it is nine minutes before nine o'clock
students in Northeast Florida fall back
in school now parents our children will
be exposed unfortunately to more germs
joining me this morning is Jennifer
Hickman she's a nurse practitioner with
Minute Clinic good morning thank you for
being here so there's all this
excitement you're sending your kids off
to school and in about a week or two
you'll probably be taking a lot of them
to the doctor and we do want to avoid
that which is why we've invited you on
here this morning first of all what are
the key illnesses and the symptoms of
those that parents really need to look
look for this time of year so the most
common ones in childhood is gonna be
strep and pinkeye especially going back
to school strep is going to come excuse
me with a sore throat sometimes they can
actually get headaches and fevers a lot
of times - in younger kids at your
elementary age they can complain it
tummy aches so if you have a skid that
has a sore throat running fevers always
a good idea to get them checked out yeah
because and it's hard also to to
determine whether or not this is just a
sore throat from some kind of viral
infection or if it's actually strep
throat because remember I I had strep
throat for many you know many times as I
was growing up and it kind of feels like
you're swallowing broken pieces of glass
I mean it really hurts to swallow when
you have it so the only way to determine
strep you can't tell by actually looking
at the throat a rapid strep test or even
a strep culture is the only way to
confirm strep all right so that's a way
to do with that and pinkeye it you know
a lot of times you know maybe they've
scratched themselves or they're itching
their eyes but there's kind of a lot of
gunk in the corner is that how you kind
of know what's pink all right so with
bacterial conjunctivitis you're gonna
see a lot of typically tell the parents
if it's yellow green and goopy that's
something to be concerned about but
there's many different forms of pinkeye
as well there's three different forms
actually there's viral there's allergic
and there's also bacterial so bacterial
is the one that does require antibiotic
drops viral you know as with a cold just
has to run its course and then allergic
of course can be treated with
antihistamines
yeah and pinkeye is really contagious
too you don't want to send your child to
school with this rash you'll infect the
whole class both strep and pinkeye
highly contagious so typically they need
to be out for at least 24 hours after
the diagnosis all right so let's talk
prevention also so what are some things
that moms and dads at home can remind
their kids to do particularly maybe
their younger ones to prevent bringing
germs and getting sick so hand-washing
hand-washing is the number one key to
prevention of the spread of illnesses
and of course sometimes it can be
difficult for the little ones to
remember to remember that especially
before they eat or drink they need to
make sure their hand-washing a good way
to teach kids is to sing two songs at
the Happy Birthday song as they're
washing their hands to give you the long
enough time to kind of get that soap
working and get those germs off the hand
and down the drain you know a lot of
kids and I remember when my daughter was
in kindergarten in first grade they
don't let them because there's so many
kids you're going to lunch they don't
let them go in and actually wash their
hands with soap and water per say what
about the antibacterial soap does that
work just as effectively exactly so of
course hand-washing is always gonna be
the preferred method but if soap and
water are not available or there's not
the time for it then absolutely using a
hand sanitizer they also make their hand
sanitizing wipes that you can use as
well now too so better than nothing
okay and what about you know obviously
on the supply list I know for my
daughter in elementary school is tissues
they are kind of readily hand you know
hopefully available to kids then in
class is that something that we need to
tell our kids about in terms of sneezing
and coughing and runny noses and I kind
of touch in the deaths so anytime they
have their runny nose always want to
encourage them make sure that they are
using a tissue not using their hands not
using their clothing if they do have to
sneeze the best way to sneeze is
actually the season to the bend of the
elbow rather than using their hands this
is interesting too because mersa can be
really rampant particularly in a locker
room and there are certain ways that you
can prevent the spread of this what
suggestions do you have the biggest
thing without is just making sure not to
share towels if you have to you know if
they have to take a shower make sure
that you're wearing shower shoes as well
so this isn't the younger kids but also
the teenagers too who feel that they're
invincible you know and then also just a
reminder because this happens a lot in
college and with the older kids sharing
drinks yeah bad idea
no never share food or drinks that's the
number one way to spray illnesses so
always make sure you have your own water
bottle and make sure to wash it
frequently as well all right thank you
very much for being here Jenna we're
always good to see you do appreciated