If your child has experienced bacterial infections, You might have treated it with antibiotics. It might have worked but there might also be an underlying condition that has never been resolved or diagnosed.
One such particular condition can be so dangerous and result in a deadly outcome of the patient. In search of an underlying condition that would cause these infections, We should look for signs such as tiredness and if child complains often about being tired or if it simply shows that that it’s tired. Aother sign we might look for is right over here. It is the paleness of the skin.
But this does not help us much if the child generally is pale by its nature if the doctor missed these additional symptoms. Well, the consequences can be deadly and search for the cause of this infection is not enough to just say oh! Well, It was a bacterial infection. We treated it even if they know what kind of bacteria it was. Something has made the child’s immune system weak and something has allowed an infection from one place maybe to spread to other parts of the body or to increase it at one spot we can find bacteria almost everywhere where we would try we would be able to find bacteria in the human body. So, They don’t always get the chance to grow and expand because we have our immune system that fights them. We also have these good bacterias that actually grow and help us preserve our in bodily integrity. They help us digest food for example so these bad bacterial organisms they cannot easily take over like that we must know what is causing all of that but what could cause a problem for a child to be in such danger or to be prone to develop infections. A skilled doctor should be able to recognize these additional symptoms and to order the following lab tests the lab tests are the ldh that is the electate dehydrogenase also hemoglobin which is basically a protein in our red blood cells and reticulocyte cell count in the blood. Right then, If these tests show an increase in the reticulocyte cell count ldh as well if the ldh is increased and yet hemoglobin is decreased. The doctor should order a microscopic examination of the blood cells and that is where the answer might be. I will not go into explaining these lab tests further but i will say quickly that they indicate a disease called sickle cell anemia. You see there is a disease called sickle cell anemia and it can cause your child to be tired or to have bacterial infections more often than other kids that might be a trouble for you now but in the future the disease can cause. Well, It can cause lung damage basically the lungs could be affected and it can result in your child’s death it can also cause heart failure. So, When we talk about sickle cell anemia we have to understand what it is well it’s a hemoglobinopathy. we already mentioned hemoglobin and sickle cell anemia is a hemoglobinopathy. In other words, Hemoglobin a protein in our red blood cells so red blood cells look something like this like a disc. This hemoglobin protein will just illustrate it like that it’s responsible for carrying oxygen from our lungs to the peripheral parts of the body such as the hand the head the brain and everything else so this hemoglobin is basically supplying the body with oxygen the red blood cells instead of looking like a disc what i have just illustrated here they kind of look like this in patients who do have this sickle cell anemia now they also can have obviously they have hemoglobin and they carry oxygen but there is a problem with these cells those are not healthy cells you see you have you can have a small blood vessel and a normal red blood cell can be squeezed through it because of its shape so something like this it can go through it right but in patients who suffer from sickle cell anemia this can happen.
All right, So these cells actually cannot sometimes go through small blood vessels because they kind of stick to each other and they are not able to change their form or be squeezed through the blood vessel the way a normal cell can. So, to simply put it. These cells can get stuck in small arteries and they can prevent blood from flowing to the distal organs, The peripheral organs of our body. This can affect any organ right every single part of our body requires blood whether it’s the biceps muscle or the brain or the eyes every part of our body requires blood so they can affect any org and therefore this disease can damage the brain of course the kidneys the kidneys and ultimately lifes, life of a child is in danger something so silly such as a small bacterial infection that was treated with a pill or simply pale skin you know things we are used to things that are common yet it can indicate something so grave that can leave permanent damage to the patient’s lungs heart and life. Luckily, There are many treatment options but sadly this condition is not often not diagnosed early enough so if you want to know more about sickle cell anemia then you can go to symtomsky.com/help/anemia and there you can find a lot a lot of stuff about anemia you could also go to anatomsky.com if you’re a doctor or student and you want to make videos like these.
Well both of you actually doctors patients can help us we’re trying to help you and other patients with this condition you can help us you can subscribe to our channel. I know it sounds generic subscribe to our channel like the video but if you subscribe to our channel more people can find out about this condition and you can also like the video that significantly increases the chance of patients who do have these symptoms realizing that they have this condition.
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