Summer ends and School Year starts in a couple of weeks, and for the last part of our health series, is an illness which can be acquired not only during Summer but the whole year round, involving mostly school children buying foods from stores which may not be as clean as we all hoped they'd be. It is a serious illness we all should make our kids aware of, so that in schools and everywhere else, they would be more conscious on what and where to get their food from. Because Food poisoning has been known to happen to children in schools for the past decades, taking lives of small children and making hundreds of others seriously ill for days, it is imperative that we know how to deal with its effects: Diarrhea with Vomiting.
Here in our country, Diarrhea with Vomiting (Suka at Tae) is one of the leading causes of deaths among children, and this is due to contaminated foods and water, or when they have unintentionally swallowed an object. Diarrhea with Vomiting, or Gastroenteritis as it is often called, may be caused by an infection due to viruses, bacteria (cholera, salmonella or shigella) or parasites. Irritable bowel syndrome, acute kidney failure, drug overdose, antibiotic use, lactose intolerance and cancers (pancreatic, colon or brain cancer) are among the many conditions associated with Diarrhea and Vomiting. I have known some who are susceptible to gastroenteritis by mere exposure to heat, and Summer days can be feverishly hot.
It is a condition characterized by nausea and vomiting accompanied with loose watery stools. Dehydration is almost always inevitable, with the salts and minerals in the body getting lost, and a mildly dehydrated person may be treated with rice soup and oral re-hydration salts.
A severely dehydrated patient however, may experience weakness, confusion, acidosis (too much acid in the blood), shock and even kidney failure, and in such cases, hospitalization may be required.
The following occurrences should be considered for medical attention: For adults with diabetes or other medical condition, head injury in the past 24 hours, stomach pains, headache, dizziness and fainting, vomiting blood or blood in the stool. For children, if less than a year old, with fever, blood in the stool or vomit, or signs of dehydration.
As Summer ends, we should enjoy it to the last minute by steering clear of the 6S Diseases we have been warned against. Safety first is what I say, in health and in everything else, and may we all enjoy and remember the summer of 2015 as the best yet.
