Fifth Disease in Kids
Being a mother instantly gives you the position of being the family doctor. Thus, you must be aware of the conditions that might attack your family at any time, especially if you still have kids because they do not know when something is wrong with them until they feel weak. There are so many conditions that target the younger population and one of them is Fifth disease. Kids who are suffering from this condition are infected by the human parvovirus B19.
Since it affects the younger ones, it is your duty to be very observant about the changes so that when you seek professional assistance, you can accurately give an account of the development. It is not very easy to detect Fifth disease. Kids, at times, do not show signs of its presence. The common symptoms that are usually associated with it may or may not manifest. In cases that they do, the patient may suffer from headache, runny nose, sore throat, a low-grade fever and after a week, or sometimes longer, rashes may begin appearing.
When the rash appears, you should be very patient for it could give your child so much discomfort as it would be very itchy, especially when exposed to the sun or too much heat. It usually begins showing around the cheeks, making them quite bulky and reddish. After some time, it would spread to the arms and legs and could even advance to the buttocks or trunks. It may come and go for some weeks, so just bear with your child.
The transmission of the virus within a household would be very fast. One infected member could easily contaminate the whole family because of the intimacy among them. Once acquired, there would be an incubation period of about 21 days before the first symptoms will appear. This is why; when anyone feels any of the above symptoms, you must be extra careful and do not let the kids near that person since they can easily be infected. It is important to take action at once because when the rash appears, it means that the contagion period is over and it could be that the virus has already been passed to someone else.
Fifth disease in kids may not be as alarming as other conditions but it is still a burden to see your child suffer. So, be very keen about everything that is happening so that you can detect even the first signs of its presence to prevent it from spreading and to find treatment for it immediately.
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