Child Specialist

Vitamin D deficiency is becoming more common these days. This is chiefly due to less intake of milk and milk containing products such as eggs, cheese, butter etc. In addition, sunlight plays a very important role in active conversion of vitamin D. According to Dr. Mubina Agboatwalla-A Child Specialist in Karachi People have started living in flats with little or no ventilation, and no sun light. Children do not play outside in the parks. They are busy doing homework, watching TV or playing games on the computer or mobile. Therefore, they are not exposed to sunlight. All these factors contribute to vitamin D deficiency. Children complain of aches and pain in the body, especially leg pain. Diagnosis is through testing vitamin D levels as well as X-Ray diagnosis.   Treatment is with Vitamin D administration generally in the form of drops. Treatment continues for at least 2 months depending on the severity of deficiency. In addition, exposure to sunlight must be ensure...

Pneumonia is common in children in the cold weather. All respiratory infections are not pneumonia but sometimes simple cough and cold can lead to pneumonia. Pneumonia is responsible for nearly 17% of deaths in children under five years of age. Basically, pneumonia means infection of the lungs. Sometimes, there is consolidation of the lobe of the lung, called lobar pneumonia. This occurs in older children. In others the whole lung may be involved in a patchy manner known as broncho pneumonia. According to Dr. Mubina Agboatwalla-A Child Specialist in Karachi , this initially starts with common flu like symptoms, fever, cough and cold. However, gradually the fever starts getting high grade and the cough increases. The respiratory rate tells us a lot about the pneumonia. If the respiratory rate is more than 50 breaths per minute in infants or more than 40 breaths per minute in children less than 5 years, which is considered as a dangerous sign. Other signs include presence of a depressio...

Tuberculosis is a dreaded disease in third world countries. It is considered disease of poverty. The disease generally occurs due to close contact with the infected person and the droplets causing infection. Tuberculosis of the lungs, known as Pulmonary Tuberculosis is most common. There is generally a history of tuberculosis in the family. The child suffers from low grade and sometimes high grade fever. There is history of weight loss for months. The fever also continues for months, and does not respond to general antibiotics. There is a continuous dry cough though it is not too severe. Sometimes, you can feel lymph glands like nodules. These lymph glands are matted, hard and rubbery. They may also occur in the axilla. According to Dr. Mubina Agboatwalla-A Child Specialist in Karachi , X-Ray of chest is quite diagnostic in this regard. The physician by looking at the X-Ray can make a clinical diagnosis of tuberculosis. In addition, the ESR is raised. Another diagnostic test is M...