Very young children became infected in second wave of coronavirus

If elders at home are infected, maximum care should be taken to keep the children away from their contact - Dr. Sheila Iyer

The second wave of Coronavirus disease is creating havoc everywhere and the infection is seen mostly in infants and from children of twelve to thirteen years of age. The infection is most often passed on to them by the adults. Cases have been reported in which a pregnant woman gives birth to a positive baby.

Along with this, the infection has been found mostly in children suffering from diseases like malnutrition, anemia, pneumonia, kidneys since childhood.

A 10-bed pediatric covid facility was set up in the pediatric department which proved to be very useful in intensive indoor treatment of over 23 infected children. Talking about the longest treatment, the treatment of a child with various types of co-diseases lasted for more than three and a half weeks, but when the child finally recovered, it was realized that God had given a bonus to everyone.

A total of 135 children with the possibility of infection were diagnosed in Covid OPD and out of which 71 are tested negative while reports of 64 comes out as positive. 41 out of 64 positive were placed under home treatment as they had very few symptoms. Dr. Sheila Iyer said the remaining 23 children needed more intensive care and being admitted to their special unit because they had more symptoms and co-morbidities. The lives of two of these children, who were also suffering from various co-morbidities, could not be saved despite their best efforts while they were able to send 21 children home healthy and well.

She said children with lesser symptoms often had common symptoms such as colds, coughs and fevers, whose home treatment became possible. One or two children needed to be admitted from the home treatment recommended by the hospital. Giving an example, she said that three children of Manoj Nagarsheth became infected with the virus and one and a half year old child had to be treated as an inpatient while two daughters recovered under home treatment.

Out of the 5 children who needed indoor treatment, they were newborns. Some of these people were infected from the womb while some were infected by the care taker and elders.

Dr. Sheila says it's important to take care of the children at home if they are infected. The effects of infection were more pronounced in children with anemia, malnutrition, and pneumonia. Some children even had blood transfusions. The relief was that 80 to 85 per cent of the infected children recovered from the home treatment.

Normally relatives are not allowed to stay with adult patients due to the nature of the infection in general. But an infant or child patient cannot live without parents or elders. With this in mind, the child treatment department provided accommodation to the patient child along with their parents or elders. For safety arrangements have been made to keep the child with the parent wearing PPE kit.

She said, Of the 23 children who were treated as inpatients, 17 were suffering from malnutrition, low blood pressure, kidney tumors and liver diseases. During this period, 14 children with Multi-Inflammatory Material Syndrome of New Born were also treated in this department.

Treatment of children is more complex than that of adults and requires skill and experience. The Pediatrics Department of Sayaji takes care of the child health through the general and special treatment required throughout the year with great devotion. A new challenge was added to it from the child covid, but the dedicated team of doctors and staff under the experienced leadership of Dr. Sheila Iyer has tackled this challenge positively and saved the lives of pediatric patients.