Child M.Q.A, 8 years old, in Hai Ba Trung district, Hanoi, went swimming while showing signs of sore throat and runny nose. After only 3 days, the child started to have a high fever, headache, stuffy nose, earaches and often had unpleasant cracks in the ears.
When he came for examination and was diagnosed with tayloritis. The cause was determined to be that the child was having a runny nose, while swimming, the mucus in his nose was pushed back to the middle ear through the eardreas, combined with swimming pool water that reached the ear but was not properly cleaned, causing infection.
Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thi Hoai An - Director of An Viet Hospital said that children with upper respiratory tract inflammation, especially rhinitis and nasal congestion, should absolutely not swim. Water overflowing into the ear or water pressure can easily change ear pressure, causing bacteria and mucus to spread, causing acute middle ear inflammation. If not treated promptly, the disease can cause complications such as duodenal perforation, affecting hearing.
Recently, many children have been hospitalized with unusual symptoms in their ears after swimming in rivers, lakes, and even swimming pools. Mid- ear inflammation is a common disease in young children, especially in the summer when the need for swimming increases. The disease is common in children under 5 years old, but older children are no exception.
What is worrying is that many people mistakenly treat themselves at home when they see signs of ear inflammation. Some cases of using small old oxygen in the ears, arbitrarily buying ear drops or even scraping antibiotics and spraying them in the ear canal when seeing pus flowing out. These treatments unintentionally cause the ear canal's protective cuticle to peel off, causing the wound to heal for a long time. Many patients come to the hospital with narrowed ears, inflammatory fluid that cannot be drained, causing pain, loss of hearing and even hearing damage.
side-effect ear inflammation in children, if not treated promptly, can cause perforation of the wardrobe, peripheral ear, affecting hearing ability. Children with poor hearing, especially when they do not know how to speak, can lead to language disorder, slurred speech, and even congenital deafness" - Associate Professor, Dr. Hoai An warned. More dangerously, the disease can also cause end times Complications such as meningitis, cerebral abscesses, facial nerve paralysis, affecting life.
Some warning signs of middle ear inflammation in children include severe earaches, hearing loss, ear whispers, a feeling of heaviness in the ears, a fever, can reach 39 degrees Celsius, children cry, stop eating, nausea, vomiting, difficulty sleeping, ear pus...
Associate Professor, Dr. Hoai An also recommends that many people go swimming but do not use ear drops, causing the swimming pool water to get into their ears and stagnate. Changing the pH in the ear canal creates conditions for bacteria and fungi to grow, causing ear inflammation. People with a history of ouder inflammation, duodenal perforation or abnormalities in the ear canal are more likely to have water stagnation and infection.
In hot weather, swimming pools often contain many bacteria and viruses. Some people lack hygiene awareness such as not showering before going into the lake, dipping in water, urinating in water or suffering from skin diseases but still swimming, increasing the risk of spreading the disease. In addition, ear inflammation can also occur due to scratches on the ear canal when using toothpickers, nails, or a history of skin diseases such as eczema.
If the water stays in your ears, just tilt your head, gently press the ear canal cover to let the water drain naturally, avoiding rough operations that cause further damage.
