of headaches, severe seizures and coma. To diagnose this disease, children must be tested for cerebrospinal fluid.

The common point of these diseases is that in many cases, the child only has very vague symptoms, like fever, a common cold. Therefore, Dr. Nguyen Tien Dung advises that if no typical manifestations of meningitis and meningitis are detected, mothers also need to take their children to the doctor when their fever is not reduced for 3 days.

On the other hand, when doctors have indicated puncture aspiration to confirm the diagnosis, parents should comply. In many cases, because of child abuse, the family prevents or tries to delay it until there is a clearer expression, causing children to be slow to be treated. Dr. Dung affirmed that the cerebrospinal fluid only makes children suffer more than usual, not dangerous for children.