Babies and toddlers have a cold nose much more often than adults. There are different reasons for this and also different causes. Not always a real infection, in the sense of an illness, must be behind it, if an infant has a runny nose.
The infant’s nose is naturally still very narrow. To be more precise, it is the nasal passages of the infant (Meatus nasi), which still represent an anatomical bottleneck in the first year of life. As a result, a number of stimuli (e.g. bacteria, viruses, allergens, physical stimuli) can lead to breathing difficulties and a cold.
A “common cold” is generally referred to as infectious rhinitis, i.e. an infection-related inflammation of the nasal mucous membrane. In a broader sense, however, in everyday life one also includes all other symptoms of a rhinitis, which are characterized by impaired breathing and a runny nose. In their first year of life, babies often suffer from up to 10 colds, during which time a cold can also occur.
For babies, such a cold can be extremely distressing, since not only is breathing impaired, but also food intake and sleeping can be very difficult. In general, the children stand out because of their restless and whiny nature. Whether this is “normal” in this sense depends on the course of the illness, the child’s other general condition and many other factors that can only be clarified by a doctor.
For this reason, one should go to the doctor with a cold baby, especially if the symptoms last longer than a few days and the child is feverish. The following is an overview of various possible causes of rhinitis in infants and the possible treatment approaches. This overview does not claim to be complete and should only be understood as general information.
The common cold (“Rhinitis acuta”)
Acute rhinitis is an infectious rhinitis for which various germs can be responsible. There are hundreds of different germs that can cause a rhinitis. Most often, however, rhinoviruses and adenoviruses are the cause of a viral rhinitis.
A cold usually lasts a few days and is self-limiting. They are therefore harmless infections. Adenoviruses have an incubation period of 5 to 8 days and are transmitted by droplet infection and fecal-orally.
Serotypes 1-3 and 5-7 are responsible for respiratory tract infections. In addition, these viruses are also the second most common cause of childhood diarrhea. In addition to adenoviruses, rhinoviruses in particular are involved in the development of rhinitis in infants.
Rhinoviruses belong to the family of picornaviruses and are also transmitted faecal-orally or by droplet infection. The incubation period is somewhat shorter than for adenoviruses and is 1 to 3 days. With up to 50 % they are the main pathogens of snuffling in infants.
The disease then lasts about a week and has two frequency peaks in spring and autumn. A virus that can cause much more serious respiratory infections in infants and small children is the RSV (Respiratory syncytial virus). The incubation period is 3 to 7 days.
The virus is highly infectious and is transmitted by droplet and smear infection. In the worst case, besides a rhinitis, it can cause severe respiratory infections such as bronchiolitis, pneumonia and severe sinusitis. For infants, the germ is particularly relevant as a hospital germ on pediatric wards.
This means that infants can catch the germ during hospital stays. But other viruses, such as influenza viruses, can also cause rhinitis acuta in infants. Therefore, people with a cold should stay away from infants.
Viral infections of the nasal mucosa can pave the way for a bacterial superinfection in the infant. This means that it is easier for bacteria to settle in because the nasal mucosa is pre-damaged during the cold and the immune system is attacked. This manifests itself, for example, in a changed appearance of the nasal secretion (see symptoms).
