Your son complains of stomach pain. Vomiting and a low-grade fever worsen his discomfort. Add all of these symptoms together and any mom might sympathetically shrug off this illness as a seasonal stomach bug. But could it be appendicitis?
Appendicitis, an infection that inflames a person’s appendix (a small structure attached to the large intestine that serves no purpose in humans), affects more than 80,000 American children each year, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians. The inflammation occurs mostly in children over the age of 6.
Dr. John Andersen, the chief of gastroenterology at Children’s Medical Center of Dallas and professor of pediatrics at UT Southwestern Medical Center, says parents should watch for the telltale sign of appendicitis: severe pain that starts near the navel and spreads to the lower part of the belly. “If the child is complaining about severe pain and is not doing the things he normally does, take him in to see a doctor right away,” he advises.
Treatment of appendicitis requires surgical removal of the appendix. If untreated, the appendix can rupture and spread the infection into the child’s abdomen, a rare but life-threatening condition.
