Haemophilus influenzae vaccine

Diagnostics

An infectious disease specialist or pediatrician diagnoses the current pathology based on:

• analysis of patient complaints;
• medical history;
• general examination: hyperemia is detected in the throat, palatine arches, signs of inflammation in the epiglottis, subcutaneous fat;
• bacteriological culture of pus, sputum, cerebrospinal fluid, materials taken from mucous membranes on special nutrient media;
• serological diagnostics - antibodies to the pathogen are determined in the blood;
• detection of influenza DNA in sputum and blood plasma using the polymerase chain reaction method;
• consultation with an otolaryngologist.

Purulent sinusitis: symptoms

Depending on the type of sinusitis, the symptoms of the disease will differ.

The acute form begins and develops rapidly and is characterized by vivid symptoms. The most recognizable sign of inflammation of the maxillary sinuses is severe pain in the bridge of the nose and the location of the sinuses - under the eyes in the cheek area. The pus located in the sinuses puts pressure on their walls, which causes pain. The pain becomes stronger in the evening and when tilting the head. Sometimes it can be felt in the temples or jaw.

Friends! Timely and correct treatment will ensure you a speedy recovery!

Another clear sign of the disease is green or yellow purulent nasal discharge that may have an unpleasant odor. In some cases, persistent nasal congestion is observed when the sinus openings are blocked and there is no runny nose, since the purulent masses cannot come out. Nasal congestion leads to a nasal voice and a decreased sense of smell.

Often the acute form is accompanied by increased body temperature, swelling of the eyelids, and swelling of the cheek in the area of ​​the affected sinus. The patient feels lethargic, “broken”, and gets tired quickly.

Chronic is a sluggish inflammation. During periods of exacerbation, it is characterized by symptoms of an acute form of the disease. In the remission stage, the patient complains of:

• constant headaches (minor pain);
• runny nose;
• nasal congestion and difficulty breathing through the nose;
• swelling of the eyelids;
• conjunctivitis;
• constant malaise.

Some symptoms of inflammation of the maxillary sinuses are quite characteristic, and you can suspect that you have sinusitis. But only an otolaryngologist can accurately diagnose purulent sinusitis and treat it. If a patient misinterprets the symptoms and carries out the wrong therapy on his own, this threatens his health and life with serious consequences.

Treatment

If there are no etiotropic therapeutic measures, this causes high mortality in patients with this diagnosis. Therapy requires immediate medical intervention and constant monitoring by medical personnel. Until the 1970s, treatment with ampicillin was most effective. But bacterial mutations have led to the pathogen acquiring extreme resistance and becoming resistant to this drug.

Therapy is recommended with the following drugs: cephalosporin, levomecithin and ampicillin. The fact of constant modifications and adaptability of the infection to antimicrobial medications has led to a decrease in the effectiveness of their use. But there are also the latest developments in this area, providing those affected with new medications that can act on current viral strains.

Safely boost immunity for rhinosinusitis (sinusitis)

Unfortunately, in some patients, despite all the efforts of conservative treatment, it is not always possible to achieve the desired effect and rhinosinusitis (sinusitis) continues to recur. It is well known that one of the factors of a protracted course is a decrease in immunity. Therefore, the body cannot properly cope with pathogenic flora that lives on the mucous membrane or is brought from the external environment. The slightest hypothermia or stressful situation (see the article “Immunity and stress. What is the connection?”) lead to a relapse. Trying to solve this problem, modern pharmacology offers many immune stimulants, which have sometimes significant side effects. Meanwhile, immunologists themselves are in no hurry to actively invade the immune system. Everything in it is not very simple and has not been fully studied. Today they are the last to prescribe immunotropic therapy. The leading positions are occupied by pediatricians, therapists, and gynecologists. And patients themselves often self-medicate and rush to buy something for immunity.

An alternative to medications are non-drug methods of increasing immunity, among which centrotherapy deserves special attention. This method is distinguished by high efficiency - up to 85% recovery and long-term disease-free course of the disease; absence of side effects, which is contained in an environmentally friendly mechanism of therapeutic action.

Illustrating the effectiveness of centrotherapy in increasing immunity, it is appropriate to mention the facts of treatment in France more than a hundred years ago of open forms of tuberculosis. After all, at that time anti-tuberculosis drugs had not yet been synthesized and the diagnosis of consumption sounded like a sad sentence. By means of minimal thermal effects applied to the “immune zones”* in the nose, it was possible to raise immunity and cure patients: fever and cough stopped, the general condition became normal, and there were no tuberculosis bacilli in the scanty sputum coughed up at the end of treatment.

Similarly, when treating a persistent runny nose, the effect of increasing immunity is used. Activation of the “immune center”* leads to the restoration of immune defense mechanisms to the proper level. This approach leads to the elimination of inflammatory phenomena and recovery.

Prevention

The modern vaccination calendar provides for vaccination against hemophilus influenzae. This vaccination is carried out for children from 3 months to five years. Children over five years old do not need such a procedure, since their immune system is able to independently fight the pathogen.

Vaccination is also carried out according to individual indications for persons with frequent acute respiratory viral infections, damage to the central nervous system, and indications for removal of the spleen (in this case, immunization is carried out before surgery).

Other preventive measures include identifying carriers in older people and prescribing adequate treatment for them, strengthening the immune system (balanced diet, taking multivitamins), etc.

Haemophilus influenzae infection

The duration of the incubation period is difficult to determine, since the disease is often a consequence of the transition of a latent infection to a manifest one. A local inflammatory process of the mucous membrane of the respiratory tract may develop or hematogenously caused diseases may develop. Haemophilus influenzae type b is one of the common causes of generalized infection (bacteremia) in children, half of them develop purulent meningitis, quite often (15-20%) pneumonia and less often other focal lesions. As a rule, hemophilus influenzae infection is acute, but some clinical forms can take a protracted course.

Haemophilus influenzae infection can occur in the following clinical forms: - purulent meningitis; - acute pneumonia; - septicemia; - inflammation of the subcutaneous tissue; - epiglottitis; - purulent arthritis; - other diseases (pericarditis, sinusitis, otitis, respiratory tract diseases, etc.).

Purulent meningitis is observed mainly in children from 9 months to 4 years (for this age group this is the most common cause of meningitis). The disease begins acutely, sometimes with symptoms of acute respiratory infections, then quickly develops clinical symptoms characteristic of bacterial meningitis. Sometimes meningeal syndrome is combined with other manifestations of Haemophilus influenzae infection (purulent arthritis, inflammation of the epiglottis, cellulitis). The disease is severe and often fatal (about 10%).

Hemophilus pneumonia can manifest itself both in the form of focal and in the form of lobar (lobar), very often (up to 70%) accompanied by purulent pleurisy (in children), and can be complicated by purulent pericarditis, inflammation of the middle ear. May take a protracted course. In adults, especially the elderly, hemophilus influenzae infection can overlap with other lung diseases.

Hemophilus influenzae sepsis most often develops in children 6-12 months of age who are predisposed to this disease. It proceeds violently, often like lightning, with septic shock and rapid death of the patient. There are no secondary lesions observed in this form.

Inflammation of the subcutaneous tissue (cellulite) also develops in children under 12 months, most often localized on the face. It often begins with a picture of an acute respiratory infection (rhinopharyngitis), then a swelling appears in the cheek area or around the eye socket, the skin over the swelling is hyperemic with a cyanotic tint, sometimes the disease is accompanied by inflammation of the middle ear. The body temperature is subfebrile, the symptoms of general intoxication are mild. In older children, inflammation of the subcutaneous tissue may be localized on the extremities.

Inflammation of the epiglottis (epiglottitis) is a very severe form of Haemophilus influenzae infection, in most cases (about 90%) accompanied by bacteremia. It begins acutely, is characterized by a rapid rise in body temperature, severe general intoxication and a picture of rapidly progressing croup, which can lead to the death of the child from asphyxia (complete obstruction of the respiratory tract or respiratory arrest).

Purulent arthritis is a consequence of hematogenous introduction of Haemophilus influenzae and is often accompanied by osteomyelitis. Other manifestations of Haemophilus influenzae infection are rare.

Symptoms of adenoids in children

The clinical picture of adenoids in children is very diverse. This is due to many factors: the size of the nasopharynx, the shape of vegetations, concomitant diseases of the nasal mucosa. Taking this into account, we will try to highlight the most common signs of adenoids in children:

• The most common symptom is difficulty breathing through the nose.
• Discharge from the nose. Most often, the discharge is light or green in color and occurs periodically.
• Snore. Snoring occurs during night sleep, which causes confusion and wariness among parents. There is a very serious complication of this process – sleep apnea syndrome.
• Drowsiness.
• Decreased performance. This is due to impaired attention and memory due to chronic oxygen starvation.
• Development of nasality.
• Cough. Cough develops due to irritation of the pharyngeal mucosa by discharge from the nasopharynx.
• Hearing impairment may occur. This is due to the pressure of the tonsils on the openings of the auditory tubes.

The most common symptom is difficulty breathing through the nose.

If the child’s parents ignore the symptoms of the child’s adenoids for a long time, this may contribute to the development of pathology in other organs and systems:

• Violation of the formation of the facial skeleton. Such children are characterized by a typical facial expression – “adenoid face”.
• Changing the shape of the upper jaw. There is a medical term for this condition - “Gothic vault”.
• Incorrect position of teeth.
• Inflammatory conditions of other organs.
• Disorders of the heart and nervous systems, up to the development of enuresis (urinary incontinence). The development of psychosomatics in children with adenoids is also possible.

Diagnosis of adenoids in children

When communicating with parents, the otorhinolaryngologist pays attention to the following points:

• Presence of this pathology in relatives.
• How did pregnancy and childbirth proceed?
• Health status of the child in the first year of life.
• The nature of feeding a child.
• How often does a child get sick with viral infections?
• Accompanying illnesses.

Objective examination methods include:

• X-ray of the paranasal sinuses.
• CT scan of the paranasal sinuses and nasopharynx.
• Chest x-ray (to determine the size of the thymus gland).
• UAC.
• OAM.
• Immunogram.
• Determination of the level of immunoglobulin E.
• According to indications, consultation with specialists may be required.