Anemia in Children...

It may be more widespread than you imagine, Madam!

"Is it true that my child suffers from anemia?" This is what one mother asked the doctor, in astonishment, forgetting that this disease is not confined to adults but extends beyond them to children. And how great was her disappointment when the doctor began explaining it and its prevalence among children. The color of the face's complexion is not to be relied upon in knowing whether or not a child is stricken with anemia. Pallor of color is not necessarily one of its signs, just as a radiant face does not indicate its absence.

What is anemia? It is the absence of a sufficient quantity of red blood cells in the body, or a deficiency in the quantity of Hemoglobin in those cells. In the case of severe anemia, the deficiency occurs in both substances, the hemoglobin and the blood cells, and the name Primary Anemia is applied to this disease.

As for Pernicious Anemia, it is among the worst cases of anemia, and it strikes adults. The disease that usually strikes children, however, is milder in its weight, thank God, and if it is discovered early its cure becomes easy by means of the necessary diet and medicines; this type of anemia is known as Secondary Anemia.

If we tried to learn the first signs of anemia in children, what must we observe in order to detect them?

1 – Constant pallor of the face.

2 – Loss of the redness of the lips and beneath the fingernails.

3 – The turning of the red color to gray on the tongue and the membrane of the mouth.

4 – A slight yellowing of the eyelid.

5 – Excessive and continuous fatigue.

All the points set out above are early tokens of the disease. The tokens of the disease's aggravation are these:

1 – Shortness of breath, so that when the patient climbs the stairs he feels a tightness.

2 – Palpitation of the heart; and if the mother cannot detect this, the doctor can detect it by means of his Stethescope, and it may not be difficult for him to detect it also by feeling the pulse, thanks to his experience.

3 – A rise in the patient's temperature at times.

The first stage the mother must pass through for the sake of the soundness of her child's health is to have him medically examined and to learn whether or not the disease of anemia is present. If its presence is established, the second stage is the discovery of its cause. The balance tips, as the cause of anemia in a child, toward continuous bleeding or other accidents, such as wounds and the like, that entail the shedding of an ample quantity of his blood. Some may wonder at small infants being stricken with anemia, but that results from the cause of cutting the cord immediately after birth.

Children of strong constitution are able to recover the blood they have lost by eating kinds of food rich in protein and iron—the substances necessary for the formation of the red cells in the blood. Protein is abundant in meat, eggs, and cheese, and in a small quantity in vegetables. As for iron, it is found plentifully in meat, especially in liver, and it is likewise found in an ample quantity in spinach, bread, eggs, and milk.

The second cause of anemia results from disease caused by germs.

The diseases that strike the upper part of the respiratory system, the Upper respiratory tract, have a direct effect on the presence of the disease of anemia; indeed, every infection harms the organs concerned with the forming of blood.

The third cause of anemia results from insufficient nourishment; but it must not spring to the reader's mind that this type of anemia is confined to the poor who are not in easy enough circumstances to eat what is delicious and good, like the pampered and refined. The heart of the matter here is the kind of food, not its quantity. There are statistics proving that many children of the well-to-do are stricken with anemia, as a result of their excess in eating a limited kind of food and their neglect of the remaining necessary kinds, such as meat, vegetables, eggs, etc. Likewise, many children of the poor, despite the smallness of their parents' income, eat a simple, varied diet containing what the body needs of the substances necessary for the soundness of the individual's health.

Rarely does anemia occur as a result of the destruction of the red cells after their formation, owing to disease or poisoning; and if it does occur, it is treated with medicines and the necessary diet.

Whatever the causes of the disease may be, the child stricken with anemia must be examined at successive intervals until the Hemoglobin Count resumes its normal state.

There is no doubt that the prevention of a disease is easier than its treatment—so why neglect it until it takes firm hold of a person? Since the child is exposed to being stricken with anemia after an illness or after accidents in which bleeding occurs, why should he not be medically examined, if only to set the mind at rest? For disease, when it first preys upon the human creature, is weak, fearing to meet stiff resistance; but it quickly grows severe and masters him if it finds the road easy for that.

Wisdom requires that the blood test be made a compulsory part of every general medical examination; and if the least suspicion of it appears, then begin at once, Madam, to fight it. For the ringing cries sent out by the specialists in the rearing of children, urging upon mothers the necessity of having their children examined even when they are free of illness, are nothing but clear proof that "a dirham of prevention is better than a qintar of cure."