My doctor always says my kid has a virus, but I don’t understand how my child can get so many “viruses”!
There is nothing more frustrating than when a child keeps getting sick. Especially after starting school, daycare or just having a sibling.
Understanding what a virus is and the many viruses that can and will affect children can at least let you know that many times this is normal.
Read more: Why does my child get so many ear infections?
Read more: How much Tylenol or Ibuprofen do I give?
Read more: What is the flu ( influenza) ?
Read more: What is RSV?
What is a virus?
A virus is an infection that needs a living thing (like a human, but can also happen to animals and plants) to grow and reproduce.
Antibiotics DO NOT kill viruses or help people recover from viruses faster.
There are over 200 different viruses that can affect humans and viruses tend to have a “season” where a few viruses dominate the schools and then make way for a new round of viruses.
You are familiar with this during “flu” season, or “RSV” season or of course the pandemic when Coronavirus was dominant.
When you work in the ER for a long time you can almost tell the time of year based on what viruses we see in the ER.
How many viruses is normal?
The average child less than 6 will get 8 to 10 infections a year! See below for how do viruses spread and why kids so commonly spread viruses in the house or school.
How long should my child be sick?
Fever is usually the “strongest” (highest and more frequent) during the first 3 days and then starts to go down over the next 2 to 3 days.
If a child has a fever that starts, goes away for a few days and then has a new high fever right after that is when we worry about a new bacterial infection on top of the virus (like pneumonia or an ear infection)
Any fever with a very focal symptom, like ear pain, pain with urination, joint pain or chest pain should be evaluated immediately by a physician.
With common cold viruses a child can cough for up to two weeks and runny nose can last in most children for more than 7 days.
My kid gets sick since starting school.
Yup they do. Because kids are gross, they’re cute but gross. Seriously, it’s because of how viruses spread that kids in school and daycare are affected so easily
For most “cold” viruses the easiest way to spread from one person to another is when the mucus (i.e boogers) that carry the viruses are spread on the hands and fingers from one person to another and then that person touches their nose, mouth or eyes.
Viruses are also easier to spread the more time people spend together and the closer they are together. This is why viruses spread so easily in schools and homes with large families.
How many different viruses can a child get?
A lot! While an average child in daycare may get 10-13 viruses a year, they are often different viruses each time.
In fact, before the pandemic most pediatricians and people who see kids in the ER could almost predict the season and weather based on which viruses they were seeing the most. This “seasonality” is now returning back to normal post-pandemic.
For example, in the northern hemisphere (where the United States is) we see most of our cold and flu viruses in the winter. In the Southern Hemisphere (like Australia), it is the opposite and flu viruses are seen more in the summer.
So healthcare often tries to “forecast” our flu season like forecasting the weather based on what is happening in Australia since these viruses travel across the globe getting people sick. Remember viruses need people to stay alive so moving across the world like that makes sense.
Different viruses cause different symptoms.
Different kinds of viruses cause different symptoms. Most people are use to the symptoms of influenza (muscle aches, fever, tiredness). But there are TONS of other viruses that cause common symptoms:
Enteroviruses: can cause simply a high fever, sometimes rash, sometimes with mouth sores and ulcers (we then call it hand-foot-mouth), and in some cases a headache caused by meningitis
Vomiting and Diarrhea viruses: There are so many that cause vomiting and diarrhea. But it’s not just one! Vomiting and diarrhea can be caused by Rotavirus, Norovirus, Sapovirus, Astrovirus and Adenovirus!
So when you think “How can my child have vomiting and diarrhea AGAIN and the doctor thinks it’s a virus?” – remember that more than one virus can cause those symptoms.
* Interesting fact is that during the 2019-20 pandemic pediatric vomiting and diarrhea illnesses decreased because so many children were in isolation
Sore throat viruses: Did you know that the most common cause of fever and sore throat in young children is NOT Strep Throat, but viruses?
More about strep throat in a later post!
Adenovirus, Coxsackie A virus, and even COVID 19 are all known to cause sore throat and fever in children/
Pink eye viruses: Adenovirus is probably the most common cause and has a normal time course of about a week and usually gets better on it’s own, even if we never treat with drops or ointment.
Each of those viruses we talk about are also a collection of dozens of different “variants”.
People remember this from the pandemic or from bad influenza seasons where a new virus variant can become more dominant, and people can get infected more than once in one season. This is why you can get Influenza or COVID more than once in a year.
Viruses need a living thing to keep going, so the reason that viruses spread so easy is because it is their job to spread from person to keep going. It is also the reason that little children spread viruses so easily in class, daycares and homes.
This is overwhelming
Yes, as a parent I agree. Staying home from work, tending to a sick child is exhausting.
Perhaps the most frustrating is that with all these viruses there is rarely a “quick fix” to get them back to school and life back to normal.
Pink eye, vomiting, coughing, runny nose, sore throat — you will not escape these things as a parent of a young child but you can empower yourself with some of the knowledge here to know that you will get through this.
Take the time to read this website about common viruses and infections so it doesn’t feel so overwhelming. Discuss this topic with your pediatrician so you understand what you can manage at home (and use the resources here!).
