It all starts on Instagram: the mother of a little boy says she saw a “red line” appear under the foot of her 17-month-old son, photo in support.
Nothing to worry about? Not for this mother who regularly walks on social networks and who heard about an unknown disease there a year ago.
Driven by an intuition, the mother of the family therefore brought her son to the hospital … with good reason, since the doctors diagnosed him with lymphangitis.
A potentially serious bacterial infection
What is lymphangitis? Lymphangitis corresponds to an inflammation of one or more lymphatic vessels, these “pipes” which (in the body) are responsible for transporting the lymph, the liquid which brings nutrients to the cells and evacuates their waste.
Lymphangitis is usually of bacterial and, more specifically, streptococcal origin. A streptococcus can enter the body through a small wound (a scratch, for example) and reach the lymphatic system.
In lymphangitis, red, hot and painful “lines” appear on the skin (similar to “cords”) which spread from the wound to the nearest lymph nodes – those of the groin, those of the armpit…
In parallel, there may be fever and headache. In the absence of treatment, lymphangitis can give rise to a generalized infection of the body – we speak of sepsis, and it is a medical emergency!
In her testimony, the mother speaks of a mosquito bite which would have been the cause of the bacterial infection. The child, meanwhile, was placed on antibiotic therapy for 10 days.
Source : Instagram / @jesuismaman_officiel
