Dr. Zhang:
Half a month ago, a 3-year-old boy in our village accidentally fell into the cesspool while playing. Fortunately, he was found in time. After the boy was rescued, he had no other abnormalities except vomiting. But in the evening, the boy developed a high fever and was diagnosed as "drowning feces" after being sent to the hospital. He also said that the treatment was improper at that time. Excuse me, if a child accidentally falls into a cesspool, what should be done immediately? Chenzhou Reader Zhang Qiang
Readers:
Wang Xiaoheng, the Third People's Hospital of Chenzhou City, Hunan Province, replied that preschool children are curious and active by nature. In rural areas, children accidentally fall into fecal urinals (called drowning feces in medicine) from time to time. Because there are a lot of germs and toxins in the cesspool, children who inhale or eat by mistake can cause systemic poisoning symptoms, which can be manifested as fever, vomiting, diarrhea, convulsions, or even coma. If fecal residue blocks the respiratory tract, it can also endanger life due to suffocation.
Therefore, saving children drowning in feces must race against the clock. It is dangerous to only wash the whole body without other medical treatment. After the child is rescued from the cesspool, he/she should immediately pry open his/her mouth, pull out his/her tongue, quickly remove the feces and maggots in his/her mouth and nose, and keep his/her breathing unobstructed. Then he/she should wash his/her whole body with soapy water or clean water and immediately send him/her to the hospital for further examination and treatment.
After arriving at the hospital, children should be immediately given gastric lavage and catharsis to prevent the absorption of poison; After gastric lavage, the child should stay in the emergency room for observation, receive intravenous infusion treatment, and closely observe for at least 24 hours; If fecal drowning children are complicated with aspiration pneumonia and acute gastroenteritis, they need to be treated with antibiotics for 2-4 days.
