Infectious diseases caused by different viruses and bacteria are governed by epidemiological peaks, and each microbe has its peak in incidence at a different time of the year depending on their contagious characteristics.
Specifically in the month of November, most infectious childhood pathologies meet, with the added feature that these infections are those that give more symptoms and take longer to heal.
This year, the transmission of the different microorganisms has been delayed a little, perhaps because this autumn has been very cold in Spain and the low temperatures also affect the bugs, but the truth is that little by little and without realizing it we have been entering in the part of the year in which children and their parents spend the worst.
This is faithfully reflected in the emergency rooms of the different children's hospitals. At this time, they must already be crowded. The number of children that can be treated in a hospital triples and even quadruples in the worst days of autumn and winter, if we compare them with the quiet summer guards.
In a tertiary hospital, such as the Twelve of October or the Child Jesus of Madrid, in an entire 24-hour guard at this time of autumn, an average of 400 children attended can be made compatible. This produces the fearsome waiting hours, which sometimes even reach up to three and four hours in the worst moments.
The truth is that most of the cases that are treated are not emergencies as such, but they could be easily treated in a Health Center, or monitored at home. But due to the overbooking of the Primary Care Centers, the current lack of pediatricians, and the parents' normal concern when seeing their sick children, the problem has a difficult solution.
In addition, in the majority of hospitals the number of toilets is not increased in response to emergencies, that is, there are the same doctors and nurses in summer as in winter. Recall that the emergency guards of doctors are 24 hours.
The pathologies that are most frequently treated at this point are:
- Gastroenteritis (vomiting and diarrhea): especially because of the rotavirus virus, which makes them very durable and symptomatic.
- High tract colds, both in newborn children and in older children.
- Fevers due to many causes, viral (such as influenza) or bacterial (such as tonsillitis)
- Bronchiolitis in the smallest and bronchospasm in the elderly
This is just a small example. The good thing is that most of these pathologies are banal although they are very symptomatic, and they are not usually serious or dangerous to health, although they do require close monitoring.
Before going to an emergency, we must assess whether the pathology requires it. If we finally decide to go to the hospital we must arm ourselves with courage and patience and remember that in the emergency room they will receive the children in order of severity, therefore to put a note of humor, in this case it would be convenient to have to wait.
