Inflammation of the kidney caused by pathogens is pyelonephritis. In children, the symptoms of such a disease most often begin to develop at a very young age. The inflammatory process is excited by penetrating the kidneys, as a rule, Escherichia coli or Pseudomonas aeruginosa, enterococci, protea, staphylococci. Symptoms of pyelonephritis in young children often include diarrhea or, on the contrary, constipation, dysbiosis, which indicates digestive disorders. Based on this, doctors conclude that often the infection enters the kidneys from the intestines, and the lymphatic vessels serve as the main pathways for its spread.
Even when the treatment of pyelonephritis in children is completed and there are no signs of the disease, it is impossible to say with confidence about a complete recovery. In the kidneys for a rather long time (up to six months) harmful substances will remain. And although they themselves are not dangerous for the body, they contribute to the entry of other pathogens into the kidneys, which can provoke the re-development of the inflammatory process.
Clinical picture
Girls are more likely to experience pathology than boys. But in infancy, the incidence of the disease in babies of both sexes is almost the same. Pyelonephritis in children, the symptoms of which include pain in the abdomen and lower back, impaired urination, general poor health (weakness, fever, sleep disturbance, loss of appetite), also causes blanching of the skin, in some cases a jaundice.
Pain in the abdomen and lower back is quite weak, rather they can be called aching. They intensify when jumping, bending, that is, any actions that change the position of the body in space. During urine reflux from the ureter to the kidney, an extremely severe cutting pain occurs, and the temperature rises. The rest of the time, pain is practically absent and appears only when tapping the kidneys. Pyelonephritis in children, whose symptoms are usually not supplemented by edema and an increase in blood pressure, causes a slight increase in the amount of urine excreted. In this case, it becomes opaque and gets an unpleasant odor.
When analyzing urine, an excess of the norm of the content of leukocytes, protein, cells of the renal tubules, salts (not always) is detected in it. Acidity also changes up or down, which depends on the type of pathogen. A blood test also shows an increase in the number of white blood cells.
Features of the course of the disease in infants
In infants, the pain syndrome is even less pronounced than in older children. What signs make pyelonephritis suspected in children? Symptoms include crying, lethargy or, conversely, agitation, refusal to feed, and so on. The bad thing is that such signs are not at all specific and may indicate a variety of pathologies. At the same time, delay and failure to provide timely adequate therapy is fraught with extremely negative consequences. In infants, the infection is rapidly spreading from the kidneys to the whole body, which leads to the development of sepsis. The work of many organs is disrupted, with severe pyelonephritis, brain damage can occur. But nevertheless, one should reassure the parents somewhat and say that this does not always happen. In some cases, in infants, the inflammatory process is easy, accompanied by only minor symptoms. But sometimes this is where the danger lies, because such weak manifestations of pyelonephritis can make it difficult to make the correct diagnosis, which will not allow timely treatment to begin.