Natural Health and Herbal Remedies Blog

IF YOUR CHILD HAS A COMMUNICABLE DISEASE

In caring for a child with a contagious disease, you must protect others from catching it, including yourself, unless you know you are immune. Precautions vary in different diseases, and health department regulations also vary. In general, the following minimum precautions should be observed.

Precautions

Read Chapter 6 for further information about communicable diseases.

Keep the patient away from others for as long as your doctor says it is necessary. If you have other children, be particularly careful not to let them go into the sick child’s room. Because they were probably exposed to the disease while he was coming down with it, ask your doctor about protective shots.

Many diseases are spread by the saliva, so be sure to do the following: (1) Leave a smock or long apron in the patient’s room and slip it on over your clothes while you are with him. (2) Turn your face away when he coughs or sneezes. (3) Keep your hands away from your mouth. (4) Wash your hands thoroughly with soap and very hot water when you have finished attending to him.

Masks over mouth and nose should be worn only at the doctor’s request, since they may frighten sick children.

If the child is too sick to do so himself, place all used cleansing tissues in a paper bag that can be pinned to the side of his mattress, and then either burn the bag or shake the contents into the toilet. In most children’s diseases, the patient’s linens can be washed with those of the family in plenty of very hot water, and so can his dishes.

Special precautions are required for diphtheria, poliomyelitis, smallpox, typhoid fever, and dysentery, if you must care for someone with one of these diseases at home. Ask your doctor about them.

After the child is well, clean the room thoroughly and put the blankets, mattress, books, and other objects in the sun for a few hours. All badly soiled objects should be cleaned or destroyed.

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