Lulu, a 7-year-old girl, was hospitalized by her parents because she had been coughing for a month. At first, Lulu only coughed lightly 2-3 times. The family thought that the child was suffering from a cold and coughing caused by a cold.
After two weeks of delay, Lulu coughed more than a dozen times in a row, and retorted one after another. The child's little face was flushed, and his little fists were clenched tightly when he coughed. There were no cramps, but there was some wheezing. Parents think that the child is too weak and the cold medicine he takes has no effect, so it leads to a stubborn cough.
The first time I went to the doctor, the results of the laboratory tests showed normal white blood cells and an elevated percentage of lymphocytes. The doctor treated the child symptomatically and prescribed some anti-susceptibility particles and nebulization programs. Parents thought they could cure the disease. After a week, however, the child coughed less often, but the phlegm was thick, wheezing, and even spit out when coughing.
Later, the doctor gave Lulu a chest X-ray, blood tests and a whooping cough nucleic acid test, which showed that the child was infected with whooping cough.
When the parents heard the doctor's words, they broke out in a cold sweat: "Lulu is an older child and has been vaccinated before, so we don't think about it at all." I thought it was a cold and cough, and it almost hurt her! ”
How long does it take for a cough caused by a cold to heal?
Recently, the National Influenza Center for Disease Control and Prevention released the 52nd week of the "Influenza Surveillance Weekly Report". Influenza levels remain high in the North and South. Moreover, the proportion of influenza B shows a sustained and steady upward trend.
In this season when the common cold, influenza A and influenza B are common, many children may have a severe cough and slow recovery. Sometimes the fever is no longer and the body is slowly recovering, but the cough is not good. So what should we do?
Generally speaking, the time point of 2 weeks is a judgment standard with a certain reference value. According to research, acute upper respiratory tract infection is a self-limiting virus that causes cough symptoms that last an average of 14 days.
As long as it is within these 2 weeks, all aspects of the body are constantly recovering and tending to be better. Even if the cough lasts a little longer than 2 weeks, it is not a big problem. At this time, the patient goes to the hospital for examination, and the doctor will also tell you to wait for observation and come for a follow-up if there is a problem.
At this stage, instead of direct medication, the doctor will also recommend us to use some auxiliary measures to relieve throat discomfort, such as letting children take honey in their mouths, drink more pear soup, etc.
However, 24% of children coughed for 14 days and did not recover. About 90% of people cough for 25 days to resolve. Therefore, due to various reasons such as a weak body foundation and a severe degree of co-infection of respiratory viruses, it is normal for a cough to be relieved after 2-4 weeks.
So, how long is a cough bad is an abnormal condition that deserves our attention?
The first is that the cough lasts for 2 weeks and there are other respiratory infection symptoms that are getting worse. For example, if you have a runny nose all the time and have a fever reaction. This shows that it is no longer suitable for calm observation and waiting at this time, and you need to seek medical attention quickly.
Second, they have a persistent cough for more than 2-4 weeks and have some underlying medical conditions, such as chronic lung disease, weakened immune system caused by illness or medication. The cough is not good, and if you blindly drag it out, you will consume yourself.
The frightening cough is the "disguised" result of a cold, but more deadly.
We have just analyzed the situation and determined that the cough is caused by a cold. But the scary thing is that there is a disease that behaves very similar to the cold, but it is very dangerous. If we ignore the real lesions, the body can pay a huge price! It's whooping cough.
01 Pertussis is making a comeback.
Whether it is the latest version of the pediatric infectious disease textbook or the general perception of everyone, it is believed that whooping cough has left us. But the reality is that its incidence has increased significantly. Experts use the term reemergence of pertussis as a reminder that we need to pay attention to its comeback.
02 How dangerous is whooping cough?
How dangerous is whooping cough? First of all, it is extremely contagious, with an R0 value of up to 12-17, which belongs to category B infectious diseases. Speaking of which, many people don't have a sense of reality. So let me add to you, the new crown, hepatitis B, and AIDS are also Class B infectious diseases!
In addition, its consequences are critical. Don't think it's just a cough for 100 days. For little babies under 4 months of age, whooping cough can be fatal. They often can't cough and can't make a sound, and the specific manifestations are just blushing, wanting to vomit, etc. At the same time, bradycardia,** and mucous membranes may become bluish-purple. Once the condition is delayed and you go to the hospital for examination, you have already developed serious complications such as pneumonia, encephalopathy, hypoglycemia, etc., and may also die due to serious secondary infection!
Finally, whooping cough is also very confusing. Bacillus pertussis, Mycoplasma pneumoniae and a variety of respiratory viral infections can cause pertussis infection in children, and the course of the disease is divided into catarrhal phase, spasmodic cough phase, and recovery phase. In the first stage, the main symptoms are cough, runny nose, low-grade fever, etc., which are especially similar to cold symptoms, and many parents are easy to ignore! It is not until other symptoms gradually disappear and the child's cough gets worse and worse, and there are spasms, vomiting, and inhalation sounds that the adult realizes that something is wrong.
03 What are some common misconceptions?
First of all, what many people don't know is that the immunity produced due to natural infection is high enough to be long-lasting. So before the diphtheria-pertussis vaccine came out, those who had pertussis would hardly get sick again. According to studies, the best immune protection produced by the vaccine injection is only about 5 years. Once the immunity is weakened, it is still possible to be reinfected.
In addition, there are infectious agents that are easily overlooked. Some older children are also susceptible to transmission to children. Even according to studies, some mild** patients infected with whooping cough have a typical spastic cough without a chicken-like echo, which can also be transmitted to children.
Therefore, many parents feel that their children have been vaccinated against diphtheria, tetanus, te When I meet a child who has a bad cough, I don't think of whooping cough, and that's the problem! **Infections, mild infections abound!
One last word of caution. Cough is not a disease, but a manifestation of it. We need to find the right one. The cough caused by a cold is not good, and it is necessary to make a follow-up judgment based on many aspects. It's not right to leave it alone or binge on cough medicine. At the same time, you should also pay attention to distinguish those coughs that are disguised as colds, so as not to miss the real health culprit!
Reference: Weekly Influenza Surveillance Report
duration of symptoms of respiratory tract infections in children: systematic review，bmj 2013;347:f7027 doi: 10.1136/bmj.f7027
A multicenter clinical investigation of pertussis in children with persistent cough