Dr. Jean Taguebue, Pediatrician-Infectionist, Chantal Biya Mother and Child Foundation, Yaounde.

What risks people are exposed to given the dusty weather in Yaounde?

Children risk catching cough. If this happens, mothers should take them to hospital. The danger in this is that physicians might overreact by prescribing antibiotics, which are not necessary. The only thing to do when the child is coughing is to give cough syrup. The weather now is not only dusty, but it is also cold. The real risk is that this weather can give small lesions on the upper respiratory tract and allow germs to get into the blood stream and cause diseases.

But if the child is well vaccinated according to our Expanded Programme on Immunisation, they will be protected from many of these germs. It is the duty of the mother to say if there is a problem with the child before consulting a physician. If there are no complications, the doctor is only to reassure the mother, advise her on good monitoring and maybe give cough syrup.

What other precautions should people take at this time?

It will be very difficult to answer the question because children are exposed to dusty weather even at home. I cannot say there is a way of avoiding adverse weather conditions; neither can I advise parents to keep their children at home instead of taking them to school. But if the child is at home and the weather is cold, let the mother protect the child against cold.

 And if there are symptoms such as cough, fever, catarrh etc, the mother has to consult a doctor and avoid auto-medication. It is also better to immunise against flu because this is time for headaches, fever, running nose, etc. The other thing to do is to keep an eye on children in order to see if there are any complications.

What treatment should those who are affected by catarrh, flu, cough and diseases linked to the dusty weather seek?

The treatment is what is usually called supportive care. Supportive care means that it is not a specific treatment. The treatment for children is to see if the nostrils are blocked, check for fever and rest enough when they have flu. But if it is only catarrh and cough, wash the nose with physiologic serums and if there are any doubts, see the doctor. If the cough is serious after washing with serums, only add cough syrups. There is no need for antibiotics.

If you administer antibiotics, you wipe out all the germs sensitive to them and when any complications occur, the germs will be resistant and are not easy to cure with the usual antibiotics that we use in Cameroon. I advise colleagues to prescribe antibiotics only when there is real need. Ordinarily, affected people just need supportive care, wash the nose, reassurance and bring down the temperature. If the cough is strong, cough syrup will do; otherwise, washing the nose can solve the problem because giving cough medicine all the time gives way to complications of these diseases.