Making Sure a Common Cold Does Not Get Worse

I went to visit the home of a family in my village because I heard their son was coughing a lot, which could mean pneumonia or a cold.  The boy was a 7-month-old named José Miguel and his mother’s name was Cecilia. The baby seemed to be in good spirits but I said I needed to examine him anyway. I asked the mom how long the baby had been coughing and she said he has always coughed a lot, since he was born. I asked if the baby has had diarrhea or has been vomiting. She said no, just the coughing has been persistent. So I said, let’s take the baby’s temperature. He had a mild fever. I measured his breathing rate to see if he had pneumonia. Fortunately, his breathing was fine, but I could see from the mucus coming out from his nose that he definitely had a cold. I assured the mother that this was nothing serious, but I warned her that we needed to treat the cold to prevent it from becoming worse. I told Cecilia that she needed to give the baby the medication as instructed, for no more than three days. “If you notice he has diarrhea or he starts vomiting, please look for me so that I can support you,” I said.