Question
A four-month-old infant has been experiencing diarrhea symptoms for the past 10 days. At the worst, the baby had diarrhea 7 to 8 times a day, with stools appearing as watery egg flower in consistency. Sometimes, feces can also be seen in the urine. The symptoms have persisted for about 10 days, although there has been some improvement in recent days, with the frequency of diarrhea reduced to about 3 times a day, but still somewhat loose. The infant’s mental state is good, appetite is slightly reduced, sleep is normal, and there is no crying or fussiness. Parents are inquiring about possible causes and suggested treatment methods.
Answer
Abdominal analysis indicates that autumn is a high-incidence season for infant diarrhea, also known as “autumn diarrhea.” This disease is usually transmitted through fecal-oral routes and occasionally can be transmitted through aerosols via the respiratory tract. The incubation period is 1 to 3 days, commonly affecting infants aged 6 to 24 months, with children over 4 years old being less susceptible. The onset is acute, sometimes accompanied by fever and upper respiratory tract infections, but without obvious toxic symptoms. Initially, diarrhea may be accompanied by vomiting, which usually occurs before the onset of diarrhea. Stools are frequent, large in volume, watery in consistency, yellowish in color or resembling egg flowers, with a small amount of mucus and no peculiar smell. This disease is self-limiting, with a natural course of about 3 to 8 days. Based on the above principles, for infants with mild illness and no obvious dehydration, the following measures can be taken at home:
- Provide oral fluids in sufficient quantities to prevent dehydration, such as rice porridge with salt solution, sugar salt water, or oral rehydration solutions.