Pyelonephritis in children is a serious kidney disease. Approximately half of the cases of this ailment occur in the early childhood. Below we will talk about pyelonephritis, symptoms, treatment of children in this disease and describe the prevention measures.
Pyelonephritis at an early age
Pyelonephritis is an inflammatory disease in which the renal pelvis and adjacent tissues are affected, it is one of the most common childhood diseases of the excretory system. In infants of the first five years of life, it occurs 3 times more often than in school-age children. If the inflammatory process occurs for the first time, then this condition is called "acute pyelonephritis". It is resolved within 1-2 months, that is, the child recovers. If the inflammation lasts six months or more, accompanied by exacerbations, then the disease has passed into a chronic stage. Symptoms of pyelonephritis in the child at this point may for the time being an abyss.
Among the pathogens of kidney infection, microorganisms that are located in the intestine and form its internal flora prevail. But they for one reason or another can get to the urinary tract in the kidneys. The most common pathogens of pyelonephritis are proteus, intestinal and pseudomonas aeruginosa, enterococci, staphylococcus. Great importance in the development of pyelonephritis in young children is the presence in the family of relatives who have suffered a similar disease. Also, the laundering of tooth decay is a hotbed of pathogens. The source can be tonsillitis, pneumonia, intestinal dysbiosis, chronic constipation.
Symptomatics
I must say at once that the symptoms of pyelonephritis in a child up to a year are usually expressed by common intoxication. They can begin to manifest as lethargy, lack of appetite, fever without pronounced catarrhal phenomena, frequent regurgitation, intestinal dysfunction. But this is not the main signs, which can diagnose pyelonephritis in children. Symptoms Komarovsky - known to many pediatricians - calls and more serious. For example, the disease can also begin with disorders of urination, which can be expressed by frequent as well as rarer urges, their soreness, and delays in the allocation of urine in the child. All this is accompanied, as a rule, by an increase in body temperature. Symptoms of pyelonephritis in a child of an older age will have a more vivid picture.
Diagnostics
Modern diagnostics includes clinical, laboratory and instrumental techniques. In the framework of laboratory tests, the following tests should be performed: general blood and urine tests, an assay for the detection of creatinine, glucose, proteins. If the symptoms of pyelonephritis in a child do not pass, then he is assigned a bed rest, plenty of drink, medications must be prescribed by a nephrologist. In recent years, a new indicator, cystatin C, has been introduced into laboratory practice. With renal damage, this protein is excreted in the urine, and it accumulates in the blood, so the amount of cystatin C allows one to determine the development of renal failure in patients with inflammation of the kidneys. A child who has a history of pyelonephritis should visit a nephrologist every 3 months, and regularly take urine tests. With a stable course of the disease, the absence of frequent exacerbations it is necessary to undergo yearly renal ultrasound.