Help Prevent Your Kids from Catching Impetigo
Impetigo is a bacterial infection that its most common victim tends to be children. It is a very contagious skin disease that children seem to catch from each other during their time in school and on the playground. Adults can also catch impetigo but kids seem especially susceptible to it because of their poor cleaning habits. Helping your child remember good grooming habits will go a long way to help them prevent catching impetigo and other similar bacterial infections.
Your child can catch impetigo many various ways. This includes having open sores and touching or being touched by an infected area of another child. The first sign of your child being infected may be around the nose and mouth areas of the body. Signs of infection can also show up around the hands and forearm parts of the body as well. Once they have caught the infection your child may aggravate the situation by scratching, which will spread the disease to other parts of their body. This can lead your child to start to spread the infection to other members of the family through normal household items. This includes towels, pillows, wash clothes, bed sheets and other everyday items. Once your child is infected you should pull them out of school and go to the doctors to receive antibiotic treatments. It’s important that you try to help your child limit the spread of infection on their body. The smaller the amount of infection the better the chance that an antibacterial ointment will do the trick of curbing the disease. If it starts to spread creating a larger area of infection or to other parts of the body there is a good chance that your doctor will prescribe pills or some sort of liquid to help fight the infection.
The best way to fight this infection is to teach your kids how not to catch this or similar diseases in the first place. The biggest key in this fight is to reinforce proper hygiene at home and at school. This starts with teaching your children to always wash their hands when they come from outside playing with their classmates. It is also a good idea to teach your children to avoid contact with open cuts, scratches and bruises that form on other children. Sometimes children are fascinated with scars and bruises and will likely be curious when they see them on other children. A good amount of time this curiosity leads to touching which is never a good ideal. Instill in your children that, if they happen to accidentally touch a fellow classmates cut or bruise, that they should wash their hands as quickly as possible. This is a good idea for more than just avoiding impetigo. Your child should also be aware of what to do if they themselves receive a bruise or cut on the playground or in class. Instruct them to tell a teacher or a nurse about the cut or bruise. While they are being attended to, they should not be afraid to ask the teacher or nurse to wash the cut right away, before the bandaged is placed on top of the cut.
In conclusion as a parent your child will not remember to follow these rules unless they are constantly reminded of them on a semi regular basis. The practice of good hygiene starts at home. It is a good ideal that this philosophy becomes embedded into your children. This will save you as a parent a lot of restless itchy nights.
