Child Skin Rash

Children are mostly affected by various skin disorders. There are some common skin rashes that affect them more than the adults, primarily due to their sensitive skin and a relatively weaker immune system. While some rashes can occur due to bacterial or viral infection, some may be caused because of allergic reactions to medicine or to some other allergens.

Bacterial and Viral Rashes
We all know that children, especially infants and toddlers, easily get affected by the viral and bacterial infection. Various common childhood illnesses are due to the bacterial and viral infections. Same is the case with skin complications.

Chickenpox
Chickenpox, a very communicable disease, medically known as varicella is spread by the virus varicella-zoster. Children who have weak immune system are usually affected by this disease, at some point of their childhood. Though, this disease lasts less than two-three weeks, it can make the child very uncomfortable. A child suffering from chickenpox will show symptoms of fever, sore throat, and fatigue. The skin rashes will show their presence after 10-20 days of exposure to the virus. Chickenpox is characterized by redness in the skin area with small red spots that eventually rupture and the lesion forms a crust. As such, there is no treatment of chickenpox, however, vaccinations are provided to the infants, so that, the viruses don't affect the child. Medical supervision is must and parents must not give any medicine to the child without the doctor's advice.

Measles
Measles is a skin rash, that occurs if the child has not received complete vaccinations. It is caused by the virus Paramyxovirus, a type of virus that is responsible for respiratory diseases. In measles, the child experiences symptoms of nasal congestion, eye redness and cough. Mostly, this rash causes fever in children, that can go to a very high degree. In several cases, the child may look sick and troubled with his appetite. There is no specific treatment for measles and once it affects the child, it takes its own time to fade away. The vaccine for measles is given at the age of 12-15 months and it consists of MMR (measles-mumps-rubella), that is a combined vaccine for measles, mumps, rubella. Here are some other common skin rashes that generally affect children:

• Scarlet Fever
• Rubella
• Roseola Infantum
• Impetigo
• Fifth Disease

Poison Ivy Skin Rash
It commonly occurs on the children's skin, after they come in contact with the poison ivy plant. Poison ivy and poison oak produce urushiol, an oily soapy substance, that irritates the skin and causes itchy rashes on the skin. Even clothes that come in contact with it can cause skin irritation. Treating poison ivy rash involves some home remedies and taking precautionary measures, so that, these skin rashes don't cause much allergic reaction to the child's skin.

Skin rash is a problem that must be effectively cured by proper treatment. Some rashes are very dangerous and they can be very harmful for the health of a child, especially for toddlers. Petechiae, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF) and hives are some examples of the life-threatening conditions. It is to be understood, that once the skin rash appears, it may take a long to treat them. So, prevention is the best option. It is important for the kids' health that you occasionally visit the doctor and get their medical checkup done frequently.