Dr. Komarovsky about herpes type 6 in children
The term "herpes" parents, as a rule, imply the familiar "cold" in lips. And it seems that there is nothing wrong with it. In fact, herpes is a voluminous concept, and not at all as harmless as people who are far from medicine imagine. Herpes is a viral infection, and specialists distinguish between 8 types of herpes. Today we will talk about one of them - about herpes of the sixth type. We also learn what a well-known pediatrician Yevgeny Komarovsky thinks of this infection.
What it is
The same “cold” on the lips (small watery rash, itchy and rapidly spreading) with which we started this conversation is nothing but the first type of herpes. The second type is genital herpes. The third type of virus causes a very well-known disease - chickenpox. Herpes of the fourth type is a virus with a complex name, which is derived from the names of its discoverers - Epstein-Barr virus. The fifth type of herpes infection - cytomegalovirus.
Starting from the sixth type and up to the eighth, inclusive, science can tell less curious, since these viruses have been studied quite a bit. Therefore, they have the input names VG-6, VG-7, VG-8.
The herpes virus of the sixth type, once in the body, never leaves it. If everything is good, the conditions are favorable, the food is normal, the immunity is not weakened, the virus is in a dormant state. It begins to intensify only when the immunity briefly "weakens" close attention to it, this happens during or after the illness.
In fairness it should be noted that representatives of all eight types of herpes behave this way. There is no cure for them, since they are incurable.
Most often VG-6 affects not adults, but children, and in a certain age group - up to 3 years. Until the baby is 3 years old, he has a rather weak immunity. This type of virus has two subspecies: A - most common in children with HIV or AIDS, B - in all other children.
The symptoms of the virus are not so easily recognized. Like all viral diseases, it all starts with a high temperature (above 38.0), which lasts for several days. Against the background of strong heat, the lymph nodes are enlarged, the doctor may state an increase in the size of the spleen. When viewed throat swelling of the tonsils, proliferation of lymphoid tissue, and a rash may appear in the mouth. In this case, the child often appears conjunctivitis.
In the acute phase, everything looks like SARS or pharyngitis, and only the doctor is able to recognize the herpes simplex virus in these symptoms. When the peak of the disease has passed, the manifestations gradually go down, a rash appears on the child’s skin, mainly it is deployed on the back, neck, tummy of the baby and behind the ears. When the rash passes, small scaly fragments remain.
There is a positive point in all this - most often VG-6 - a one-time disease. After the child has had it, he develops a lifelong immunity to the pathogen. So, the next penetration of the virus into the body will pass without symptoms, imperceptibly.
Dr. Komarovsky about the problem
You should not dramatize, because herpes happened not only to your child, this is a very common ailment, 95% of all people on the planet have had this or that, or even several types of herpes infection, and continue to live quite normally and happily.Eight out of ten children aged 6-7 years old, when the time of the first large-scale medical examination comes before going to school, in the blood tests detect antibodies to the sixth herpes, and this means that they have already suffered this ailment.
Parents often begin to object, but this only indicates gaps in the diagnosis. Doctors are not always able to recognize VG-6, often mistakenly giving the child a diagnosis of ARVI. Anyway, this disease is almost universal.
When parents ask how to treat a child for the herpes simplex virus, the famous pediatrician says that there is no way. To cure this disease is impossible in principle. The use of antiviral agents with antiherpetic action only suppresses the pathogen, but does not eliminate it. As a result, VG-6 hides away and falls into "hibernation." It is not dangerous at rest, not contagious, and does not indicate its presence. Detect it only by blood analysis for antibodies.
Herpes of the sixth type is often called pediatric roseola for a kind of rash. Often it is the only symptom of infection. For example, the mother stopped feeding the crumb of the breast, he lost her additional mother's immunity, and manifestations of herpes appear. Often this happens after any illness or even in situations where the child has suffered severe stress.
Among the factors that lead to the activation of herpes in the body, Komarovsky also calls malnutrition, lack of vitamins in the child’s diet, severe physical exhaustion, stress, a variety of injuries.
He does not in any way encourage parents to humbly ignore herpes simplex in a child, because the virus itself is not as dangerous as the complications it can cause. These include eye lesions, inflammation of the lungs, and even herpetic meningitis, which is one of the most severe lesions of the brain mucosa. What complications will be, no doctor will say. Like, whether they will be at all. It all depends on the state of immunity of this particular child, emphasizes Evgeny Olegovich.
Treatment according to Komarovsky
As already mentioned, herpes cannot be cured, but symptoms can be alleviated. For this there is a drug "Acyclovir", The appearance of which the doctor compares with the same breakthrough in medicine as the appearance of the first antibiotic, penicillin. The doctor advises treating the local rashesIn case of a more severe form of the infection, take the pill according to the course and the regimen prescribed by the infectious disease physician. With a very severe infection, "Acyclovir" is administered intravenously, but this is a completely different story, since such treatment is usually carried out in a hospital.
With a difficult course, it makes sense to start taking drugs that increase the production of interferon in the body. Do not think that we are talking about cheap pharmaceutical droplets and ointment in the nose. Komarovsky talks about serious and powerful drugs that are done intravenously. These drugs, unfortunately, are quite expensive, and not every family can afford them. This Evgeny Olegovich considers the main difficulty in treating VG-6.
Otherwise, the whole therapy is quite simple, albeit long, its task is not to destroy the virus itself, but to make the child forget about him forever, so that the herpes just “doze” and never wake up.
When asked how to protect the child, the pediatrician responds that it is almost impossible to do this. If mom or dad noticed “cold” on their lips at least once in their lives, they are carriers of HSV (herpes simplex virus), and at the first contact with a newborn baby, they will generously “share” their “legacy”. Or someone else will do it.
But it is in the power of the parents to organize the correct way of life of the child. Do not raise it in "greenhouse conditions", do not bundle up and overfeed, often for a long time to walk, air, harden the baby from birth, and later encourage sports.Ensure that the child has a complete and balanced diet. Strong immunity will not allow herpes to "roam".
At the same time, Evgeny Olegovich calls to be very vigilant and remember that any type of herpes, including the sixth, is a very insidious disease, and in the absence of due attention and proper assessment of the situation, simple watery pimples on the lip or nose can cause very severe and serious ailments. That is why the doctor urges parents not to self-medicate herpes, not to smear the rash with earwax, garlic and not to feed the child with dandelion broth.
A herpetic infection should be treated only by a specialist doctor, and if there is no infectious disease clinic in the clinic (there are big problems with this specialization of doctors, they are not enough), then the pediatrician.
On the peculiarities of the virus will tell Dr. Komarovsky in the next video.
