|
Book |
Quote/Comment |
Mother in the Middle
Searching for Peace in the Mommy Wars, by Deborah Shaw Lewis
&
Charmaine Crouse Yoest
© 1996, p. 156 |
...members of the medical community
often consider the health effects to be the most serious drawback to group
care of children.
Children in day care settings are two to four times more likely to contract
infectious disease, as compared to preschool-aged children reared at home.
Category =
Caregiver, Disease |
Mother in the Middle
Searching for Peace in the Mommy Wars, by Deborah Shaw Lewis
&
Charmaine Crouse Yoest
© 1996, p. 156 |
In an article in Patient Care
entitled "Day Care Infections: Children at Risk," the authors stated:
During the first thirty-six months of life...children in day care centers
had significantly more infections during each year than children in home
care....
Moreover, children in day care had significantly
more severe illnesses than children in home care....
Category =
Caregiver, Disease |
Mother in the Middle
Searching for Peace in the Mommy Wars, by Deborah Shaw Lewis
&
Charmaine Crouse Yoest
© 1996, p. 157 |
According to the authors of an article
in the Journal of the American Medical Association, four factors
contribute to the transmission of infectious diseases in child day care:
1. Large numbers of children are in close physical contact.
2. Infants and toddlers have poor personal hygiene
3. Young children are susceptible to a variety of infectious organisms.
4. Infected children may be highly contagious before the onset of symptoms,
and some infected children remain asymptomatic*.
And of course, day care workers vary greatly in their use of good
hygiene.
*Asymptomatic -
Presenting no symptoms or evidence of disease.
Category =
Caregiver, Disease |
Mother in the Middle
Searching for Peace in the Mommy Wars, by Deborah Shaw Lewis
&
Charmaine Crouse Yoest
© 1996, p. 158 |
A few of the articles were downright
scary. According to several--including one in the Journal of the
American Medical Association and another in Pediatrics--one
little-discussed problem is the disturbing prevalence of "cytomegalovirus" (CMV).
Pediatrics reported that about half of the children under three years old
in large day care centers have active CMV infections. This virus is
often asymptomatic* and usually causes nothing
worse than minor diarrhea in young children. And
yet if these seemingly healthy (or only slightly ill) children transmit the
virus to a pregnant woman, it can result in congenital birth defects.
*Asymptomatic -
Presenting no symptoms or evidence of disease.
Category =
Caregiver, Disease |
