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EXERCISE J In this exercise, you will watch a demonstration of how to assess and classify a child with fever. You will see examples of signs related to fever and measles. You will practice identifying stiff neck. Then you will watch a case study. For each of the children shown,
answer the question Does the child have a stiff neck YES NO Child 1 Child 2 Child 3 Child 4 *** 6.0 ASSESS AND CLASSIFY EAR PROBLEMA child with an ear problem may have an ear infection. When a child has an ear infection, pus collects behind the eardrum and causes pain and often fever. If
the infection is not treated, the eardrum may burst. The pus discharges, and the child feels less pain. The fever
and other symptoms may stop, but the child suffers from poor hearing because the eardrum has a hole in it. Usually the eardrum heals by itself. At other times the discharge continues,
the eardrum does not heal, and the child becomes deaf in that ear. Sometimes the infection can spread from the ear to the bone behind the ear (the mastoid) causing mastoiditis. Infection can also spread from the ear to the brain causing meningitis. These are severe diseases. They need urgent attention and referral. Ear infections rarely cause death. However, they cause many days of illness in children. Ear infections are the main cause of deafness in developing countries, and deafness causes learning problems in school. The
ASSESS & CLASSIFY chart helps you identify ear problems due to ear infection.
