Children and colds go together like peanut butter and jelly. Day cares, in addition to being centers of learning and socialization, are complete cesspools. Young children experience far more colds than teens and adults because their bodies havenât developed the immunity to fight against the various germs in the world. And itâs wild out here.
Parents with children in day care or school know that sickness is to be expected. But when one 5-year-old was exhibiting cold symptoms for months, it was time he visited the emergency room.
This child had a lingering cough.
Most colds will clear up or at least improve within seven to 10 days, Healthline notes. But a boy in Paraguay spent the past three months coughing, according to the US Sun.
The boy, who has not been named, started coughing in December 2022. He was finally taken for medical treatment this month. It was during this exam that doctors discovered the reason he didnât seem to be getting better.
Once doctors found the reason for the cough, the boy was transferred to another facility.
While at the hospital, doctors ran a series of tests and were shocked by their discovery. An X-ray taken at the Hospital Regional De Villarrica, GuairĂĄ, revealed a metal spring was lodged in the boyâs left lung. Once the issue had been identified, the boy was taken to the National Institute of Respiratory and Environmental Diseases for further treatment.
The boy will have decreased lung capacity because of the spring.
On March 8, medics removed the spring and the boy was reportedly in stable condition. The procedure was complicated by the amount of time the object had spent in the boyâs body, according to Dr. Carlos Morinigo.
Unfortunately, it caused some damage to his lung during that time, but Morinigo is confident the boy's lung capacity will increase as he grows.
Morinigo warned parents to seek medical attention if cold symptoms seem to linger too long.
The physician shared images of the spring in the boyâs lung on social media.
âThree months of coughing. Never been taken to the doctor. Poor little thing,â he wrote, translated from Spanish. He took the opportunity to remind parents that if their children are suffering with persistent, lingering symptoms, they should take them to the doctor.
