Paediatric Infectious Disease
Overview
Paediatric Infectious Diseases offers specialized service for the assessment and treatment of infants, children and adolescents who have been exposed to or infected with an infectious disease and minimize the risk of serious pediatric infections. We strive to address on issues related to prevention of infections in children.
Diseases treated
Clinical care is given to both infectious diseases that are difficult to diagnose and those requiring hospitalization such as bloodstream infections, meningitis (brain fever), serious pneumonias, complicated urinary tract infections, gastrointestinal infections, and all other viral, fungal, and parasitic diseases.
Why choose us
We provide family-centric, evidence-based infectious disease care from consultation and laboratory testing to highly complex interdisciplinary chronic care treatment.
Antimicrobial resistance is a pressing public health problem and overuse and misuse of antimicrobials is contributing to the speed and spread of antimicrobial resistance.
We run the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program which is dedicated to working with patients, parents, healthcare providers and researchers to counter antimicrobial resistance. We strive to ensure optimum use of antibiotics and other antimicrobials to improve patient outcome, reduce antimicrobial resistance and reduce healthcare cost. We work in collaboration with the adult antimicrobial stewardship program and the clinical microbiology laboratory.
Services Offered
- Outpatient clinic
Children are commonly referred for outpatient evaluation of recurrent or prolonged infections, persistent fever, suspected immune deficiency, enlarged lymph nodes, pneumonia, and a wide range of childhood infections.
- Inpatient Consult Service
Inpatient Consult Service for infections in pediatric patients admitted under other primary care team in diverse clinical areas including neonatal intensive care unit, critical care paediatrics, paediatric surgery, paediatric oncology, general paediatrics, paediatric gastroenterology and hepatology, paediatric cardiac surgery, paediatric neurosurgery and virtually all other paediatric subspecialties.
- Telemedicine service
Telemedicine service for complicated or persistent infections or any other queries pertaining to infection prevention.
- Diagnosis and management of childhood tuberculosis, HIV, congenital infections
- Management of infections in primary immunodeficiency, children with solid organ and stem cell transplants.
Facilities
- TB clinic
- HIV clinic
- Congenital infections clinic
- Immunocompromised clinic
- Travel and Vaccine clinic
FAQs
Fever is not an illness. It is a symptom, or sign, that your child’s body is fighting an illness. Infection is the most common cause of fever. Fever stimulates the body's defences, sending white blood cells and other "fighter" cells to fight and destroy the cause of the infection.
During fever episodes
- Your child may not be as active or talkative as usual.
- Your child may seem fussier, less hungry, and thirstier.
In children, a fever that is making them uncomfortable should be treated with paracetamol. Treating your child's fever will not help the body get rid of the infection any faster. It simply will relieve discomfort linked to the fever. The cause of the fever is evaluated by the doctor by doing the required physical examination and laboratory tests. Seek medical advice for your child with fever.
One of the commonest problems in children seeking a doctor’s advice is cough. Respiratory tract infection such as a common cold is the most common cause of cough. Young children usually have 6 to 12 respiratory tract infections per year, caused by viruses. There is no role of antibiotics in cough caused by viruses. Sometimes cough may persist for a longer duration after a viral infection called post-viral cough, where antibiotics in not helpful. Sometimes cough may be caused by bacterial infection in the throat or chest which should be treated by antibiotics prescribed by your doctor.
The repeated use and misuse of antibiotics can lead to resistant bacteria. Resistant bacteria are bacteria that are no longer killed by the antibiotics commonly used to treat them. These resistant bacteria can also be spread to other children and adults.
It is important that your child use the antibiotic that is most specific for your child's infection, rather than an antibiotic that would treat a broader range of infections.
If your child develops an antibiotic-resistant infection, a special type of antibiotic may be needed. Sometimes, these medicines need to be given by IV (vein) in the hospital.
Infection and malnutrition are intricately linked. Malnutrition can make a young child more susceptible to infection, and infection also contributes to malnutrition, which causes a vicious cycle. To prevent malnutrition a new-born baby is exclusively breast fed up to six months of age. After six months of age complementary feeds are started. It is important to know about introduction of appropriate complementary feeds in infants from your doctor.
VPDs are infectious diseases caused by viruses or bacteria that can be prevented with vaccines. Infections caused by these diseases can result in hospitalizations and can sometimes be fatal. The best protection against VPDs are vaccines. Protect your child against VPD’s by following the immunisation schedule advised by your doctor.
Doctors
