Infections in babies in the first months are quite difficult. Bacterial pathologies top the list of infectious diseases that arise in pediatric practice. Infection with Staphylococcus aureus leads to the development of a huge number of dangerous diseases in newborns.
Causes of occurrence
Scientists have learned about these microbes many years ago. They were discovered at the end of the 19th century. These microorganisms got their name not by chance. When viewed through a microscope they resemble special bunches, which in Greek means "staphylos"... The colony of these microbes is usually yellow or has a faint orange tint.
These microorganisms are quite stable in the external environment. They are able to maintain their vital functions even in the most extreme conditions.
Microbes may not die, even while in a hydrogen peroxide solution. This chemical product can cause the appearance of various rashes on the skin of a person, and does not pose any danger to staphylococci.
Many disinfectants and even certain groups of antibiotics cannot have a destructive effect on these microorganisms.
This feature is due to a special cellular structure. Outside, the microbe is covered with a powerful capsule, which protects it from various environmental influences. It should be noted that even the inability to form spores protects staphylococci from death in adverse external conditions.
These microbes possess a whole arsenal of various toxic substances. Among the most dangerous are special bacterial components called hemolysins. They can have a detrimental effect on many blood cells, including red blood cells and leukocytes. This ability also affects the development of adverse symptoms in a sick baby in the future.
Bacterial toxins, which are released by microbes during their vital activity, have a pronounced inflammatory effect. They activate the immune response, forcing the immune system to release a huge amount of a wide variety of biologically active substances.
For these microorganisms there is not a single internal organ in which they could not get. The spread of the infection is rapid. Bacteria reach the internal organs through the systemic circulation.
The prevalence of staphylococcal infections in children is extremely high. The predominant method of infection in newborn babies and infants is contact. In this case, dangerous germs enter the baby's skin through dirty hands.
Every year in our country there are outbreaks of purulent pathologies in newly born children who are still in maternity hospitals. In this case, babies become infected through insufficiently well-processed instruments or the hands of medical personnel.
Familial cases of the disease also occur. They are mainly caused by violation of personal hygiene rules.
If the towels used daily for carrying out a hygienic toilet for the baby are not washed and ironed in a timely manner, then they quite often get various mix infections. Staphylococci are well preserved on textiles.
Only washing in hot water using detergents, and then ironing with a very hot iron on both sides, has a detrimental effect on these microorganisms.
There is also an airborne method of infection. In this case, microbes enter the mucous membranes of the upper respiratory tract of a healthy child from a sick child. A newborn baby can also become infected from a carrier of the disease.
In the high-risk group, premature babies, as well as babies with congenital immunodeficiency states. Abnormalities in the work of internal organs also increase the likelihood of contracting various types of infection.
In infants, symptoms of the disease often appear in the first months after birth. This situation usually occurs with intrauterine infection. Staphylococcus aureus are small enough microbes that are able to enter the fetus through the placental bloodstream from an infected mother.
Placental pathologies present during pregnancy increase the risk of contracting staphylococcal infection in the smallest patients several times.
The provoking factors in babies in the first months of life include severe hypothermia or overheating. These reasons often contribute to a decrease in immunity.
If the baby for some reason is artificially fed, the risk of developing infectious diseases in him increases several times. Babies receiving breast milk are more protected from staphylococcal infection. This is due to the presence of a sufficient amount of protective antibodies that they receive from the mother during breastfeeding.
It should be noted that not all babies can get staphylococcal infection even if it enters the child's body.
Children who have strong immunity and do not have chronic diseases of internal organs can only have a carrier. Usually this form occurs in every third child infected with Staphylococcus aureus. In this case, the disease develops only with a pronounced decrease in immunity.
Symptoms
Staphylococcus aureus is a universal microbe in its ability to penetrate into various internal organs. Its colonies can be found almost everywhere.
The incubation period for staphylococcal infections can be different. Some pathologies develop within 3-6 hours from the moment the microbes enter the child's body. The incubation period for other clinical forms can be 2-5 days.
In premature babies, adverse symptoms can appear quite quickly. Insufficiently effective work of the immune system leads to this.
The duration of the persistence of unfavorable symptoms of the disease also varies and is largely due to the localization of the inflammatory process. Typically, most staphylococcal infections resolve within 7-14 days.
The skin becomes a fairly frequent localization for these microbes. Once on the skin, they cause a wide variety of manifestations. They are manifested by the appearance on the skin of multiple furunculous formations, pimples, red spots, ulcers, purulent-necrotic changes
The peculiarity of such skin rashes, as a rule, is the presence of pus inside the cavity. Its amount can be different and depends on the severity of the disease.
Purulent manifestations on the skin can be localized or widespread. Newborn babies have a rather unfavorable tendency for the spread of purulent rashes. This is due to the looseness of the subcutaneous fat and good blood supply to the skin. Within a few days, the local process becomes generalized.
Pustules can appear on a wide variety of areas of the skin. Staphylococcus aureus love to live in the sweat and sebaceous glands. This explains the fact that with the development of staphylococcal infection, symptoms of furunculosis or hydradenitis often appear. In this case, purulent formations appear in the area of hair follicle growth. They look like pustules, round or elongated, with yellow or greenish pus inside.
The course of purulent formations is rather unfavorable. With an untimely diagnosis and no treatment, this contributes to the development of many dangerous complications in a sick child. In this case, a mandatory consultation with a pediatric or purulent surgeon is already required.
Purulent rashes on the skin can burst, in the process the pus flows out. In this case, ulcers usually remain on the site of the former pustules, which heal over time, with the formation of small scars.
Staphylococcus aureus is a fairly frequent uninvited “guest” on the mucous membranes of the upper respiratory tract. It gets there mainly by airborne droplets. Quite often this happens during a normal conversation with a patient or carrier of the infection.
If parents have Staphylococcus aureus in the nasal cavity, then they can quite easily infect their newborn baby with it.
Getting on the mucous membranes of the upper respiratory tract, staphylococci cause various adverse symptoms in the child. The most common of these is persistent rhinitis, manifested by a severe runny nose.
Discharge from the nose is usually thick, abundant, yellow or greenish. Without treatment, staphylococcal rhinitis leads to the development of inflammatory diseases of the paranasal sinuses, which are manifested in the baby by the appearance of sinusitis or frontal sinusitis.
Staphylococcal infection quickly spreads to nearby organs. The presence of bacteria in the nasopharynx leads to the development of inflammation in the pharynx and throat. This contributes to the formation of bacterial pharyngitis in the baby, and then tracheitis. These pathologies are quite difficult in newborn babies. They are accompanied by the appearance of a cough, severe intoxication syndrome, severe pain when swallowing.
The danger of these conditions is that they can lead to the development of dangerous complications - bacterial bronchitis or pneumonia.
Lesions of the gastrointestinal organs are also very common in this infectious pathology. Staphylococcus aureus enter this anatomical zone through the systemic circulation.
Gastrointestinal forms of staphylococcal infections, according to statistics, have the shortest incubation period in duration.
Infection can also occur as a result of the use of fermented milk products or ready-made puree from jars that babies eat as the first complementary foods.
Once in the intestine, pathogenic microorganisms lead to a pronounced disruption of the normal biocenosis of the intestinal flora. This contributes to the development of severe dysbiosis in the child.
This pathological condition manifests itself in babies, as a rule, with various stool disorders. A sick child may develop diarrhea or persistent constipation. In some cases, they may alternate.
Staphylococcal infection in the gastrointestinal tract it is also quite often manifested by the appearance of pain in the abdomen in a sick baby.
Babies in the first months of life cannot yet tell their parents about their complaints that they have pain. You can only suspect a baby's tummy pain by observing his behavior. If, after eating, the child begins to cry or often asks for his arms, then this symptom should seriously alert the parents. In some cases, a sick baby tries to limit his active movements, as this contributes to increased pain.
Any staphylococcal infection, regardless of the initial localization, leads to a pronounced deterioration in the well-being of the baby.
The child becomes paler, lethargic. Sick babies have a marked decrease in appetite. This is usually manifested by the fact that babies begin to refuse breastfeeding.
With this bacterial infection, the body temperature rises rapidly. The severity of such an increase can be different and depends largely on the severity of the course of the infection.
Usually, staphylococcal infection in newborns leads to an increase in temperature up to 38-39.5 degrees. High numbers can persist in a baby for several days, and without prescribing treatment for much longer.
The situation is aggravated by the presence of a pronounced intoxication syndrome. It, as a rule, manifests itself in the appearance in the baby of severe dryness of the skin and visible mucous membranes, an increase in pronounced thirst, a decrease in skin turgor, as well as a change in behavior. Kids begin to be capricious, fall asleep badly. During sleep, they can wake up many times and even cry.
Diagnostics
When the first adverse symptoms appear, you should immediately show the child to a doctor. If the baby has a high temperature, then you should not go to the clinic on your own. In this case, it is better to call a doctor at home.
The doctor will examine the baby and be able to establish a preliminary diagnosis. The doctor will not be able to say exactly what caused the disease during the clinical examination. This requires a whole range of different diagnostic methods to accurately identify infectious agents. These laboratory tests allow doctors to distinguish between normal and abnormal.
All babies with signs of a bacterial infection are required to undergo general clinical tests. In the blood, leukocytes and ESR increase, and normal indicators in the leukocyte formula change.
In some cases, Staphylococcus aureus can also be found in urine. This is possible mainly with urinary tract infections. To establish a diagnosis in this case, a bacterial culture of urine on special nutrient media is required.
Quite often, stool analysis is performed to identify infectious agents. This simple and absolutely painless examination for a child allows you to identify various microbes that become sources of infectious pathologies of the gastrointestinal tract in sick babies.
The presence of pathogenic bacteria in the feces may indicate a carrier or infection with this infection.
The presence of Staphylococcus aureus may be present in analyzes, but not accompanied by the appearance of adverse symptoms.
So, a microbial titer of 10 to 3 degrees usually does not show any visible clinical signs. It only indicates that when exposed to factors leading to a decrease in immunity, the baby may develop this infectious pathology.
The content in the feces of microbes 10 to 4 degrees is accompanied by the appearance of symptoms, expressed insignificantly. Such test results are found in babies with local and limited skin purulent rashes or a mild course of infectious staphylococcal infection of internal organs.
Usually, doctors do not prescribe specific treatment, but manage only by prescribing fortifying and mild immunostimulating drugs. In some cases, Staphylococcus aureus appears in the stool along with Klebsiella.
The content of microorganisms 10 to 5 degrees is already accompanied by the development of adverse symptoms in the child. The degree of their severity can be different. Quite often, in this case, diarrhea occurs with the release of foamy fetid feces.
The discharge is usually greenish. The child usually feels extremely bad. His weakness increases, his appetite decreases. In this case, children's doctors already prescribe specific antibacterial treatment.
In some cases, instrumental studies are required. They are prescribed to clarify the degree of functional disorders that have arisen, and also help to timely identify complications that have developed during the course of the disease.
As such studies, as a rule, X-rays of the lungs and chest, as well as ultrasound examination of the abdominal cavity and kidneys are prescribed.
Complications
Staphylococcus aureus can be very dangerous. The peculiarity of the course of this infection is that it can quite easily lead to the development of multiple complications. They significantly worsen the general well-being of the child and can form long-term adverse consequences in later life.
A fairly common complication is the formation of purulent abscesses in the internal organs.
The predominant localization is lung tissue. Untimely diagnosis of pneumonia and late treatment helps to limit the inflammatory process and lead to the development of a local abscess.
This pathology is quite difficult in babies. Treatment of this pathological condition is carried out only in the conditions of the children's surgical department of the hospital.
Bacterial meningitis Is also a rather dangerous complication. In the high-risk group - babies born much earlier than the due date or babies with various anomalies of the nervous system after birth.
Staphylococcal meningitis - a very serious illness, accompanied by the development of multiple adverse symptoms. These include: an increase in body temperature up to 40 degrees, the appearance of severe headache, the possible appearance of epileptic seizures and seizures.
For the treatment of this condition, the mandatory appointment of a massive course of antibiotic therapy and the introduction of special physiological and colloidal solutions, which have an anti-inflammatory and restorative effect, are required.
Treatment
Therapy of various forms of staphylococcal infections is complex. It can include the appointment of various medications. In most cases, the treatment of babies with signs of staphylococcal infection is carried out in stationary conditions. Untimely hospitalization or refusal from it can lead to a pronounced deterioration in the well-being of the baby.
Local local forms that occur on the skin are well treated with the use of simple aniline dyes familiar to many parents. Surprisingly, these aggressive microbes are very sensitive to the effects of ordinary brilliant green.
Treatment of the affected abscesses with a solution of brilliant green, iodine or furacilin has a positive therapeutic effect. In some cases, doctors prescribe Vishnevsky ointment, which must be applied to the purulent areas of the skin.
The main goal of treatment is to eliminate pathogenic microbes from the child's body of a newborn baby.
This can be done only by prescribing a course of antibacterial drugs.
Such treatment is carried out in a hospital, since antibiotics can be administered there, mainly parenterally. This introduction makes it possible to somewhat reduce the toxic effect of these drugs on the mucous membrane of the stomach and intestines.
The choice of antibiotic remains with the attending physician. Staphylococci have a fairly high sensitivity to various groups of penicillins and cephalosporins of the latest generations. The course of treatment can be different: from 5 to 10-14 days.
Antibacterial agents from the reserve group, as a rule, are not used. This use contributes to the development of high antibiotic resistance.
The complex of treatment necessarily includes anti-inflammatory drugs. They help to eliminate inflammation and lead to better well-being of the baby. With a pronounced increase in body temperature above 38 degrees, antipyretics are used. They help to reduce febrile condition in the first few days after their appointment.
To improve the functioning of the immune system, sick children are prescribed immunostimulating drugs.
Restorative therapy also plays an important role in treating infectioncaused by Staphylococcus aureus in newborn babies.
Under stationary conditions, various saline solutions are introduced for this, which help to improve microcirculation and blood supply in all internal organs. These agents also have a pronounced anti-inflammatory effect.
In a milder course of the disease, doctors may resort to treating the infection with specific bacteriophages. The need for such therapy is determined only by the attending physician and depends on many very different factors.
The decision on the choice of bacteriophages or antibiotics must be made taking into account the localization of the inflammatory process in the child, as well as the severity of the course of the disease.
Prevention
Compliance with the rules of personal hygiene is a very important component of the preventive direction.
To reduce the risk of contact-household infection, be sure to use his own towels for the baby. These textiles must be washed and ironed.
Even accidental use of baby towels can lead to infection of the baby.
You should also avoid any contact with feverish or febrile family members. If one of the parents is sick, then he should wear a gauze bandage or mask, which should be changed every 3-4 hours.
During illness, all possible contact with a newborn baby should be limited. If there are abscesses in the nipple area of nursing mothers, doctors recommend stopping breastfeeding and transferring the baby to feeding with artificial adapted formulas.
You can also read another article on what Dr. Komarovsky thinks about Staphylococcus aureus.
For how staphylococcus is manifested in children, see the next program of the school of Dr. Komarovsky.
