Food poisoning in a child

Food poisoning in a child is a set of pathological symptoms that occur when eating poisonous or spoiled foods. In medical terminology, there is a definition of "toxic infection", which combines all the causative factors of food poisoning (damage by pathogenic microorganisms, toxins, or a combination of both causes). Since the children's body is still quite weak, even mild poisoning can cause serious damage. Therefore, at the first signs of poisoning, you should immediately give the child first aid.

If the cause of the pathological condition is intestinal infections, then doctors call such poisoning the “disease of dirty hands”, since they are transmitted by contact with dirty objects or hands. Often food intoxication occurs when a child plays with dirty toys.

To provoke an intestinal infection caused by E. coli, can expired or low quality dairy products such as yogurt or kefir. And staphylococci, which are also capable of causing illness, can actively multiply in various cakes or creams. Pathogens can enter the human body along with contaminated foods (unwashed vegetables and fruits, meat products, eggs and chicken meat). Some pathogens are spread by rodents that have had contact with food stored in the basement. If you drink unboiled milk, raw water, eat fermented milk products or berries with vegetables, then dysentery may begin, which will provoke the appearance of signs of food poisoning.

What pathogens can cause poisoning

There are many pathogens that can cause poisoning. Below are the most common ones.

Table. Microorganisms capable of causing food intoxication.

Pathogen	Description
	One of the most common causes of food poisoning. Bacteria enter the body along with poorly washed gadflies or fruits, meat products that have not undergone sufficient heat treatment, and sour-milk products.
	As a rule, people who eat food after processing or preparation by an infected person become infected with this virus.
	Common cause of food poisoning. Pathogens enter the body of a healthy person when eating raw vegetables, fruits or seafood. A feature of Shigella is that when infected, a child may have blood in the stool.
	As a rule, this type of bacteria enters the human body along with unpasteurized milk, poultry, dirty water or meat. Campylobacter, along with infected feces of various animals, enters food.
	Infection with gram-negative bacteria, as in all cases, occurs through the use of contaminated products that have come into contact with animal feces. Also, E. coli poisoning can occur as a result of eating minced meat, which has not been subjected to sufficient heat treatment.

This is not the whole list of pathogens that can cause serious food poisoning. But in most cases, this unpleasant condition can be avoided by observing the rules of personal hygiene and the technology for preparing meat dishes.

Classification of the clinical condition

The clinical manifestation of this pathological condition in a child is divided into several main stages, including latent (not manifested in the form of any signs), toxicogenic and convalescence. Let's consider all these stages in more detail:

asymptomatic. It continues from the moment of infection with a toxin until the first signs of intoxication appear. The duration of the latent period may vary depending on the individual characteristics of the patient and his age, the type of toxic substance, as well as the rate of its absorption;
toxicogenic. It continues from the moment the first symptoms of food poisoning appear until the child's body is completely cleansed of toxic substances. The duration of the toxicogenic stage directly depends on the effectiveness of the treatment, therefore, for a quick recovery, timely identification of the toxic substance and its further elimination is necessary;
convalescence. This is the name of the period of recovery of functions impaired as a result of poisoning. First of all, it concerns the immune, excretory and digestive functions.

Note! Food poisoning in children can be infectious (caused by various microbes and their metabolic products) and non-infectious (occurs against the background of poisoning with poisonous products of animal or vegetable origin).

Characteristic symptoms

With food poisoning, symptoms may not appear immediately after eating a spoiled product. Typically, this may take several hours.

When the intestines are affected by Klebsiella, Escherichia coli and other pathogenic microorganisms, the child has the following symptoms:

bouts of nausea and vomiting;
frequent diarrhea (in rare cases - loose stools with mucus impurities);
temperature rise;
painful sensations in the abdomen, which are acute;
the appearance of cold sweat, which is pronounced on the lower and upper limbs of the child;
loss of appetite or its complete loss;
increased drowsiness, general weakness of the body;
bacterial damage to the body is often accompanied by blanching of the skin, which is noticeable even at elevated body temperature.

Poor appetite is one of the symptoms of poisoning

On a note! If food poisoning is severe, the child may experience more dangerous symptoms, such as toxic shock (lowering blood pressure due to toxic substances). In this case, the patient needs emergency medical care.

First aid

How can I manage or relieve signs of food intoxication in young children? To do this, several key points must be taken into account. First of all, in case of poisoning, you need to cleanse the body of toxins and prevent dehydration providing the patient with a sufficient amount of fluid. Then the body itself will do everything.

Invoking Vomit

At the first sign or even suspicion of food poisoning, the baby's stomach should be washed. Therefore, if nausea occurs, the child should be given boiled water to drink (about 400 ml or as much as he can drink). Such manipulation will allow you to stretch the stomach as much as possible, which will contribute to the occurrence of vomiting. To empty the stomach in older children, it is enough to put two fingers in the mouth to induce vomiting. Parents can help to do this by lightly pressing on the root of the tongue with their fingers.

What is the importance of inducing vomiting early in food poisoning? The fact is that the toxins that have entered the child's body at an early stage will not have time to spread throughout the body along with the blood, which will significantly speed up the healing process. In this case, the very next day the child will lose all the symptoms of poisoning and he will be absolutely healthy.

Use of adsorbents

It is necessary to resort to the use of adsorbing drugs at all stages of poisoning, as they help to neutralize toxins in the gastrointestinal tract. The most effective and common adsorbent used in the treatment of adults and children is "Activated carbon". The dose of the drug is calculated as follows: 1 g of the drug should be taken per 1 kg of the child's weight. But even exceeding the recommended dose will not harm the health of the baby in any way (in the form of side effects, there may only be blackening of the feces).

hunger strike

No less important part of therapy for poisoning than taking adsorbents. As noted earlier, one of the first signs of food poisoning is loss of appetite, so forcing a child to eat is strongly discouraged. On the first day of intoxication, it is useful to starve completely or at least give up several meals. This should help the child, and soon he, feeling relieved, will ask for food himself. But this tactic is not for everyone. Premature babies or infants will not benefit from hungry pauses in case of poisoning.

Drinking regime

If some restrictions must be observed when eating food, then in the drinking regime, the opposite is true. To eliminate the unpleasant symptoms of poisoning, children need to drink plenty of fluids. The fact is that if harmful toxins have already managed to be absorbed into the blood, then they can be “washed out” from the body with a large amount of water: the more liquid a person drinks, the more often urination occurs.

Note! When observing the drinking regime, certain rules must also be observed. For example, the liquid should not be cold. For better distribution throughout the body, you need to drink a liquid that has body temperature. In case of poisoning, it is necessary to offer water to the child very often, approximately every 10-15 minutes. In this case, the liquid must be drunk in small sips, and not in one gulp.

Refusal of self-medication

Proper first aid in case of poisoning is the main task of parents, so all medications can only be used as directed by a doctor. You can not give your child painkillers, antiemetics or antibacterial drugs on your own, as this can not only slow down the healing process, but also harm the health of the baby. Also, taking the above drugs will lead to the elimination of symptoms, according to which the doctor can make an accurate diagnosis.

Diet for poisoning

If on the first day of poisoning it is desirable to refuse food altogether, then throughout the entire therapeutic course the child must follow a special diet, which consists in refusing semi-finished products, sour-milk products or fruit juices.

Also, the following foods should be excluded from the diet:

spicy sauces (ketchup, mustard, adjika, etc.);
sweet carbonated drinks, strong tea and coffee, fruit juices;
fresh vegetables (sorrel, radish, cabbage, radish), berries and sour fruits (apples, cherries, oranges);
various spices, vinegar, horseradish;
pickled, smoked, salty and fried foods;
beans, peas and other legumes;
coarse grinding (corn, pearl barley and others);
dairy products with a high fat content;
fast food, sausages and sausage;
vegetables and mushrooms in any form, canned food;
fatty varieties of fish, poultry or meat;
pickle, borscht and other rich soups and broths;
bakery products (all pastries must be completely excluded from the diet).

Allowed foods for food poisoning include:

light and low-fat broths made from poultry, fish or meat;
soups made from oatmeal, rice or semolina (on the third day after poisoning, they can be boiled with the addition of butter or cream);
boiled chicken, rabbit or veal meat, lean fish;
steamed egg omelettes and soft-boiled eggs;
vegetable oil in small quantities (to improve the taste of cooked dishes);
biscuits, crackers or crackers made from wheat bread;
fruit decoctions, jellies or compotes, natural juices with a small amount of sugar added, dill water and tea with milk (necessarily weak).