Winter Illnesses Children Can Catch

Winter is a time that most people associate with things like hot chocolate, soup, and sometimes snow. When winter rolls around, a lot of parents also associate the season with coughs, strep throat, and stomach flu as the common winter illnesses that their children are more than likely going to catch. Therefore, seasonal outbreaks are common.

Common Winter Illnesses Children Can Catch

Your child (or you) can catch the common cold or another viral infection in many different ways. These common childhood Illnesses are more prevalent in the winter months because people are more likely to group indoors in places like shopping malls, schools, churches, etc. Washing your hands is important, especially during flu season.

Here are some of the most common Winter illnesses that children can catch.

The Common Flu

The “common flu” is a blanket term that’s used to describe symptoms caused by a handful of different viruses that all share more or less the same common symptoms. Symptoms include a high fever, night sweats, runny noses, cough, body aches, and sore throat – and not always in this order.

Flu should be treated as a more serious condition when it affects children, whose immune systems aren’t generally as strong as adults. Hence, when a child shows any signs of the influenza virus, see your doctor.

Flu shots are available for children ages 6 months and older and are often covered by insurance.

Pneumonia

Pneumonia is a term used to describe a lung condition, usually contracted by exposure to one of the viruses that cause it. This commonly happens when the lungs have already been exposed to something before this – such as flu – and the immune system is already at a low-point.

Pneumonia can seem like flu at first, but it also includes a cough that doesn’t go away or gets worse and includes difficulty breathing due to small airways.

The consequences of pneumonia can be much worse than your average flu infection, and in some cases pneumonia can even be fatal. See a doctor immediately.

Croup or Whooping Cough

Croup or “whooping cough” is a health condition that tends to rear its head in winter, and is generally most seen among very small children and infants. It is a very contagious respiratory illness. Symptoms of whooping cough include restlessness, fever, and a persistent cough.

The same is also true for many other bacterial infections affecting children, and medical attention is necessary for an accurate diagnosis.

Small children with respiratory infections are rarely able to vocalize their discomfort other than through crying. Additionally, this is something for which adults should be on the lookout.

Smallpox

There are many diseases out there that are thought to affect children more readily than adults who have been vaccinated. Some of these conditions include smallpox, measles and German measles.

These conditions are often called “childhood diseases”, but children aren’t the only ones who might get them. Adults can be just as much of a risk factor for contracting these conditions, especially if their immune system has been compromised.

Adults who are exposed but don’t show symptoms can also still be a “carrier” for the disease and unknowingly have spread it to their children.

Many of these conditions will likely require immediate treatment and a doctor’s appointment.

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