foot and mouth • Do not pack cotton into a draining ear. Packing the canal may force the discharge back into the middle ear. • Do not use a cotton swab or any other object to remove material from the canal. • Do not attempt to wash out a draining ear, since the eardrum may be broken or torn. MEDICAL TREATMENT Your doctor will gently clean your child's ear, inspect it, and diagnose the cause of the problem. Depending on what is found in the ear canal, treatment may include oral antibiotics, medicated ear drops, removal of a foreign body, an xray examination of the child's skull or mastoid bone, or surgery for cholesteatoma. In the case of a ruptured eardrum, antibiotics may be required for a long time, until the eardrum has healed and hearing has returned to normal. RELATED TOPICS: Deafness; Earaches; Swimmer's ear Dysentery SYMPTOMS в Severe or bloody diarrhea • prolonged high fever • Extreme weakness HOME CARE • Do not treat on your own. See a doctor. • While waiting to see the doctor, give the child plenty of clear liquids-tea, flavored gelatin water, and commercial electrolyte solutions (available from your pharmacist) are best • Limit or stop giving solid foods. Avoid giving foods with roughage (including vegetables and fruits, except bananas and apples), butter, fatty meats, and peanut butter. • Do not give the child milk. PRECAUTIONS • Always report severe or bloody diarrhea to your doctor. • A child with diarrhea needs extra liquids to avoid dehydration (a serious loss of body fluids). • Dehydration is more likely in younger children. Infants can become dehydrated rapidly (within 12 to 24 hours after diarrhea begins). • Do not give antidiarrheal medications to children. • When traveling, beware of unsanitary sources of food and water. • И you suspect dysentery, isolate the child and dispose of stools carefully. • Practice good hygiene at home. Dysentery Dysentery In popular usage, dysentery is taken to mean any severe form of diarrhea. More accurately, dysentery is an infection of the intestinal tract caused by one of several specific organisms. Dysentery causes diarrhea, but dysentery is a distinct disease. The germs that cause dysentery are salmonella and shigella bacteria. (Typhoid fever is caused by a type of salmonella bacteria.) Dysentery may also be caused by onecelled organisms called amoebas. Some doctors consider cholera to be a form of dysentery. Dysentery is the result of eating or drinking food, milk, or water that is contaminated with these specific bacteria or amoebas. It also may be contracted from someone who has the disease or is a carrier of dysentery. (A carrier is a person who has the germ in his body but is healthy.) Complications that may develop from dysentery include arthritis, meningitis, and intestinal perforations (ulcers). SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS The major symptom of dysentery is diarrhea. The diarrhea is often severe and is commonly bloody. The child may have a prolonged high fever (103°F to 105°F). infantum