How dangerous can mouth rot become in babies?

As a rule, the herpes virus is a rather harmless contemporary. However, the disease becomes problematic when it affects unborn or very young babies at the age of about 8-10 weeks. During this period, the immune system has not yet developed enough to keep the virus weak.

Damage to the eyes, the skin or even microcephaly (too small a head) is the result, as the virus spreads systematically. Newborns fight with the infection for up to six weeks and can be very weak during this time despite medication. They drink little and vomit frequently. Since an inflammation can then also spread in the brain, it is essential to intervene and administer an antidote.

Diagnosis

The diagnosis “mouth rot” is mainly a diagnosis of the gaze. The doctor knows typical signs and symptoms of this disease and knows exactly that this type of blisters is related to mouth rot. However, as there are other vesicular diseases of the oral mucosa, a laboratory analysis is carried out in uncertain cases.

This requires some saliva, which is cultivated and evaluated under the microscope. After the final diagnosis, the doctor can initiate the appropriate therapy. If the baby suffers from mouth rot, a pediatrician should be consulted.

Drug treatment is only indicated in exceptional cases when the course of oral thrush is particularly severe. At first an attempt is made to lower the fever by taking paracetamol. The pain can be relieved by an anaesthetic gel or cream. Furthermore, the doctor will prescribe bed rest and ask not to meet any friends until the healing process is complete, as they can easily be infected. In many cases, the symptoms can also be relieved by home remedies, making the healing of the disease relatively pleasant.

Course of mouth rot in babies

After infection, the disease begins to spread within a maximum of 26 days with a general feeling of illness and fever. At first, the gums swell up, but no pain develops. Next, the insides of the cheeks become inflamed and small whitish yellow blisters form on the palate, tongue and gums.

Over time, these aphthous formations burst open and release an extremely infectious fluid. Whitish ulcers develop, whereby the mucous membrane slowly and painfully becomes encrusted and pus sometimes forms. In this phase, eating and drinking hurts very badly and the little ones do not want to eat anything.

This can be very dangerous. Sometimes the pain can even be so severe that no more fluid can be supplied and the children have to be given water via infusions. The pain only gets better after about 2-3 weeks when the blisters slowly dry out and everything heals. After the infection, there is immunity to oral thrush. However, the viruses remain in the body for a lifetime and can become active again at a later stage.