A Scoop of your Interest: Parents, Stop The Spread Of Diseases In Your Child's Daycare

Day care also involves health risks. The CDC (U.S. Centers for Disease Control) speaks of a growing need for controlling infectious diseases that frequently affect children in day care. Disease is often the result of clustering small children who tend to put everything in their mouths and who are untrained in proper toilet habits. A good center, though, takes health precautions seriously, by teaching the children to wash their hands after using their toilet. A good daycare centre does not accept sick children knowingly. If a child becomes sick during the day, they often call the parents and tell them to take the child home. Additionally regular medical exams of staff and children are also important precautionary measures. However parents have a very big role too, in stopping diseases in their child's daycare center

How do diseases spread?

Many common childhood diseases are contagious. That is, they spread from one person to another. Everyone knows that some illnesses (like chicken pox) can spread from one person to another but many people don't know that diseases like diarrhea, hepatitis, and impetigo can also spread.

Contagious diseases are spread by germs. Germs are so small that you cannot see them without a microscope. Yet just a few germs on a hand or on a toy may be enough to spread a disease.

Germs spread through body secretions. Intestinal tract infections spread through stool. Respiratory tract infections spread through coughs, sneezes, and runny noses. Other diseases spread through direct contact.

People can spread germs without being sick themselves. A person with a disease is often contagious before he develops symptoms. Sometimes people, especially young children, spread disease germs to their families and caregivers without ever getting sick themselves. This means that steps to prevent diseases must be followed ALWAYS, not just when the person is obviously sick. It is inevitable: children will get sick. They will get sick whether or not they are in day care. But in a day care center diseases can spread easily because large numbers of children from different families spend hours together in one place every day. The special problems of day care staff involve keeping ONE child's illness from spreading through the center to the other children, their families, and staff.

Starting A Child Daycare.
Complete Business Package To Help You Easily And Quickly Start Your
Own Profitable Home-based Day Care Business!
www.startingadaycarecenter.com

Starting Child Daycare.
Step By Step Guide To Help You Easily And Quickly Start Your Own
Profitable Home-based Day Care Business.
www.childcareanddaycareathome.com

Starting Your Own Home Daycare Business.
An Expert, Professionally Designed Guide On How To Start And Succeed
With Your Own Daycare Business.
www.startingadaycare.net

How To Start A Daycare.
Learn How To Start A Daycare. Complete System Includes A Step-by-step
Guide, Forms, Interactive Worksheets, Examples, And More.
www.howtostartadaycare.com

To prevent disease and plan ahead:

• Exchange important information with your day care center director when you register your child for day care. Be sure to include where the child's parent(s) can be reached during the day, your family physician and hospital of choice, and a person to contact in the case of an emergency in case you can't be reached (a relative, a neighbor, or other dependable adult).
• Provide the Center Director with any special information he or she should have about your child's medical history. For example: Has your child had any serious illnesses? Is your child taking any medication? Does your child have any allergies that you know of?
• Provide the Center Director with a copy of your child's immunization record. Have the Director keep this record in your child's permanent folder.
• If your child has had the measles or mumps, give your Center Director a note from your physician indicating the date of this illness.

Be sure your child receives all immunizations on schedule. Several diseases that used to be terrible problems for adults and children can now be prevented by immunization. This group includes measles, mumps, German measles (rubella or 3-day measles), polio, diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough (pertussis), Haemophilus Influenza Type B (Hib) and Hepatitis B. Some people think these diseases no longer exist or are no longer problems. THIS IS NOT TRUE. Cases still occur. The reason these diseases are no longer widespread problems is that people are being IMMUNIZED. If people stopped getting these protective shots for themselves and their children, these diseases would once again become common problems.

Because young children in child care groups are likely targets for disease, ALL children in day care centers need to have ALL recommended immunizations to protect themselves, their families, the other children, and the center staff.

Your Child's Age Immunization He or She Should Have Received
Vaccine Type	Birth	2 Mo(s)	4 Mo(s)	6 Mo(s)	12 Mo(s)	15 Mo(s)	4-6 Yrs
Polio vaccine(OPV/IPV)		X (IPV)	X (IPV)	X	X* (OPV)		X (OPV)
Diphtheria TetanusAcellular Pertussis (DTaP)		X	X	X		X	X
Haemophilus InfluenzaeType b (Hib)		X	X	X		X
Hepatitis B(Hep B)	X	X		X
Measles/Mumps/Rubella(MMR)					X		X
Varicella (Chicken Pox) (VAR)					X*
* 12-18 months

Alternative Schedules for Hib and Hep B
Vaccine Type	Birth	2 Mo(s)	4 Mo(s)	6 Mo(s)	12 Mo(s)	15 Mo(s)	4-6 Yrs
Haemophilus InfluenzaeType b (PRP-OMP)		X	X		X
Hepatitis B(Hep B)		X	X	X**
** 6-18 months

Arrange to take your children to the doctor to receive these immunizations on schedule. Also inform your Day Care Director when your child has received an immunization so his record can be updated. Your child cannot attend school, according to most city laws in the US, unless his or her immunization history is up to date, or in progress.

Make provisions for alternate day care when your child is sick. Sooner or later all children get sick. This causes changes in plans and expectations, and makes life complicated, especially for working parents. The best way to be prepared for these unavoidable sick days is to plan ahead. Think ahead of time what your choices will be:

• If you work during the day, find out your employer's sick leave policies.
• If it is difficult for you to take time away from work, find an alternative caregiver. This might be a relative, a neighbor, a friend, or other dependable adult you could call when your child is too sick to be at the day care center.

When illness occurs:

• Inform the Day Care Center Director if your child has been exposed to any contagious diseases. This includes the following the diseases: bacterial meningitis, chicken pox, diarrheal diseases (shigella, campylobacter, salmonella, giardia), diphtheria, hepatitis A, measles, mumps, pertussis (whooping cough), pneumonia, epiglottitis, or acute infectious arthritis, and rubella (German measles). If the Day Care Center staff knows that your child has been exposed to a measures to prevent spread of the disease. For example, if the child is exposed to a confirmed case of Hepatitis A, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene may suggest a type of medication for close contacts who were exposed.
• Keep your child at home if he or she develops any symptoms of contagious diseases. You may also want to consult a physician.

Symptoms:

If your child develops:

• Diarrhea (diarrheal diseases spread very easily among young children. If parents keep children with diarrhea at home, all children will get diarrhea less often).
• Severe coughing (to the point where the child gets red or blue in the face and/or makes a high pitched croupy or whooping sound after he coughs).
• Difficult or rapid breathing (this is especially important in an infant under 6 months old).
Yellowish skin or eyes (these may be signs of hepatitis).
• Pinkeye (tears, redness of eyelid lining, irritation followed by swelling and discharge of pus).

Keep him home until:

• the symptoms disappear.
• your physician decides that he can return to the center without danger to himself or to the other children and staff.

If your child develops:

• unusual spots or rashes
• sore throat or trouble swallowing
• infected skin patches (crusty, bright yellow, dry, or gummy areas of skin)
• unusually dark, tea colored urine
• grey or white stool
• headache or stiff neck
• vomiting
• unusual behavior (less active or cranky, cries more than usual, in general discomfort)
loss of appetite
• severe itching of body or scalp or scratching of scalp
• fever (100 degrees F or 37.8 degrees C or above for oral thermometer and 101 degrees F or 38.3 degrees C or above for rectal thermometer)

Keep him at home until:

• the symptoms disappear
• your physician decides he can return to the center without danger to himself or to the other children and staff.

Keep your child at home if he or she is diagnosed as having any of the following contagious diseases. Some of the diseases on this list are common, others are rare among children who stay in day care or at home. The uncommon infections are included in this list so that information will be available should a case occur in your child's center.

Disease	When the Child Can Safely Return to the Center
Bacterial Meningitis	When the Health Department indicates it is safe.
Chicken Pox	One week after the rash begins, or when all chicken pox are scabbed over.
Diarrhea	When he or she no longer has diarrhea.
Shigella, Giardia, Campylobacter, Salmonella	When your physician or the Health Department says it is safe.
Diphtheria	When your physician tells you it is safe.
Hepatitis A	1 week after the illness begins.
Measles	5 days after the rash appears.
Mumps	After the swelling subsides (or 9 days after the swelling begins)
Pertussis (whooping cough)	4 week after intense coughing begins, or 5 days after antibiotic treatment begins.
Pneumonia or epiglottitis orinfectious acute arthritis	If not due to H-Flu, when your physician tells you it is safe.If due to H-Flu, when the Health Department tells you it is safe.
Rubella (German measles)	5 days after rash begins.

Be sure to follow your center's policies for special disease control needs. Your Center Director will inform you if a case of one of the diseases on the chart above occurs in your child's day care center. You will be asked to:

• check for the symptoms of the disease in your child (your director will tell you what the symptoms are).
• take your child to the doctor if he or she develops symptoms.
• if he is diagnosed as having the disease, keep him at home until the doctor says it's safe.
• follow any special preventive measures your day care center recommends.
• report the reason for your child's absence from school as soon as possible.

A Scoop of your Interest

Parents, Stop The Spread Of Diseases In Your Child's Daycare

How do diseases spread?

To prevent disease and plan ahead:

No comments:

Blog Archive