Common Pediatric Illnesses and Diagnosis

This assignment delves into the challenges of diagnosing common pediatric illnesses, focusing on bloody diarrhea and gastroenteritis. It explores age-specific causes, diagnostic considerations, and the importance of clinical history in determining appropriate treatment for infants, children, and adolescents. The text emphasizes the need for careful questioning of healthcare providers and parents to understand the severity of symptoms and potential underlying conditions.

Running Head: COMMON PEDIATRIC ILLNESSES 1
Common Pediatric Illnesses
Name
Institution

COMMON PEDIATRIC ILNESSES 2
Dealing with pediatric patients can be challenging as some of them have not yet developed the
essential communication skills to explain their situation. Bloody diarrhea is a common
occurrence in many children which might be influenced by many factors, and the best way to
find out the details is by questioning the health care providers. Some of the questions to ask are
the amount of blood in the stool as it might determine the extent of the illness. Is there any sign
of an anal fissure which might be contributing to the blood? Is the child feeling any kinds of pain
in the toilet? The pediatrician should also find out the possibilities of inflammatory bowel
infections in the patient (Dinleyici, 2009). These queries will change depending on the ages of
the patients as there are different causes and implications of a bloody stool for different children.
The infants below one year of age might experience the situation due to breast milk or cow milk
colitis. For children above one year of age, the condition can occur because of ulcerative and
Crohn's colitis. Their ages can, therefore, be a sign of a severe disease and it is, thus, essential to
put into consideration. A historical finding about the need for a clinical test is that although most
instances of bloody stool might be regular for pediatric patients, some of them require diagnosis
as they might be a severe detection diseases (Dinleyici, 2009). Bloody stools for older children
who are above two years of age might be the signs of Bacterial gastroenteritis or even Crohn’s
disease. The most basic diagnostic studies to take are intestinal infections because they might be
the contributing factors to the condition. Examples of expected diagnosis in this case might be
bacterial gastroenteritis, crohon’s disease and ulcerative infection.
Gastroenteritis diagnosis can vary from food allergies and poisoning, cholera and Ulcerative
colitis which are more likely to face the young children. Vomiting cases are caused by many
factors depending on the ages of the patients involved. Sometimes it might be due to stomach
upsets and food poisoning, but some others are severe (NCCWCH, 2009). For infants, it might

COMMON PEDIATRIC ILNESSES 3
be difficult to establish the real cause of vomiting, but most of the times it is due to infections in
the intestines. The situation might be indicated by higher temperatures of up to 38º C or even
higher which necessitates the need for a doctor examination. The case differs for older children
whereby vomiting is mainly because of infectious gastroenteritis. They occur for a short while
after taking meals which might contain bacterial toxins. In adolescents, the situation might be
similar to that of children, which are mostly infections. It might, however, differ in the cases of
pregnancy, gastric ulcers, an overdose of substances and drugs, pancreatitis and much more for
adolescents (NCCWCH, 2009). According to clinical findings, a diagnosis is crucial in the cases
of gastroenteritis in children as it might be a sign of severe infections of the intestines which can
lead to health complications (NCCWCH, 2009). The primary diagnostic study should be of the
food intake that the child has taken in the past days to examine the presence of toxins. Poison
and allergies in diet contribute to Gastroenteritis and should, therefore, be taken seriously. Since
some of these patients are too young to realize the extreme of their pain, parents should always
investigate the situation and seek medical advice when required.

COMMON PEDIATRIC ILNESSES 4
References
Dinleyici, E. C., Eren, M., Yargic, Z. A., Dogan, N., & Vandenplas, Y. (2009). Clinical efficacy
of Saccharomyces boulardii and metronidazole compared to metronidazole alone in children
with acute bloody diarrhea caused by amebiasis: a prospective, randomized, open label study.
The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene, 80(6), 953-955.
National Collaborating Centre for Women's and Children's Health;UK. (NCCWCH) (2009).
Diarrhoea and vomiting caused by gastroenteritis: diagnosis, assessment and management in
children younger than 5 years.