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The treatment range for pediatric infections is extremely wide. In addition to the treatment of common infectious diseases in generally healthy children, it includes the treatment of very rare and serious pediatric infectious diseases. Moreover, it includes the care of children with an underlying disease that predisposes them to infections and/or the provision of treatment for infections that are more demanding than infections in a basically healthy child.
Various respiratory tract infections (pneumonia, wheezy broncitis and laryngitis) and intestinal infections are the most common pediatric infections.
There is typically great seasonal variation in the insidence of pediatric infections. Although many infections can be treated on an outpatient basis, they often require emergency care. The majority of children treated at the infectious diseases wards are under the age of three years.
In addition to inhalable asthma medication administered for asthma, intravenous antibiotic and fluid therapies are typical forms of treatment for pediatric infections. Also, in connection with difficult respiratory tract infections in small children, a typical procedure on the ward is removing mucus from the airways. Patients in monitoring beds require the most demanding treatments, including respiratory support and intravenous therapies.
If the child is less seriously ill, treatment on the ward is usually required because medication cannot be administered orally, the child needs frequent medication, for example, for asthma or he or she requires intravenous fluid therapy due to for instance, diarrhoea.
In addition to providing treatment for the most difficult infections such as tuberculosis, the treatment of regular infections is centralized to the New Children’s Hospital. The Ward Tähti (infections ward) also treats many patients who are carriers of hospital bugs. If the patient is admitted for surgery and carries for example, MRSA staphylococci, in many cases, the ward treatment is provided on the infectious diseases’ ward where the patient can be isolated and thus the spread of the hospital bug to other patients can be prevented.