Child Specialist

 Scabies is an itchy condition caused by a mite scroptes scabie. The mite burrows under the skin causing intense itching. The itching is specially intense at night. Small red coloured lesions develop with burrows. It quickly spreads all over the body but specially around in underarms, inguinal region , near wrist, near the waist, between the fingers and near skin folds. Red coloured bumps develop everywhere. Scabies spreads through the entire family, in play groups, in schools. Therefore, the whole family needs to be treated. The main symptom is severe itching. Keep all bedding and linen clean and disinfected.  According to Dr Mubina Agboatwalla - child specalist in Karachi scabicide creams or lotions kill the mite and eggs. Permethrin or sulphur ointments are used and applied to all over the body. They are applied at night and bath given to the child in the morning. This is done for 3 nights or more. Generally whole family is treated.

Ear Pain is common in children and can be quite painful for the child. It can be due to number of reasons. Simple ear infection is also known as otitis media. It causes redness of the ear drum. In young infants who are breast feeding or on milk are more liable to develop ear infections. The Eustachian tube is very narrow and milk flows from the oral cavity to the middle ear cavity. Infection of the throat can spread to the ears. If the infection persists pus develops, the ear membrane is broken and pus is discharged outside. This condition needs urgent attention.  According to Dr Mubina Agboatwalla - Child Specialist in Karachi , use of antibiotics and drainage of pus. Sometimes a foreign body gets stuck in the ear canal of the external ear. AS the child tries to remove it, it goes in even further. This leads to further pain. And infection can set in too. Excessive wax production can block the ear and cause pain and irritation. Ear pain should not just be treated with ear drops but...

Neonatal Conjunctivitis is a common condition occurring in neonates characterized by infection in the eyes of the newborn. After 3-4 days there is redness and yellow colour discharge from the eyes. The eyes are watery and when the baby gets up the eyes are sticky with a yellow discharge. According to Dr Mubina Agboatwalla – Child Specialist in Karachi , conjunctivitis occurs in neonates when the fetus passes through the vaginal canal, and the vaginal secretions infect the fetal eyes. Generally, the infection is due to gram negative organisms. The mother should clean the eyes with sterile cotton using normal saline. Appropriate antibiotic drops are prescribed by the doctor. These generally need to be put every 2-4 hours. It takes around around one week to 10 days for the conjunctivitis to resolve.

 Acute Abdomen is a condition characterized by severe pain the abdomen. The pain is very severe, and the child becomes irritated and starts crying. The pain maybe continuous or in spasms. The child may   roll and scream in severe pain or it might be a continuous pain. There are many causes of acute abdomen. It may be acute appendicitis, acute pancreatitis, acute pylonephritis, urinary tract infection, intestinal obstruction, perforated ulcer, abcess, and constipation. .The management is initially conservative. According to Dr Mubina Agboatwalla – Child Specialistin Karachi the child should immediately be taken to the emergency. Nothing should be given by mouth. The doctors conduct investigations, including blood tests, X Ray, Ultrasound or even MRI. In nearly half the case, surgical intervention is needed. Do not give pain killers at home without consulting the doctor as it might mask the findings.

Candidiasis is a fungal infection generally affecting the mouth and in some rare cases the vaginal area. The mouth or oral cavity develops a white patch. Thick whitish yellowish patch coats the tongue and the gums, oral cavity. It is very painful and the child is unable to eat anything. The child is irritable and cries constantly. It can coat the whole or part of the oral cavity occurring in patches. It is difficult to remove when you try to remove it, blood oozes out leaving a rough bleeding surface. The same may occur in the vaginal area. According to Dr Mubina Agboatwalla – child specialist in Karachi the treatment takes at least a week to ten days including use of glycerine and nystatin. In addition, oral hygiene is very important. Use of folic acid and B complex syrups helps in early healing. The whole process may take a month in severe cases.

A low birth weight baby is known as a LBW. It is generally less than 2500 g.It basically means the weight of the baby is less than the gestational age. A LBW may or may not be premature. A full term baby can also be LBW if the weight is less than 2500g. A weight less than 1500 g is very low birth weight. Low birth weight babies generally are unable to suck properly. According to Dr Mubina Agboatwalla – A Child Specialist in Karachi   a few days they are fed with a feeding tube. Once sucking settles, breast feeding is started. They cannot maintain their body temperature so need incubator care. In addition, they may be hypoxic so may need oxygen therapy. They are more susceptible to infection, and can develop chest infections or septicemia. They are generally anaemic too LBW babies need special care and good nutritional care.

 Haemhorragic Disease of the Newborn is characterized by bleeding tendency in the newborn. It occurs chiefly due to deficiency of vitamin K in the newborn. Chiefly premature babies, low birth weight babies or babies with an immature liver are affected. It is characterized by bleeding tendency. Generally, the baby may start passing blood in the stool. This may be streaks of blood or frank blood. The newborn may pass blood streaks secretions from the mouth or nasal discharge. Or the baby might bleed from the umbilicus. According to Dr Mubina Agboatwalla – A child specialist in Karachi The baby may or may not be jaundiced. Every newborn needs to be given one dose of vitamin K at birth. Sometimes at birth the hospital does not give vitamin K to the newborn. This also leads to bleeding /Ceratain investigation like bleeding time, clotting time, PT, APTT need to be done to exclude other causes of bleeding. Treatment is giving 3 doses of injection Vitamin K on three successive days.