Beware of Congenital Heart Disease in Children: Recurrent Cough and Fever Symptoms
Parents are being urged to be more vigilant about their children’s health, especially if a child frequently experiences recurrent coughs and fevers within a year. This condition is a strong indication of Congenital Heart Disease (CHD).
Cardiologist and paediatric cardiology and CHD consultant Dr. Asmoko Resta Permana explained that a cough in CHD cases differs from a cough caused by a sore throat or a common viral infection. In CHD, the cough is triggered by a leak in the heart.
“Yes, an inflammatory cough is due to inflammation in the throat, a viral or bacterial infection, but in congenital heart disease, there is a leak,” Asmoko said during a health discussion commemorating Congenital Heart Disease Awareness Week in Jakarta recently.
Asmoko explained that in CHD cases, the heart pumps blood with great force. However, a leak in the blood vessels leading to the lungs causes the organ to accumulate fluid or become “flooded.”
This fluid-filled lung condition becomes an ideal place for bacteria to multiply. As a result, the child develops pneumonia or lung inflammation characterised by a recurrent cough and fever.
“So if our lungs are flooded, bacteria really love to multiply there. So the child gets an inflammatory cough too, a recurrent feverish cough, that is called pneumonia,” he clarified.
Because the symptoms are similar, this condition is often mistaken for a common respiratory tract infection such as the flu or even tuberculosis. The difference is that a cough in a child with CHD tends to be frequent or persistent.
In addition to cough and fever, there are several other clinical signs that parents should be aware of. Asmoko regretted that this condition is still often overlooked, both by parents and health workers who are late in making a diagnosis. Delayed treatment can be fatal, with the child at risk of dying before receiving intensive care in hospital.
He urged parents to immediately seek early detection at a health facility if they find these complaints in their child so that a CHD diagnosis can be promptly confirmed and treated appropriately.