Egg drop soup is used to describe the characteristics of stool: Do you know what disease it is a manifestation of?

Author: Chen Dianjie, Fifth Medical Center, PLA General Hospital

Reviewer: Zhang Xin, Deputy Chief Physician, Fifth Medical Center, PLA General Hospital

There are also many vivid and common professional terms in the medical field, such as "egg drop stool", which describes white rice soup-like or yellow-green watery stool.

Figure 1 The picture is from the TV series "The Great Pediatrician"

This way of describing feces using food is accurate and appropriate yet reveals a hint of "heresy".

In order not to ruin the beautiful egg drop soup in many people's minds, we will not introduce egg drop soup in detail. Let's focus on a common digestive tract infectious disease in autumn and winter - rotavirus infectious diarrhea.

Rotavirus diarrhea is common in infants and young children aged 6 to 24 months, especially in infants and young children aged 12 to 17 months.

If a child shows the following symptoms, he or she may be suspected of being infected with rotavirus: high fever of 38.5~40.0℃, which lasts for 1~2 days; severe diarrhea, about 10 times a day, with high water content in the stool and a yellow-green egg drop soup-like appearance (this is the last time egg drop soup is mentioned in this article, the editor swears to God).

This virus is highly contagious, there is no specific medicine, and the younger the infected person is, the more severe the symptoms tend to be.

The clinical manifestation of rotavirus infection is acute gastroenteritis. The infected person may have no clinical symptoms at mild level or suffer from severe dehydration or even death at severe level.

Figure 2 (copyright image from the gallery, unauthorized reproduction)

Scientific hydration

Rotavirus gastroenteritis is a self-limiting disease, which means that after it develops to a certain extent, the body can control the development of the disease and gradually recover.

However, this seemingly less serious disease is the second leading cause of emergency visits and deaths among children in my country, after respiratory infections.

The main cause of severe illness and death is dehydration caused by vomiting and diarrhea.

Dehydration refers not only to the loss of water, but also the loss of electrolytes. Its early manifestations include dry mouth, decreased urine volume, sunken eye sockets, etc. Some breastfeeding children will drink milk continuously, which is actually a manifestation of thirst. Once these conditions occur, you should go to the hospital for examination.

If a child with diarrhea has repeated high fever, abdominal distension, poor spirits, skin patterns, or severe diarrhea, frequent vomiting, inability to eat, obvious oliguria, or anuria, he or she also needs to go to the hospital for treatment in time.

If the child's vomiting and diarrhea are not very serious, oral rehydration salts can be given to prevent the child from dehydration and acidosis.

It is important to note that hydration cannot be achieved simply by swallowing water.

Children who have diarrhea only drink boiled water or purified water to replenish water, which is not only difficult to absorb, but also easy to cause water intoxication and edema. Drinking sugary drinks (soda, sugar water, undiluted fruit juice, etc.) and sports drinks rich in electrolytes may aggravate diarrhea symptoms.

Figure 3 (copyright image from the gallery, no permission to reprint)

Child care

In terms of diet, children who have already started to add complementary foods should temporarily stop and only eat breast milk; if the child is not breastfed, they should be given liquid food such as milk and rice soup to facilitate digestion and absorption. After the child gradually recovers, the liquid food will be transitioned to semi-liquid food and finally to normal diet. Those with severe vomiting should wait until the condition improves before eating.

Viruses can destroy the normal ecological balance of intestinal flora, so some probiotic preparations and microbial preparations that can help curb harmful bacteria should be given. The specific dosing arrangements should be followed according to the doctor's advice.

Figure 4 (copyright image from the gallery, unauthorized reproduction)

Parents should also pay attention to the anal care of children with diarrhea. Diapers should be changed in time to keep the skin around the anus clean and dry. The buttocks and perineum should be washed with warm water after each bowel movement. It is best to use infant wet wipes after defecation. When wiping the stool for baby girls, wipe from front to back. For children with red buttocks, the buttocks can be exposed to the air and then coated with tannic acid ointment.

Disinfection and Isolation

Rotavirus is sensitive to heat and general disinfectants, and can be inactivated by ether, chloroform, and protease. It can also be inactivated by heating at 50°C for 15 minutes.

Parents of children with rotavirus-infected diarrhea should carry out home disinfection and isolation, and use disinfectant, high-temperature disinfection, exposure to the sun and other corresponding methods to disinfect different daily necessities. Children and parents also need to pay attention to hand hygiene. Parents should wash their hands with running water and soap before and after contact with children.

Immunization

At present, about 10 million children in my country suffer from rotavirus gastroenteritis every year, accounting for 1/4 of the total number of children.

Oral attenuated live rotavirus vaccine can prevent rotavirus infection. The main targets are infants and children aged 2 months to 5 years. Although rotavirus vaccine cannot completely prevent rotavirus infection, the symptoms after infection will be milder. Vaccination is the most economical and effective means to prevent rotavirus infectious diarrhea.