Infections in small children and their families - symptoms,consultations and antibioitcs

Abstract: Infectious symptoms in infants and their families are common. With rising age the number of symptom day decreases, but increases again for the parents of infants. About one quarter of the symptom days lead to absence from daycare among the infants but the social remuneration system was used by the parents only in 1/3 of the absence days. Among the adults 12% of the symptoms days lead to absence from work and, here the social insurance system was used in 75% of the symptom days. A small proportion of the symptom episodes leads to a physician consultation and antibiotic prescription. The differences in antibiotic prescription to small children between different communities in Sweden could not be explained by differences in reported infectious symptoms, differences in socioeconomic factors, daycare, ?concern about infectious illness? in the family or physician consultations. This indicates that physicians? habits are of importance. Infectious symptoms are more common among infants in daycare than among infants in home care. When infants in daycare are taken to consult a physician they are treated in the same way as infants in home care as regards antibiotic prescription It is possible with little additional effort to inform and train personnel at daycare centres and parents about infections and how they are spread, within the framework of ordinary preschool activities. There was a greater understanding of when a child should be kept at home and when a physician should be consulted. In the small interventional study there was a trend towards lower sickness absence, fewer physician consultations and fewer antibiotic prescriptions to the children.