Common Childhood Illnesses and Illness Prevention in Children

Thanks to vaccines, illness prevention in children has made great advancements. Chickenpox and other illnesses like whooping cough are now a worry of the past. However, illness prevention is not yet a perfect science. Even simple colds are still hard to avoid.

For colds, illness prevention starts with hand washing. The same is true for pinkeye prevention. Pinkeye is primarily transmitted by touching shared objects, so hand washing is critical.

Illness prevention of earaches and ear infections may be more difficult. Children of smokers tend to suffer unnecessary earaches, so remember to keep your kids away from cigarette smoke.

Tonsillitis is spread through sneezing and coughing, so by teaching your child to sneeze into the arm, the illness may be contained.

Flu illness prevention is possible through seasonal flu vaccines. All children should get the flu vaccine every year because serious complications can arise; the flu can be fatal, particularly in asthmatic or diabetic children.

Fifth disease or parvovirus B19 is very common and is generally diagnosed by the appearance of red cheeks. Illness prevention of fifth disease is possible through rigorous hand washing, but it is usually not a serious illness and goes away within five days.

Illness prevention of croup in young children is doable by making sure that they avoid other children with the illness. Croup sounds like a harsh barking cough but it is generally not serious and goes away within a matter of days.