SERIOUS CHILDHOOD OR BABY'S SKIN INFECTION

It is normal for babies or infant to have rashes because of various reasons. Click here to have more information regarding common childhood rashes. There are many harmless rashes, however, there are certain kind of rashes on your baby's skin might indicate serious condition that require medical treatment.

Parents should visit a doctor if your child have a rashes and persistent high temperature, cold or cough symptoms, or swollen neck glands. This is to prevent the situation getting worst and to determine whether the rashes is contagious. If yes, make sure the affected child stay at home until it recover. Parents should built up their immune system while taking care their children in this situation as some rashes can infect to adult too.

What are the example of serious childhood or baby rashes?

1. Measles

Measles is a highly contagious respiratory infection. It could be spreaded if anyone have direct contact with the virus-infected object including fluids or droplets. It would cause skin rashes and flu-liked symptoms. The symptoms of a measles infection are usually a cough, runny nose, high fever (up to 40°C) , and red eyes. Kids also may have small red spots with blue-white centers inside the mouth before the rash starts. The symptoms will normally shows in 7-14 days later.

There is no specific medical treatment for measles. Parents should give their children plenty of fluids to stay hydrated and to control body temperature. It is encourage to have extra rest and non-aspirin medicine.

Kids with measles should stay away from others until the rashes are gone or fully recovered as it could spread easily.

2. Chickenpox

Chickenpox, or so called varicella, is a highly contagious skin rashes that could cause itchiness to baby's skin. Children with chickenpox will develop a very itchy, blister-like rash that appears 10 to 21 days after exposure and infection with the virus. The rashes could spread to other parts of the body, including the face, arms, and legs. Children might get a fever too as a symptoms.

There are an antiviral medication called acyclovir that can reduce the symptoms of chickenpox. There are also vaccine to protect children from getting chickenpox. Nowadays, some parents would let their children to get infected by chickenpox on purpose. This is because infant will have immunity in their body after getting chickenpox.

As we can see, chickenpox might be highly contagious, however, it is not as serious as other skin rashes infection.

3. Meningitis Rash

Meningitis is an inflammation of the membrane covering the brain and spinal cord (meninges). Meningitis caused by a bacterial infection, or by a viral infection. Bacteria meningitis can be the most serious form of meningitis as it could be life-threatening and cause disabilities such as brain damage. However this situation rarely happen on babies.

Viral meningitis can be relatively mild. Although the flu-like symptoms may be unpleasant for your baby, she's likely to recover without any treatment, in about seven to 10 days. However, both of the meningitis can be spreaded through kiss, touches, sneezing, coughing, sharing utensil and more.

Meningitis is a really serious skin rashes infection, therefore it is important for parents to identify it early for treatment. Here are some symptoms for meningitis:

Developed a rash that doesn't disappear when you press a glass onto it. The rash starts as a few small red pinpricks that increase in number and size and turn dark purple
Agitated and restless, and seems unhappy if you pick her up.
Bulging soft spot on the head (fontanelle).
Drowsy, floppy or unresponsive.
Crying is unusually high-pitched.
Vomiting, and refusing to feed
Cold hands and feet.
Neck and body are stiff.
Appears to dislike bright lights.
Breathing has changed, either faster or slower than normal, and/or she's making a grunting noise.
Swollen tummy

Visit the doctor immediately if there are more than one symptoms.

Treatment for bacterial meningitis require immediate medical treatment with antibiotics to eliminate viruses in the body. Your baby might need to stay in the hospital for a long time. Baby treatment include:

Antibiotics given via a drip into your baby's vein to make sure she has regular doses of medication.
Fluids given via a drip to keep your baby hydrated.
Oxygen through a face mask.
Steroid medication to help reduce any swelling around the brain.

For viral meningitis, baby will just need to rest and care well to recover. The baby will have headache, tired and reluctant to feed. However, the recovery process should only take about 10 days. At the same time, parents could:

Encourage her to take small, frequent feeds of milk.
Relieve her headache with infant paracetamol or infant ibuprofen
Keep her surroundings calm and quiet.

It is rare for newborn to get infected by this virus. However, infant, children or adult might get it easily and spread it to the newborn. Therefore, it is important to stay clean and hygienic and protect your loved ones.

4. Psoriasis

Psoriasis is a non-contagious autoimmune disease affecting the skin. Psoriasis in babies is a rare condition. It’s also very difficult to diagnose as it may appear similar to other (much more common) infant skin conditions. Most types of psoriasis result in scaly reddish-white patches of skin on various parts of the body. These patches may be itchy and painful, or even crack and bleed. It is common for these lesion to locate at the face, neck, elbows, knees, diaper area, and scalp of infant or babies.

It is not recommended to treat baby's psoriasis as adult psoriasis to prevent side effect. As psoriasis in infants often has only mild symptoms, and treatment may not affect the overall course of the disorder. Therefore, it is better to provide a less risk side effect treatment:

avoiding heat and cold if these seem to worsen the rash
keeping the affected areas clean and dry
light therapy
lotions and creams, such as topical corticosteroids and topical vitamin D derivatives
oral medications (not typically recommended for infants)
some exposure to natural sunlight
special moisturizers designed for psoriasis patients

In conclusion, there are different types of serious skin rashes or infection for babies or infant. Furthermore, most of the skin infection are cause by unhygienic environment or received from others. Parents should be more aware and provide a germ-free environment for their children:

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