What is infection?
Infection is entry of an organism into the body followed by its multiplication and production of toxins that may lead to a disease.
If we think of the world around us as a river of living organisms surrounding us then we can see it is not very hard to get infected. About 10 million of people around the world died of infectious diseases in 2010 and the number is rising drastically. Your kid is not aware of this hostility of organisms and can easily get infected various ways.
So how kids get infected?
Our immunity is developed gradually over time, that is the reason behind kids being infected faster than adults, as their immunity is lower than in adults.
There are 3 major sources of infection:
- Human
- Animals
- Contaminated objects (which get contaminated by either human or animals!)
The ways your kids are being infected:
- By respiratory droplets excreted through coughing, sneezing of an infected person, e.g., respiratory infections like bronchitis, sinusitis etc.
- By eating contaminated food or drinking contaminated water (the reason behind most of the gastrointestinal infections). Kids are always eager to eat street foods and other junk foods, fizzy drinks that may appear very hygienic, but you never know whether it is contaminated during processing.
- The fruit you are giving your kid can be a source of infection as well if not washed properly.
- By directly touching the contaminated skin; of an infected animal or human; e.g. handshaking, kissing; touching contaminated objects like doorknobs, shoes. This is also followed by ingestion of the organisms as they often forget to wash their hands before eating.
- By different vectors such as mosquitoes, flies, cockroaches e.g. dengue, malaria.
- Some organism can be present in the shower, toilet seat or bath-tub if it's not cleaned regularly (moist environment favours organism growth). So the chance of getting infected is there during bathing too!
- Transmission of infection can occur through the ventilation system, e.g. chicken pox, TB, measles.
Some common infectious diseases are:
- Diarrhoea caused by bacteria and virus
- Dengue
- Hepatitis
- Urinary tract infections
- Meningitis
- Sore throat
- Typhoid
- Common cold
- Tuberculosis
- Sinusitis
These diseases may cause severe damage to the growth and development of your kid even after being treated. It is better to try to not get infected than treating infections. It’s a good idea to educate your kids about what the infection is, its effects on the body and how to prevent it.