Experts warned: “Diarrhea is the third most common cause of death worldwide in children aged 1-59 months”

Pediatric Infectious Diseases Department Faculty Member Assoc. Prof. Dr. Soner Sertan Kara said, “Diarrhea is the third most common cause of death worldwide in children aged 1-59 months” and gave information about the importance, prevention and treatment of diarrhea in children.

Pediatric Infectious Diseases Department Faculty Member Assoc. Prof. Dr. Soner Sertan Kara stated that diarrhea is a common health problem in children and carries serious risks especially for infants and young children. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kara stated that diarrhea should be taken seriously and said, “Diarrhea is the third most common cause of death worldwide in children aged 1-59 months. Diarrhea is usually accompanied by nausea, vomiting, fever, abdominal pain, cramps, loss of appetite and headache and the most common cause is intestinal infections. These infections are spread from person to person through germs, contaminated food, drinking water or poor hygiene. The biggest danger of diarrhea is dehydration. Symptoms of severe dehydration include drowsiness, sunken eyes, decreased desire to drink water, low blood pressure, accelerated pulse rate and decreased urine output.”

Kara listed the measures to be taken to prevent diarrhea and said, “Use of safe drinking water, hand washing and compliance with hygiene rules, exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months, Rotavirus vaccination. If the number of diarrhea and vomiting is too high, if the child does not want to drink water, if there are signs of fluid loss, if there is blood in the stool, if the child is younger than 6 months or has a chronic disease, a physician should be consulted. Diarrhea is a preventable and treatable disease and diarrhea cases can be prevented to a great extent with the use of clean food and water, compliance with hygiene rules and Rotavirus vaccination.”