Paediatrics- medical science relating to hygienic care of children and treatment of diseases peculiar to them.

Some Diseases of Children are as follows -

Blood disorders-

Anaemias- Normal haematological levels vary with age and sex. Hemoglobin level below 11 g/dL in children between 6 months to 6 years old or below 12 g/dL in older children is suggestive of anemia. Hemoglobin level below 5 g/dL indicates severe anemia, while those between 5-10 g/dL suggest moderate anemia.

Deficiency Diseases-

Vitamin A Deficiency (VAD) - results in blinding several hundred thousand children a year. It is now recognized not only to harm the eyes but also to increase childhood and mortality. Vitamin A is essential for normal maintenance and function of body tissues, for vision, cellular integrity, immune competence and growth. Vitamin A deficiency is therefore a systemic disease, most specific effects involving the eye.
Source- Rich sources of pre-formed vitamin A or retinol are cod liver oil, shark liver oil and liver. Moderate sources are butter, butter oil. & egg yolk.

B Complex deficiency-Vitamin B complex includes the following compounds: thiamine (B₁), riboflavin (B2), niacin (B5), pyridoxine (B6), folic acid and cyanocobalamin (B12), biotin etc.
Thiamine- exists in tissue mostly in the form of thiamine pyrophosphate (TPP), also known as carboxylase. It is required for the synthesis of acetylcholine; deficiency results in impaired nerve conduction.
Sources- Dried yeast, whole grain cereals, pulses, oil seeds and groundnut are good sources. Meat, fish and green vegetables are relatively poor sources.

Infectious Diseases-

Fevers in childhood-Fever is defined as an elevation of body temperature in response to a pathological stimulus. American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) has published a clinical policy on febrile children that chooses a rectal temperature of >38⁰ C (100.4⁰ F) as the most widely used definition of fever.
Whooping Cough-it is a highly contagious acute infectious disease of the respiratory tract caused by Bordetella pertussis. It is also known as the cough of 100 days.
Measles-It is a communicable disease manifesting with fever, cough, coryza, lacrimation and Koplik spots in the pre-eruptive phase and a maculopapular rash starting on 4^th or 5^th day of the illness. The rash heals leaving brawny pigmentation. 

Diseases of Newborn-

Asphyxia-When an infant is deprived of oxygen, an initial brief period of rapid breathing occurs. If the asphyxia continues, the respiratory movements cease, the heart rate begins to fall, neuromuscular tone gradually diminishes, and the infant enters a period of apnea known as primary apnea.

Convulsions- are caused by abnormal electrical discharges from the brain resulting in abnormal involuntary, paroxysmal, motor, sensory, autonomic or sensorial activity. About five percent children experience convulsions during the first five years of life. Motor movements consisting of tonic and clonic components are the most commonly observed phenomenon, except in the newborn period.

Neonatal sepsis- when pathogenic bacteria gain access into the blood stream, they may cause an overwhelming infection without much localization (septicemia), or may get predominantly localized to the lung (pneumonia) or the meningitis. Neonatal sepsis is the single most important cause of neonatal deaths in the community, accounting for over half of them. If diagnosed early and treated aggressively with antibiotics and good supportive care, it is possible to save most cases of neonatal sepsis.

Preterm or low birth weight babies-Preterm infants are those born before 37 weeks of gestation. A preterm baby is small in size (usually less than 47 cm long). The head is relatively large, sutures are widely separated and fontanel is large. The face appears small the buccal pad of fat is minimum. The breast nodule is less than 5 mm wide. The ears are soft. Testes are not descended into the scrotal sac. General activity is poor.