Q: Does a cold always cause encephalitis?
A: No, it does not.
Let's be clear about two problems:
Firstly, children grow up with countless colds, but the incidence of encephalitis, pneumonia, myocarditis and severe hand, foot and mouth disease is relatively low. However, most children do not suffer from these diseases once.
Secondly, the serious illnesses and complications are unpredictable much less medically preventable. They are the natural progression of the disease.
"No medicine available" does not mean "nothing can be done".
As a parent, you have to be conscious of taking actions when your child has a cold, which includes close observation, careful care, and appropriate symptomatic treatment. In particular, you need to pay attention to the mental state of your young child, as depression and personality changes may be a sign of a serious illness.
A cold does not require a full hospital stay to rule out the possibility of encephalitis. On the one hand, the incidence of encephalitis is extremely low. Another hand, except for a very small number of viruses, the majority of viruses do not have specific antiviral medications and are used by physicians as an aid to maintain the child's vital signs and thus buy time to wait for spontaneous healing.
The incidence of post-flu encephalitis is low and coincidental, which has little to do with the use of medication, so parents need not take excessive precautions. Usually, mild cases of encephalitis do not bring sequelae.
