What Causes Reye’s Syndrome, How Is It Treated?

In this article, we have told you all you need to know about Reye’s syndrome, which is an unknown but very dangerous, insidious and actually common disease.

What is Reye’s syndrome?

Reye’s syndrome, a disease frequently seen in young and adolescent children, is usually seen after viral infections such as chickenpox and flu . After the symptoms appear, it causes fat accumulation in the liver and pressure in the brain, and can cause serious damage.

This syndrome can be confused with many diseases such as meningitis, brain inflammation, poisoning. Therefore, it is useful to have a detailed examination.

This disease is not well known by the society, but it has been determined that 1 million children are diagnosed with Reye’s syndrome every year.

What causes Reye’s syndrome?

The problem caused by this disease has not been fully determined. As we mentioned above, it is seen after virally transmitted diseases. However, there is an interesting finding that research has revealed. 90% of the children who had Reye’s syndrome after these diseases used drugs containing aspirin and paracetamol. So there is a serious relationship between Reye’s syndrome and aspirin.

Apart from these, harmful substances emitted into the air with environmental pollution and genetic predisposition are also thought to cause Reye’s syndrome.

What are the symptoms of Reye’s syndrome?

Following diseases such as colds, flu, chicken pox, rubella ;

• Nausea and excessive vomiting
• Confusion and loss of consciousness
• Tiredness,
• rapid breathing,
• state of irritability,
• Defect of vision,
• fire ,
• muscle weakness,
• speech disorder,
• Conditions such as an uninterested mood can be signs of Reye’s syndrome. When such symptoms are observed, a doctor should be consulted.

Early diagnosis is important in Reye’s syndrome, as in many diseases. When symptoms begin, treatment is applied to prevent the disease from causing damage to the brain and liver. However, the longer it is delayed for treatment, the brain damage and some physical disabilities may occur.

How is Reye’s syndrome treated?

There is no specific treatment for Reye’s syndrome. However, the symptoms can be alleviated, treatment can be done and the child can regain his health. If the child has intense fever and vomiting, he can be treated in the intensive care unit.

In order to reduce the symptoms, the child must be under observation. Increasing the amount of fluid in the body and maintaining the electrolyte balance is one of the important issues in treatment.

Since Reye’s syndrome affects the liver, it is necessary to check whether there is fat by performing a blood test. In addition, tomography should be applied to determine whether the disease causes edema in the brain.

As a result, if your child has a virally transmitted disease, you should not give him any medicine, aspirin, that you have not approved by the doctor. When you think you are doing your child a favor, you can do him great harm. Therefore, you should not use drugs according to your head and consult your doctor.