Symptoms and treatment of scrofula behind the ears in children

Such a concept as scrofula today is found more often in fairy tales and fiction than in medical documents. However, sometimes, when a child does not look good, grandmothers no, no, and they will say that he resembles scrofulous. We will tell you about what scrofula is and what to do if it appears behind the ears of a child in this article.

What it is?

Scrofula is a type of exudative diathesis and a disease of tuberculous origin. The disease was described in the XII century. Then it was considered deadly, and it was treated, to put it mildly, outside the box - the patient was asked to venerate the Catholic shrines. Around the same time, the rulers of the French royal dynasty of the Capetian treated this disease by laying hands on the patient. At the same time, they said that the touch of the king gives God the opportunity to heal.

In this mysterious way, scrofula was treated en masse up to the 19th century, and, apparently, contrary to logic, very successfully. Then doctors and scientists became interested in a strange ailment, and called it "scrofula". They took the Latin word "scrofa" as a basis, which means "wild boar", "boar", "wild pig".

The name, of course, is rough, but quite accurate, because the face of the sick person already at the very initial stage began to resemble the snout of a wild boar due to an increase in lymph nodes under the jaw and on the neck. Studying the causes of the disease, doctors came to the conclusion that the disease is caused by mycobacterium tuberculosis, which is directly related to the causative agents of the most basic types of tuberculosis. So, scrofula was reckoned to this family and is sometimes called tuberculosis of the lymph nodes.

There is a myth among the people that scrofula can lead to tuberculosis. This is not entirely true, since it is already a form of this ailment, but it has a greater resemblance to the symptoms of exudative diathesis. That is why scrofula is considered the initial stage of this skin ailment.

In fact, the situation with scrofula is quite paradoxical - behind one name, by and large, lie two completely different diseases, one of which undoubtedly belongs to tuberculosis, and the second is the usual dermatological-allergic.

More often than others, both diseases affect children. Most often, scrofula diathesis appears behind the ears. But it happens that it spreads to other parts of the body - to the limbs, trunk, neck. Scrofula-scrofula also occurs behind the ears, but has a different clinical picture.

Causes

Tuberculous scrofula (scrofula), as we have already found out, is caused by mycobacterium, which settles and multiplies in the lymph nodes. It's pretty common. There are two types of this microbe - human and bovine. Quite often, children become infected in those regions where outbreaks of epidemics in animals are observed.

Scrofula in the treatment of skin ailment - exudative diathesis can be caused by numerous external and internal factors:

hereditary predisposition to allergic reactions;
allergenic food;
the use of medicines;
contact with detergents, household chemicals, natural allergens.

Among other reasons, the involvement of which in the occurrence of scrofula, from the point of view of medicine, is a big question, numerous sources indicate:

violation of hygiene rules if the child is rarely bathed;
conceiving a baby by parents in a state of alcoholic or drug intoxication;
the birth of a child from elderly parents who in the past suffered from tuberculosis, oncological ailments or syphilis.

It is quite difficult to refute or confirm these probable causes, since science does not know much about scrofula and the mechanisms of its occurrence.

Symptoms

Both types of scrofula need treatment. The therapy will simply be different. It will not be difficult to determine what kind of scrofula a child has, because the symptoms are very different from each other:

From time to time, cracks appear in the scabs, from which a serous fluid is released, sometimes with impurities of blood. The crusts can peel off without discharge. In this case, a completely smooth pink skin is noticeable under the crust. Quite often, such scabs behind the ears are accompanied by the appearance of similar in appearance formations on the scalp.
Additional symptoms may include discharge from the nose with allergic rhinitis, discharge from the ears, allergic conjunctivitis, swollen lymph nodes. Large folds on the child's body become inflamed, so-called diaper rash appears in them. Cough and allergic laryngeal edema are sometimes added.
Scrofula manifests itself differently... At the initial stage, a small nodule will appear behind the ear or slightly below - closer to the neck. Gradually, it increases in size, softens, and once bursts, releasing outward purulent and bloody contents. An ulcer or fistula forms. Other signs are added to this unpleasant picture: the child's skin turns pale, the temperature rises, he sweats a lot and completely refuses to eat, gets tired quickly.
With scrofula of an allergic skin nature in a child, most often in a baby at the age of 3 months, foci of dry skin appear behind the ears, which are quite itchy. Quite quickly, scabs form on the affected areas, which are called "scrofulous crusts". They are white or whitish-yellow in color, sometimes with an admixture of gray.

Diagnostics

A pediatrician, a dermatologist, an allergist can figure out what kind of scrofula happened. The child is required to take a general blood and urine test, in addition, an immunological blood test is done to determine the fact of an allergic reaction. If it is confirmed, then the allergist conducts diagnostic tests for allergies to determine what exactly the child has such an inadequate reaction to. Without this, the treatment will be ineffective.

Eczema-like spots behind the ears and on the neck with scrofula require a completely different approach from diagnosticians. The child is given a swab from the throat, as well as a sample of secretions on the skin for the detection of mycobacterium tuberculosis. If the diagnosis is confirmed, an ultrasound scan of the lymph nodes is done to determine the extent and "geography" of the lesions.

Treatment

Treatment for scrofula behind the ears will depend on which scrofula is found.

Exudative diathesis

First of all, you will need to eliminate contact with the allergen. If it is installed, it will be easier to do this. But quite often allergy tests do not show a positive reaction to the most common allergens, and then the cause is considered idiopathic. In this case, parents are advised to eliminate all possible allergens in the house where the baby lives. Hide away or throw away household chemicals, cleaning will have to be done without chlorine-containing products.

The child's bedding will need to be replaced with natural fabrics without patterns and textile dyes. The same requirement applies to underwear, pajamas, and clothing. It will be necessary to wash children's clothes and bedding exclusively with children's hypoallergenic washing powders, and be sure to rinse with pre-boiled, chlorine-free water.

From the apartment you will have to "take" pets, they quite often cause an allergic reaction in babies, as well as to eliminate all objects that can accumulate ordinary house dust - carpets, soft toys. The child should not sweat, because the manifestations of scrofula only intensify with sweating.

Therefore, the baby should be dressed lightly, not wrapped up, so that the space behind the ear and the head does not sweat. The air temperature in the apartment should not exceed 20 degrees.

When bathing, you can only use boiled water, which does not contain chlorine. Baby soap can be used no more than once a week. The rest of the time a child with scrofula needs to be bathed with plain water.

Parents will have to reconsider the baby's diet - together with the doctor, choose a new adapted mixture if he is an artificial person, or adjust the mother's diet if the baby feeds on breast milk. From the diet of children who already eat from the common table, it will be necessary to remove all foods that may be allergenic - cow and goat milk, nuts, citrus fruits, chicken eggs, honey, spices, red berries.

From medications to moisturize the crust behind the ears, use ointment "Bepanten", baby cream, "La-Cree"... Sometimes the doctor will prescribe zinc ointment. Usually, treatment is stopped with the last crust falling off, if no new ones are formed.

If the crust behind the ears begins to "get wet", then it is better to use ointments and creams with a drying effect - "Sudokrem", eg. In rare cases, when scrofula is very pronounced, and gives the child tangible suffering, the doctor may prescribe hormonal ointments ("Advantan", "Latikort"), as well as antihistamines ("Fenkarol", "Suprastin") together with calcium preparations.

Scrofula-scrofula

After confirming such a diagnosis, therapy should be started immediately. Treatment will include taking anti-TB drugs that are active against mycobacteria. Outwardly, lotions with an antiseptic, sometimes with antibiotic ointment, are applied to the affected areas on the neck and behind the ears.

Radio wave therapy and cryotherapy are sometimes used. Without specific drugs, there can be quite serious complications - eye damage with a decrease in visual function, hearing loss, and the development of hearing loss.

Unfortunately, quite often it is necessary to resort to surgical intervention and to remove part of the affected lymph nodes by surgery. After such therapy, the child must be prescribed several courses of spa treatment.

It is strictly forbidden to treat such scrofula with folk remedies.

Prevention

Certain prophylaxis in none of the varieties of scrofula is available. There are general recommendations that can reduce the risks of developing pathologies:

The child should be kept in good sanitary conditions, sleep on clean linen and breathe fresh air.
You can not overfeed the baby, this increases the risks of developing allergic scrofula in the form of diathesis.
The child's nutrition should contain all the necessary vitamins and minerals. It is very important that the baby has enough vitamins of group B, vitamin E, C, A.
If a child is diagnosed with diathesis, then this condition is not contagious, which cannot be said about scrofula. In the second case, it is necessary to provide the child with isolated treatment, which excludes contact with other children in order to avoid the spread of the disease.
You cannot refuse to conduct a Mantoux test, it almost always allows you to establish the presence of scrofula in the very initial stages and start treatment on time.
The child should visit the pediatrician regularly. All complaints about behind-the-ear formations or cracks should be immediately addressed to a specialist, going to an unscheduled appointment.