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The Department of Paediatric Infectious Diseases is a sub-speciality of Paediatrics and Child Care that focuses on diagnosing, preventing, and treating infections in children from birth to adolescence (below 18 years). These diseases can be caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites. Children are more susceptible to infections than adults as their immune systems are still developing. Parents have unique concerns regarding their child's health during this growing age. At Manipal Hospitals, we have a dedicated team of highly-trained paediatricians and infectious disease specialists who can precisely diagnose and manage paediatric infections. Be it a common illness or some complex health concern - our doctors professionally take care of your infants and children of older age groups. We are the Best Pediatric Infectious Disease Hospital in India
Manipal Hospitals stands out as the premier choice for treating paediatric infectious diseases.
Our Paediatric Infectious Disease Specialists have vast expertise and are equipped with advanced technology to formulate patient-centred treatment methods.
We ensure the availability of state-of-the-art diagnostic tests for the evaluation and management of prolonged fever.
Comprehensive care is provided to infants and children with a spectrum of common infectious diseases in children.
Close collaboration with experts from other departments including neonatologists, intensivists, pulmonologists, neurologists, etc.
Our medical team works on preventative care and outlines immunisation schedules for children to reduce infectious diseases.
This all-inclusive approach guarantees that your child receives the most effective and thorough care for infectious diseases. All these factors make Manipal Hospitals, the Best Pediatric Infectious Disease Hospital in India.
Tuberculosis is most commonly known as TB. It is a severe infectious disease primarily caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. This condition mainly affects the lungs. If untreated for long, it can spread to other body parts as well.
Your child can contract TB by inhaling infected air exhaled by an affected person. Simple coughing, sneezing, singing, or even talking can sweep the air with bacteria. Unlike adults, children may not show the classic symptoms of TB - this makes it even harder to diagnose. However, our expert team of paediatric infectious diseases note all symptoms in your little ones and recommends tests to diagnose TB as early as possible so that the treatment can be initiated right after.
Treatment
If your child is diagnosed with drug-resistant TB, a combination of antibiotics will be recommended.
The exact duration of the treatment depends on two factors:
How severe is the infection
If the infection has spread to other body parts
In most cases, our paediatric infectious disease specialists follow a 6-month combination therapy. If the infection has affected the membranes around the brain and spinal cord (tuberculous meningitis), the treatment may last a little longer – around a year. In these cases, your child may need to undergo corticosteroids and antibiotics.
Please note that some drugs may have a few side effects. Our expert team of medical professionals will guide you through that.
Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB) has relatives called non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM). These are an array of bacteria that do not usually cause highly infectious TB. If your child has a compromised immune system, their stake of getting diagnosed with NTM is higher. Predisposed lung conditions are also another susceptible factor.
Environmental factors, like soil, water, or dust, contribute heavily to these infections. Lack of proper hygiene, consuming contaminated food, or coming in contact with harmful toxins will increase the risks.
The most common symptoms are:
Cough that lasts longer than 3 weeks
Fever
Night sweats
Fatigue
Weight loss
These signs are a lot like respiratory illnesses, making the diagnosis of this condition is often quite challenging. Oftentimes, doctors follow a combination of methods to identify NTM, including:
Chest X-ray or CT scan
Sputum or blood tests
Bronchoscopy
Biopsy
Treatment
The treatment methods for these conditions vary depending on the specific pathogen. They usually follow an antimicrobial therapy. For example,
Antibiotics for bacterial infections
Antiviral medications for viral infections
Antifungal medications for fungal infections
Antiparasitic drugs for parasitic infections
The course of a specific treatment plan can last for months or even years. The duration depends on how critical your child’s condition is. Other supportive care measures that can assist in the management of these issues include proper hydration, keeping track of fever, pain relief, etc.
Our experienced child specialists also include dedicated therapies to treat the condition better, such as – Respiratory therapy, Nutritional support, Pain management, and Psychological support.
Remember when your child had a runny nose or some rashes? These are all part of the umbrella term General Paediatric Infections. They are highly prevalent, especially during the first few years of your child’s age.
Common paediatric infections a child can get include:
Upper Respiratory Infections (URIs)
Common cold
Sinusitis
These conditions show symptoms like runny nose, congestion, fever, cough, headache, etc.
Gastrointestinal Infections
Facing problems with digestion
It may cause diarrhoea, stomach ache, vomiting, or even fever.
Skin Infections
These infections manifest as rashes, blisters, sores, boils, etc., on your kid’s skin.
Treatment:
Treatment for common paediatric infections focuses on relieving the symptoms. The treatment plan may involve medications, topical or oral antimicrobial agents, etc. Antibiotics, Antiviral medicines, and Antifungal medicines are the most commonly prescribed drugs. Doctors also prescribe rest, hydration, and monitoring of the symptoms.
As a topical mode of treatment for skin infections, creams, and ointments are recommended. For more severe conditions, the doctor may recommend hospitalisation and intravenous antibiotics.
Respiratory infections affect the airways, sinuses, lungs, or throat. Caused by bacteria, fungi, and viruses, respiratory infections are more common in children because of their weak immune systems. Upper Respiratory Tract Infections impact the nose, sinuses, and throat. Lower Respiratory Tract Infections spread to the lungs and airways. This causes acute respiratory distress and even results in life-threatening complexities.
Complications related to complex respiratory infections are:
Pus accumulation beside the lungs
Pus-filled cavities in the lungs. This also inflames the surrounding tissues.
Inflamed sinus cavities in the skull
Tissue infection around the eye and eye socket
Accumulation of pus and bacteria behind the eyes
Ear inflammation
The most common signs of these infections are:
A persistent fever
Headache
Swelling in the mid-forehead
Cough with foul-smelling sputum
Bulging eyes
Red eyes
Impaired eye movements
Eye pain
Drainage from ear infection
Breathing problems
Treatment
The most effective treatment for these conditions is antibiotic therapy, which is followed by a comprehensive diagnostic approach. The dosage or type will depend on the identified pathogen of the infection. Taking the right antibiotics in the full course is necessary for fighting bacterial infections. In case of a viral disease, the doctor recommends adequate rest. For fungal infections, your child will be prescribed antifungal medicines.
In addition to that, hospitalisation along with the administration of oxygen therapy, bronchodilators, and respiratory support from time to time may also help deal with the worst cases of respiratory distress. Keep in mind that vaccinations remain a core prevention strategy against respiratory viruses.
Infections can spread to various organs and cause complications. These infections include:
Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs): A bacterial infection that targets your child’s urinary system. It causes a burning sensation while urinating, frequent urination, and abdominal pain.
Chest Infections: Bacteria in the bloodstream can lead to heart valves or muscle infections (Infective Endocarditis/Pericarditis/Rheumatic fever) with symptoms of breathing trouble, fatigue, fever, chest pain, etc.
Bone and Joint Infections: Bacteria in the bloodstream can also infect the joints and bones (Osteomyelitis/Septic Arthritis), resulting in pain, inability to move the infected limbs, swelling, etc.
Brain Infections: Infections affect the membranes and tissue that surround the brain and cord of the spine (Meningitis/Encephalitis/Brain Abscess). Look for indications such as rapid seizures, headache, vomiting, fever, confusion, etc.
Soft Tissue Infections: These affect the skin and its underlying soft tissues (Cellulitis/Abscess/Necrotising Fasciitis). It can manifest in swelling, redness, a warm feeling in the infected region, pain, etc.
Liver Abscesses: It causes the accumulation of pus in the liver. Lower abdominal pain, nausea, and fever indicate its presence.
Orbital Cellulitis: A tissue infection around the eye that causes redness, pain, swelling, etc. It can lead to vision problems if left untreated.
Experienced paediatric infectious disease specialists at Manipal Hospitals take a multifaceted approach to diagnosing and treating these conditions. The first step is checking your kids' medical history along with family history and tests. In case the disease remains undetected, imaging studies will be conducted. If the doctors suspect brain infections, your child may need to undergo a spinal tap.
Treatment:
The treatment approach for these infections depends on the type, area, and severity of your child’s infection. Usually, antimicrobial therapy is the first line of treatment for most infections. This is often followed by supportive care measures such as drainage of abscesses, surgical intervention, and rehabilitation as needed.
Tropical diseases are a broad category of diseases common in tropical and subtropical localities. For example, mosquitoes cause malaria and dengue, tainted animal products spread the bacterial infection brucellosis, and ticks, mites, or fleas transmit the bacterial infection rickettsial. To reduce the impact of these diseases on people and the community at large, thorough preventative measures, early detection, and appropriate medical therapies are all important.
Treatment
Tropical medicine has developed into a crucial field for studying these infectious diseases.
The doctor often prescribes drugs to treat malaria. However, if there is drug resistance to particular parasites, medication combinations are used to provide the best possible outcomes. Brucellosis is known as nonspecific bacteraemia, which results in low mortality rates, with only 2% of those afflicted dying of it. Antibiotics are often prescribed to treat this condition. Similarly, antibiotics also help manage other tropical illnesses such as Rickettsial Infection. Dengue is managed with temperature management using medications, hydration, and painkillers.
Supportive care is just as important as symptomatic therapy and observation for these tropical diseases in children. Our doctors will ensure your child receives the best possible care while they’re unwell and are admitted at our centre.
Congenital infections affect the foetus in the uterus or the newborn child due to viruses that first infect the mother, who may then transmit them to the child. Your baby can catch these diseases at any point from conception till delivery. However, infections during the first trimester are riskier.
Congenital infections are contracted through 3 primary routes.
Transplacental Transmission: Viruses travel through the placenta from the mother’s bloodstream and infect the foetus.
Birth Canal Transmission: It occurs during vaginal delivery because of exposure to viruses in the birth canal.
Postnatal Transmission: A newborn child is highly delicate. Thus, any contagious virus from the mother or other caregivers can easily make contact with the baby shortly after birth.
Mothers usually don’t have any symptoms of the infections. They may occasionally exhibit flu-like signs. Also, if the mother’s immune system is strong enough and they suffer from a viral infection while pregnant, the foetus or newborn child may not get the virus.
A child becomes the most vulnerable in the presence of the following viruses:
Cytomegalovirus (CMV)
Herpes simplex virus (HSV)
Toxoplasmosis
Rubella
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
Congenital infections can lead to complications in terms of baby’s development, birth defects, like delay in development or small hand size, foetal anaemia, congenital varicella syndromes, cataracts, heart issues, and deafness. This is why it is very important to stay under continuous monitoring of your doctor. These infections can be identified during pregnancy through Prenatal screening tests, Amniocentesis or Chorionic Villus Sampling (CVS), and Blood tests and Urine tests of the newborn after birth.
Treatment
The treatment approach may involve a combination of medical management and supportive care measures to prevent complications. Doctors often recommend continuous follow-up and monitoring of your kid’s health to ensure safety.
Antiviral drugs may enhance developmental outcomes for infants who exhibit congenital CMV illness at birth. For congenital herpes, antiviral drugs will be administered intravenously (via an IV) for a few weeks. Toxoplasmosis medications for infants may extend for 1 to 2 years along with regular follow-up and monitoring. Rubella can be managed with supportive treatment – oxygen therapy or surgery for heart defects, if necessary. The outcome for a child who has congenital rubella depends on the severity of the problems present.
As a Sexually Transmitted Illness (STI), HIV is spread through sexual contact, sharing needles, touching infected blood while expecting, giving birth, or nursing a baby where it passes from mother to kid. HIV treatment involves medications, and antiretroviral therapy (ARV), along with close monitoring and care.
Hospital-acquired infections or HAIs are also called nosocomial infections. As implied by the name, they can infect a kid from a hospital – it can either be during one’s (or a family member’s) stay in the hospital or due to exposure to infectious elements in the medical facility.
The most common types of infections are:
Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs)
Surgical Site Infections
Pneumonia
Gastroenteritis
Treatment
Doctors generally recommend antibiotics/antivirals and bed rest to treat these conditions. However, depending on the type and severity of the infection, the treatment method will also vary. They will remove any kind of foreign device from the kid’s body, such as a catheter, if an infection is detected during the course of his/her admission. The paediatrician will also encourage proper hydration and a healthy diet.
Immunocompromised and immunodeficient children are at a higher risk of getting affected with infections. The causes can be underlying medical issues or treatments that have impacted your child’s immune system.
The most common contributing factors to such infections are:
Cystic fibrosis
HIV/AIDS
Cancer
Medicines used after organ transplants
Autoimmune disease treatments
Genetic conditions
The most usual infections among immunocompromised and immunodeficient children are:
UTIs
Pneumonia
Ear infection
Skin infection
Influenza
Cytomegalovirus (CMV)
Fungal infections
Parasitic infections
Treatment
Depending on the kid’s immune function, our Paediatric Infectious Disease specialists will prescribe an appropriate dosage of antibiotics. Other than that, they will also guide the family to include proper diet and exercises to make the child’s immune system stronger. This ensures a lesser possibility of recurring infections.
Chronic immunodeficiency requires your child to undergo constant preventive measures and treatment. You must also ensure timely vaccinations to protect your child against preventable diseases.
At Manipal Hospitals, we acknowledge the value of immunisation. Our vaccination programme accommodates multiple needs, including catch-up immunisations and unique circumstances like immunodeficiency.
Vaccination in Special Situations
The vaccination program at Manipal Hospitals provides care for special situations. They are specially meant for kids with immunodeficiency conditions, such as those undergoing chemotherapy, organ transplant recipients, or individuals with congenital immunodeficiency disorders. The program offers a targeted approach, ensuring the timely administration of appropriate vaccines to strengthen their immunity.
Catch-up Vaccinations
The Catch-up Vaccination Program at Manipal Hospitals bridges the immunisation gaps in children who have missed or delayed their routine vaccinations. It is designed to ensure that they receive all the necessary vaccines to ensure protection from preventable diseases. The program follows national and international immunisation guidelines, tailoring the schedule based on the individual's age, medical history, and risk factors.
