Roseola, also known as infant roseola, is a contagious disease that mainly affects infants and children from 3 months to 2 years, causing symptoms such as sudden high fever up to 40oC, decreased appetite and irritability, which can last between 3 and 4 days. – followed by small pink spots on the child’s skin, especially on the torso, neck and arms, which may or may not cause itching
This infection is caused by certain types of herpes viruses, such as herpes humano viruses type 6 and 7, echovirus 16, adenovirus, among others, which are transmitted by droplets of saliva, so although infection with the same virus does not occur more than once, it is possible to get roseola more than once if the child becomes infected with a different virus each time.
- Despite uncomfortable symptoms.
- Roseola is usually benign.
- Causes no complications and cures on its own; however.
- Your pediatrician may prescribe treatment to relieve your child’s symptoms.
- Such as antihistamine ointments to relieve itching or acetaminophen to control fever.
The roseola lasts about 7 days and its symptoms appear in the following order:
The child may or may not have itchy skin and patches. Other symptoms that may occur in a case of roseola include loss of appetite, cough, nasal discharge, redness of the throat, lumps throughout the body or diarrhea.
The pediatrician’s assessment is very important to confirm the diagnosis of roseola, and this is done by checking the symptomatology of the child so that, if necessary, tests can be performed to confirm it, since there are several situations that cause fever and reddish spots in a child. .
Roseola is spread by contact with another contaminated child’s saliva when talking, kissing, coughing, sneezing or playing with saliva-contaminated toys, and this can happen even before skin patches appear. Symptoms usually appear after 5 to 15 days of contagion, at a time when viruses settle and multiply.
This infection is usually not transmitted to adults because most people have defenses against roseola, even if they have never had the disease, but an adult may get roseola if their immune system is weakened. It is also rare for a pregnant woman to become infected with roseola virus and develop the disease during pregnancy, however, even if infected, there are no complications for the fetus.
Roseola is benign and usually naturally cured. Treatment is indicated by the pediatrician and involves controlling symptoms of the disease, mainly using acetaminophen or dipirone to reduce fever to prevent febrile seizures.
In addition to medications, there are other measures that can help control fever, such as:
Following these guidelines, the fever should go down a little without having to resort to medications, but the child should be monitored several times a day to see if he or she has a fever, avoiding day care or contact with other children during the disease.
Another way to help treat and reduce fever is ash tea, as it has antipyretic properties.