How to distinguish a viral infection in a child from a bacterial one?

If a child is sick, it is very important to distinguish a viral infection from a bacterial infection in time, because they require a different approach to treatment and mistakes in therapy can be expensive. The final diagnosis, of course, remains for the doctor, but parents must have at least basic knowledge in order to be able to provide first aid to the child in time. How to distinguish a viral infection from a bacterial infection, we will tell in this material.

The main difference between a viral illness and a bacterial disease lies in the pathogen itself. Viral diseases are caused by viruses, bacterial diseases are caused by bacteria. With respect to childhood diseases, especially in the cold period of the year, it is the viral illnesses most common - the flu, ARVI. Famous pediatrician Yevgeny Komarovsky claims that 95% of all cases of childhood morbidity with respiratory and general manifestations (runny nose, cough, fever) are exclusively of viral origin.

• Viruses can not exist anywhere and as necessary, they are quite capricious in choosing a place of deployment. Usually, each of the viral infections has its own localization, its place of replication of the pathogen virus. In the case of influenza, at the first stage, the virus infects only the cells of the ciliated epithelium of the upper respiratory tract, in hepatitis, only the liver cells, and in the case of rotavirus infection, the pathogen is activated exclusively in the small intestine.
• Bacteria are less whimsical. They begin to multiply where there is already a defeat. When the cut starts to fester, the wound, when bacteria enters the larynx, if the integrity of the mucous membranes is broken, begins a strong purulent inflammation of the pharynx and larynx, for example, with bacterial sore throat. The bacterium can spread throughout the body, "settling" where local immunity is reduced.

• Often a bacterial infection is a complication of a virus. If at first the child fell ill with the flu, and after a few days after a slight improvement, he again became very ill, it is possible that the immunity, greatly weakened by the fight against the virus, “overlooked” the activation of the pathogenic bacterium and a bacterial complication began. The younger the child, the weaker his immune protection, the more likely complications of viral infection may occur. Also the chances of complications increases the wrong treatment.
• A virus striking a child always causes specific antibodies to be produced in its body.. Antibodies to bacteria are also produced, but they are not resistant. That is why some viral ailments children get sick only once in their lives, for example, chickenpox. Bacterial infections can get sick as many times as many times as infection will occur.
• Viruses and bacteria act in the child’s body differently, and on this difference differential diagnostics is built. The virus destroys the affected cell, it can not exist outside the cell. His task is to rebuild all the structures of the victim affected by him to fit his needs. The bacterium quite successfully exists outside the human body, it does not kill the cell, but only parasitizes it, poisoning the child’s body with its vital activity products - toxins. That is why, despite the superficial similarity, the symptoms of a viral disease are different from bacterial diseases.

To know the difference and to be able to distinguish one from the other is necessary in order to properly approach the care and treatment of a child.Viral diseases can never, under any circumstances, be treated with antibiotics. Antibacterial drugs have no efficacy against viruses and only increase the likelihood of severe complications.

In order to understand the difference between a viral illness and a bacterial illness, parents need to carefully observe their child. The difference is noticeable at the very beginning.

• Most viral diseases have an acute onset. - The baby's temperature rises to high levels (38.0-40.0 degrees), he is suddenly becoming ill. With the flu, the nose usually remains dry, with the rest of ARVI, one of the first signs is liquid nasal mucus. Such a condition is said to be “from the nose.”

• Bacterial rhinitis (rhinitis) is different in color, texture and smell. Snot with such a cold have a thick texture, green or dark yellow color, sometimes with blood streaks, unpleasant smell of pus. The onset of a bacterial disease is not acute and sharp. Usually, the temperature does not rise immediately, but gradually, but smoothly it can reach high values, but more often it is subfebrile, long-lasting, and well-being gradually deteriorates.
• When a viral infection disrupts the general condition literally from the first hours of the disease. There are signs of intoxication, muscle and joint pain, severe headache, sometimes nausea and vomiting due to high fever. In bacterial disease, the discomfort zone is usually quite clearly localized. If the bacteria hit the throat - there is a sore throat, if they hit the eyes - conjunctivitis, if the lungs are pneumonia. Bacteria can cause meningitis, severe bronchitis.
• The incubation period is also different.. Viral infections develop in the body after infection after a few hours or a couple of days, and the bacteria need about 10 days or two weeks to “get used to”, multiply in sufficient quantities and start releasing a large amount of toxins.

• Virtually any viral "sore" passes on its own in 3-6 days with no complications. With bacterial diseases, however, you will have to “tinker”; usually, a course (or even several courses) of antibiotics cannot be managed, recovery is delayed.
• People have symptoms of ARVI, acute respiratory infections, flu and bacterial rhinitis or tonsillitis are often called a single word "cold". This is a mistake. The common cold is nothing but a weakening of the child’s immunity, made possible by hypothermia. A cold may well precede a viral or bacterial infection, but it is not considered an independent disease. A cold from a virus or a bacterium can be distinguished by the absence of fever, acute catarrhal symptoms.

You can find out more about the difference between a viral infection and a bacterial infection from the mouth of specialists.