Building Immunity In Children To Fight Any Disease

Why wait for an infection to arrive to test the immunity, especially that of kids? ETV Bharat Sukhibhava was in conversation with Dr. Ira Almeida- a Senior Pediatrician at Hospicio Hospital, Margao Goa, and a Member of The Task Force and she shared insightful information about building immunity in kids.

Importance of exercise, sleep, diet.

Exercise and sleep are two important areas that help build up your immunity. Adequate sleep and regular exercise regimes should be advocated by parents. Outdoor exercise is difficult in a pandemic but we should find ways to continue physical activity. Children can be encouraged to do skipping at home or some sort of exercise at home or going on the terrace and playing etc. The concern now is that the pandemic has kept people indoors for so long that there will be a burst of lifestyle diseases in a few years particularly diabetes, and PCOS in young girls, due to inactivity and altered hormone regulation.

Nutritional Issues

Malnutrition presents as overnutrition in the wealthy or the affluent but as undernutrition in the underprivileged because they have no access to the Anganwadi supplementary foods and the loss of the mid-day school meal. Children have suffered due to lack of transport in lockdowns, parent incomes have suffered and these kids are now presenting with nutritional deficiencies, be it an iron deficiency, protein deficiency, or other vitamin deficiencies. In them, we would use vitamins more rather than for the privileged children. Vitamins as a routine medicationarenot recommended.

Multisystem inflammatory syndromein children

Though there have been cases of MISc trickling in, so far, the outcomes have been good. The key is early detection and referral. There must be timely referral before the children go into a shock.

Common symptoms which could be warning signs in a child are:

1. History of COVID earlier.
2. Fever that is persisting or high grade and not responding to medicine
3. If the kid presents with red eyes, red lips, involvement of mucous membrane
4. Rash
5. Unexplained drowsiness
6. Unable to stand
7. Breathlessness

For other atypical symptoms or any symptom that is persisting longer than usual, it is advisable to seek help. Practitioners in all healthcare settings have already been sensitized about this.

Childhood is also the time when maximum eruptive fevers are occurring therefore as a rule, during this pandemic, parents should seek medical assistance to confirm the diagnosis. Many a time child has had an asymptomatic COVID infection, in which case a history of COVID may not be forthcoming. Hence, for any redness of eyes, mouth, fever, parents should consult the doctor.

On deworming and vaccinations

They should be carried out as per the regular schedule. Deworming should be done as recommended. Even during the pandemic, Anganwadi and schools have contacted parents for collecting the deworming medication. It is only those children who are not enrolled in the Anganwadi or the schools are the ones who are missed out.

It is very heartening to see a reduction in pediatric infections. It is only the neonates who are being brought in for their routine checkups.

Parents should make use of other ways of incidental learning where the child can learncolors, numbers, math, science when involved in other activities. Creating a memory wall with cutouts or crafts or small DIY tasks or involve the child in creating a kitchen garden or a nice pathway to the house, coloring pebbles,etc. are some suggested activities. These can serve as cherishing lockdown memories for the child.