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Thanks to a recent conversation on the Littlebearabroad Instagram account with our followers we realised that it was really tricky to figure out the Swedish name for some really common illnesses. Or, translate what they really meant. Imagine, Google translating the symptoms of ‘vinterkräksjuk’ in the middle of the night with a crying baby.
| English word | Swedish word | Description |
| Common cold | Förkylning | It’s expected that the child should remain off school until the worst of the symptoms are over. Unfortunately, kids in Sweden have a runny nose from Sept – May so, good luck with that. Go with your gut instinct people! Apparently kids have 12+ common colds a year. |
| Cough | Hosta | A cough with a cold or croup. |
| Fever | Feber | Pretty obvious… get those rectal thermometers at the ready!! |
| Eye infection | Ögoninflammation | This could be caused by a number of things but often it follows a cold. Pink eye/conjunctivitis is highly contagious and outbreaks often happen at förskola (sticky fingers). |
| Ear infection | Öroninflammation | Small ears, noses and throats are susceptible to infections in close quarters (förskola). |
| Stomach flu; SND | Maginfluensa; magsjuk eller kräksjuk | This word is derived from two words – ‘mag’ which is ‘stomach’ and ‘sjuk’ which is ‘sickness’. Highly contagious and rips through a förskola in days. In Sweden you might hear reference to something called ‘vinterkräksjuk’. This is exactly the same as Norovirus or winter-vomiting bug. It is sometimes called Calicivirus in Sweden, too. |
| Chickenpox | Vattkoppor | Does what it says on the tin… |
| Scarlet Fever | Scharlakansfeber | It’s a bacterial infection that is caused by Strep A. |
| Impetigo | Svinkoppor | Eeewwww |
| Head lice | Löss | Get the nit comb at the ready! No hat swapping. |
| Threadworm; pinworms | Springmask | **warning** over the counter treatment for this is often difficult to get your hands on in Sweden. You could try getting it from a doctor but my advice would be to get it sent to you from a relative abroad. Stock up from home. |
| Scabies | Skabb | Microscopic parasite that burrows and lays eggs under the skin causing an itchy allergic reaction. |
| Hand, foot and mouth | Höstblåser | Viral infection |
| Water warts | Mollusker | yeuch… |
| Tonsillitis | Halsfluss | Depending on the number of times a child gets this you can request to have tonsils removed if it is recurrent and impacting the child’s overall health. |
| Rubella | Röda hund | Commonly prevented by the immunisation received in the Swedish child vaccination programme. But… it’s BACK!? <eye roll> |
| Ring worm | Ringorm | yeuch… |
| Mono | Körtelfeber | No kissing…please |
| Slap-cheek | Femte sjukan | No idea why it’s called Femte sjukan… but, it’s slapcheek. |
| Measles | Mässling | For a time Measles was non-existent. And then some idiot told a big fat fib and now it’s on the rise due to idiots not getting their kids vaccinated. |
| Whooping cough | Kikhosta | Someone once told me they weren’t getting their kid vaccinated against whooping cough because it didn’t exist anymore… yeah… VACCINES <eye roll> |
| Warts | Vårtor | Like the ones you get at the swimming baths. |