Hygiene

Question

Hello,

I have a question concerning hygiene with CF children. Some think that it is necessary to have the child shower and change all of the clothes. I usually do this every other day.

Would it not be an exaggeration to do this more frequently? My daughter is five years old, has two rabbits and a dog, and I pay strict attention to her washing her hands whenever she was in contact with the pets. After she goes riding, she always changes all her clothes immediately. In addition, I always put any clothes into the dryer after washing to get rid of any germs. Earlier, I often only folded them…

Sometimes I wonder if it would not be reasonable to keep folding the clothes without putting them in the dryer or ironing them.

Which hygiene measures are necessary, which ones are exaggerated?!?

Many thanks.

Answer

Hello,

Hygiene measures in CF are a broad field, and a some information keeps making parents insecure and partly goes well beyond the goal of reasonable behavior.

First of all you are asking whether it is important to have your child shower change her clothes completely every day. As you know, the sweat of children with CF contains a considerably elevated concentration of sodium chloride. In the warm summer months when your child sweats a lot, it is possible that so much salt build up on the skin that this leads to a strong skin irritation and sometimes also to uncomfortable itching. During this time, it can indeed make sense to give your child a shower every day. Otherwise, the intensity of washing depends on how dirty your child is. A daily shower is usually not necessary.

The same is true for changing clothes. Underwear and perhaps also socks should be changed every day, but the rest of the clothes can be worn for several days without a problem.

Due to the pets, you should strictly pay attention to the fact that they should not be taken into the bedroom or even the bed. Since many CF children show allergic reactions as asthmatics do, your child should take an allergy test in your CF clinic for rabbit, dogs, and horse hair.

After riding, all clothes should indeed be changed, and it does make sense for your child to take a shower then as well. Due to the fungus spores which occur in great concentration in the riding hall, these measures are necessary and sensible. You do not need to dry the clothes in the dryer.

Generally, a child with CF should experience the same hygiene measures as any other child. Concerning special precautionary measures regarding a pseudomonas infection, you should consult your CF doctors.

Kind regards
Dr. H.-G. Posselt

06.09.2010