Many parents habitually apply oxolinic ointment to their child's nose, believing it will protect the little one from a cold. Kazakh pediatrician Nurzhamal Aubakirova explained why this method is completely useless and even unsafe to a certain degree, reports the website infohub.kz.
"Recently I had a family with a five-month-old baby at my appointment. It turned out that to protect the child from viruses, the mother was smearing oxolinic ointment inside the baby's nasal cavity. And I realized that for many parents this is still the norm. But you can't do that," the doctor said.
According to the pediatrician, oxolinic ointment is ineffective because everyone has ciliated epithelium in the nasal cavity. And it is precisely this that works against viruses.
"These cilia work like a broom. When a virus enters the nose, these hairs sort of sweep it back out of the nasal cavity. But when you apply oxolinic ointment, you immobilize these cilia. And it turns out that the child is left without natural protection against viruses. That is why applying oxolinic ointment inside the nasal cavity is not recommended," she explained.
How to protect a child
According to Aubakirova, it is actually quite simple. You need to create certain conditions so that the cilia continue to move well in the nose.
"To do this, you need to maintain cool, humid air in the room where the child is. Because in dry air the cilia move more slowly. You can also moisturize the nasal cavity using saline solutions," the doctor recommended.
Earlier, the pediatrician said that the popular drugs "Stopdiar" and "Enterofuril" are useless for childhood vomiting and diarrhea.