With cough, fever and cold you don’t necessarily have to think about Covid because many other respiratory viruses are circulating. The Zuccotti pediatrician: In the presence of only one symptom, the tampon is not recommended: time to overcome the emergency phase
Cough, runny nose sometimes a little fever. With the return of the children to the community, two weeks after the opening of the schools, it is inevitable that the little ones can face colds, seasonal ailments that are completely normal. And it doesn’t have to be Covid. Last spring, with the emergence of the Delta variant more contagious, the numerous school quarantines, the lockdowns that followed one another in the red zone and the vaccination campaign just at the beginning practically only Covid was circulating. Not so this fall. After a completely free summer, viruses that seemed to have disappeared last year have also started to circulate again. And this is also demonstrated by the fact that at the Buzzi pediatric hospital in Milan the 40 beds in pediatrics are all occupied, but none for Covid. On the other hand, there are many patients who have contracted respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), bronchiolitis, pneumonia or other respiratory viruses. We are reviewing scenarios experienced in past years, with many respiratory viruses that have returned to circulate, as in the pre-pandemic era confirms Gianvincenzo Zuccotti, director of the Pediatrics department at the Buzzi hospital in Milan.
Differential diagnosis
Not possible to clearly distinguish Covid from flu or even from a cold because the symptoms can be very similar, sometimes they are very nuanced and the only sure way to make a differential diagnosis is to swab. We also saw that children are often asymptomatic therefore, to really intercept the positives, a carpet screening should be done, a choice that was not made.
How to orient yourself
To help parents orient themselves, a number of common sense advice. If the child has a cold accompanied by a stuffy or runny nose and some cough or sore throat without other symptoms such as gastrointestinal disorders we can conclude with enough certainty that we are facing a classic seasonal cooling explains Gianvincenzo Zuccotti. The situation is different in which the child manifests more than one symptom. If a fever above 37.5 and maybe even gastrointestinal symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhea are added to the cold, then it is legitimate to suspect Covid-19 adds Professor Zuccotti. In general if the symptoms occur individually: only cold, only fever, only vomiting and diarrhea it is likely that we are facing seasonal ailments, the classic colds and viral gastroenteritis that accompany winter and not Covid-19.
Cough
When the Covid symptoms appear among the cough usually dry, irritating and persistent, more typical of asthma but not so infrequent during the winter season. As mentioned, the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) capable of infecting the respiratory system causing asthmatic bronchitis and bronchiolitis. There peevish cough a symptom and a differential diagnosis will therefore be necessary in these cases. Many times for these forms they do not give fever adds the pediatrician.
When to keep them home from school
Young children, especially under six years of age, often spend a good part of the winter perpetually chilled. And, as mentioned, we don’t necessarily have to think about Covid. When is it recommended to stay home from school? When it comes to an isolated cold with a few coughs, perhaps more frequent during changes of position (when going to bed or getting up compared to the rest of the day) frequency is not actually contraindicated. I would limit myself to keeping home from school only the child with a fever over 37.5 with a cough or cold and possibly diarrheal symptoms. But it should have been so already, even in pre-Covid times: children with fevers must be kept at home.
Getting to know your children
Parents are the ones who know their children best and are the first to understand if something is wrong. For example, if the child has a runny nose and is allergic to ragweed, it is likely that that symptom is linked to seasonal allergy. Furthermore, allergic forms are rarely accompanied by fever. Same thing for asthma sufferers and shortness of breath. If for the symptoms they are uncommon then good to talk to the pediatrician.
Vaccines in the community make a difference
Children, especially those under the age of six, often spend the entire winter perpetually chilled. But I don’t feel like recommending swabbing at the first cough or if the child has a stuffy nose says Zuccotti who instead suggests not to lose lucidity and try to normalize this condition, going in the direction of treat the infection as if it were, at least in childhood, like a normal flu
. We cannot ignore how many things have changed since last year. Today 77% of the fully vaccinated Italian population travels towards 90% in Lombardy. We know that those who are vaccinated and infected, are unlikely to be hospitalized or end up in intensive carerather, it often remains asymptomatic. We are vaccinating the most fragile population with the third dose and it will soon be up to the over 80s and doctors. The situation is totally different, whoever risks the most is mostly protected from serious consequences. I think that rather than locking up children, those over 50 should be pursued who are still not vaccinated, totally susceptible to the virus but, unlike children, with much higher risks of serious illness and death.
September 27, 2021 (change September 27, 2021 | 19:20)
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