The sixth disease
The sixth disease is caused by Herpes virus 6, which exists in two forms, which is why it can be contracted twice.
It mainly affects young children between 6 months and 2 years of age and is more frequent in autumn and spring, although it is present throughout the year.
The disease has an incubation period of about ten days and is manifested by a mild respiratory infection and sudden and high fever (even 39-40 ° C), the child may appear nervous or irritable, have a decrease in appetite and swollen lymph nodes in the neck. Fever can cause, in rare cases, convulsions that usually occur with loss of consciousness, muscle stiffening, this can last a few minutes, and in any case these symptoms do not cause permanent damage. In this case it is good to call the pediatrician immediately or take the child to the emergency room, it is also important to lay the child on his side to prevent him from suffocating in case the tongue goes into his throat, at the end of the seizure it is necessary to give him antifebrilis to lower his temperature and moisturize it with liquids.
After three / four days, the rash appears: small dots, as large as the head of a pin, pink in color; they appear first on the trunk and neck and then expand on the arms and thighs and do not cause itching, then disappear within 24/48 hours. Finally, in the last days of the illness, muscle and joint pains may occur.
The infection occurs through direct contact with the mucus or saliva of the infected patient, or with the respiratory droplets emitted by coughing, sneezing or even simply by talking. The virus penetrates through the mucous membranes of the upper respiratory tract.
It is not necessary to leave the nursery, for example, when the disease has manifested itself as the child is no longer contagious. It is good to underline, for the serenity of all mothers, that the sixth disease does not, in general, cause consequences or even serious complications.
See also
The diagnosis of the sixth disease is essentially based on clinical observation; it is not particularly easy because initially the symptoms could suggest a flu-like syndrome, while in the following the symptoms could lead to suspect rubella or measles or even skin manifestations of an allergic nature.
The only certainty is the "isolation of the responsible virus in the blood or saliva, but this is not recommended due to the high costs of the tests.
Typical of the sixth disease, especially if the affected subject is an adult, is a notable reduction in the immune defenses.
How is it prevented? There are no vaccines and, in all cases, preventive measures are not necessary because it is a mild and short-lived disease.
It is called the sixth disease because it represents the sixth infectious rash. In medicine, exanthematous diseases are classified as follows: the first is scarlet fever, the second is measles, followed in order by rubella, the fourth disease or scarlet and the fifth disease
