Contagious and Infectious Diseases

 

Contagious and Infectious Diseases

Starting with cholera, plaque and smallpox, swine flu, bird flu, dengue and corona spread suddenly and take lives in clusters. These are pestilences.

Infectious disease:

Infectious diseases are diseases that can be easily transmitted from humans or animals to another person. Infectious diseases are disorders caused by organisms such as bacteria, viruses, fungi or parasites.

Spread through direct or indirect with infected people, food and water contamination or insect vectors, etc.

Food poisoning, lyme disease, and urinary tarct infection are infectious, but not contagious. 

Many organisms live in and on our bodies. They are normally harmless or even helpful. But under certain conditions, some organisms may cause disease.

Contagious disease:

Contagious diseases such as the flu, corona, colds, TB, chickenpox, measles, SARS and strep throat spread from person to person in several ways. One way is through direct physical contact, like touching or kissing a person who has the infection.

Spread through direct or indirect contact with infected people.

 Another way is when an infectious microbe travels through the air after someone nearby sneezes or coughs.

Airborne infectious diseases:

Ø Diseases like flu, measles, chicken pox, mumps, tuberculosis, swine flu, rubella, SARS (Severe acute respiratory syndrome) are airborne viral diseases.

Ø Airborne diseases can transmit through coughs or sneezes, spraying liquid, or dust.

Ø The microorganisms may come from a person or animal who has a disease or from soil, garbage, or other sources.

Ø The pathogens may enter the air in wet droplets, for example, when someone breathes or sneezes.

Ø Diseases like chicken pox are not only spread through the air but also through the water in its pus blisters from one to another.

Ø Ways of preventing transmission include the use of personal protective equipment and effective ventilation systems.

Symptoms:

Ø Cold, cough, intermittent fever, body ache are common symptoms.

Ø Diseases like chicken pox cause blisters, itching, swelling, watery discharge from the blisters etc.

Treatment and prevention methods:

Ø Air-borne infectious diseases like chicken pox will recover on their own within 10-15 days.

Ø Those who are sick should be kept isolated and kept clean. The living space should be kept clean.

Ø Vaccines are available for airborne diseases. By injecting shots, can the effects can be avoided.

Ø Avoid contact with patients.

Water borne diseases:

Ø Typhoid, amebiasis, black fever, gastroenteritis, rat fever, giardiasis, cholera, hepatitis A, diarrhea etc. are water borne diseases.

Ø Waterborne illness is caused by recreational or drinking water contaminated by disease-causing microbes or pathogens.

Ø Of note, many waterborne pathogens can also be acquired by consuming contaminated food or beverages, from contact with animals or their environment, or through person-to-person spread.

Ø Some diseases, such as Ebola, are spread by mosquitoes, by touching or kissing an infected person, or by using needles that have not been properly cleaned.

Ebola:

Ø Ebola, also known as Ebola virus disease and Ebola hemorrhagic fever, is a viral hemorrhagic fever in humans and other primates, caused by Ebola viruses.

Ø Symptoms typically start anywhere between two days and three weeks after becoming infected with the virus.

Ø The first symptoms are usually fever, sore throat, muscle pain, and headaches.

Signs and symptoms:

Onset:

Ø The incubation period is between 2 and 21 days, and usually between 4 and 10 days.

Ø Symptoms usually begin with a sudden influenza- like stage characterized by fatigue, fever, weakness, decreased appetite, muscular pain, joint pain, headache, and sore throat.

Ø The fever is usually higher than 38.3 degree Celsius or 101degree Fahrenheit.

Ø This is often followed by nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, and sometimes hiccups.

Bleeding:

Ø In some cases, internal and external bleeding may occur. This typically begins five to seven days after the first symptoms.

Ø All infected people show some decreased blood clotting.

Ø Bleeding from mucous membranes or from sites of needle punctures has been reported in 40-50% cases.

Ø This may cause vomiting blood, coughing up of blood, or blood in stool.

Recovery or death:

Ø Recovery may begin between seven and 14 days after first symptoms.

Ø Death, if it occurs, follows typically six to sixteen days from first symptoms and is often due to shock from fluid loss.

Ø In general, bleeding often indicates a worse outcome, and blood loss may result in death.

Ø People are often in a coma near the end of life.

Typhoid fever:

It’s spread through contaminated food, unsafe water, and poor sanitation, and it is highly contagious.

Symptoms:

Ø A fever that increases gradually

Ø Muscle aches

Ø Fatigue

Ø Sweating

Ø Diarrhea or constipation

Prevention and Treatment:

Ø Vaccines are recommended for people who are traveling in areas where poor sanitation and unsafe water are common.

Ø The vaccine can be injected via a shot or taken orally for a number of days.

Ø To prevent it, refrain from drinking any water that is not bottled and sealed, and do not eat food from villages or street vendors.

Ø Typhoid is treated with antibiotics.

Cholera:

Cholera is an infectious disease that causes severe watery diarrhea, which can lead to dehydration and even death if untreated. It is caused by eating food or drinking water contaminated with a bacterium called Vibrio cholerae. The disease is most common in places with poor sanitation, crowding war, and famine.

Causes:

Vibrio cholerae, the bacterium that causes cholera, is usually found in food or water contaminated by feces from a person with the infection. When a person consumes the contaminated food or water, the bacteria release a toxin in the intestines that produces severe diarrhea.

Ø Municipal water supplies

Ø Ice made from municipal water

Ø Foods and drinks sold by street vendors

Ø Vegetables grown with water containing human wastes

Ø Raw or undercooked fish and sea food caught in waters polluted with sewage.

Symptoms:

Ø Large volumes of explosive watery diarrhea, sometimes called “rice water stools” because it can look like water that has been used to wash rice.

Ø Vomiting

Ø Leg cramps.

A person with cholera can quickly lose fluids, up to 20 liters a day, so severe dehydration and shock can occur.

Signs of dehydration:

Ø Loose skin

Ø Sunken eyes

Ø Dry mouth

Ø Decreased secretion, for example, less sweating

Ø Fast heart beat

Ø Low blood pressure

Ø Dizziness or lightheadedness

Ø Rapid weight loss.

Treatment:

Ø It is normally dehydration that leads to death from cholera, so the most important treatment is to give oral rehydration solution, also know as oral rehydration therapy.

Ø The treatment consists of large volumes of water mixed with a blend of sugar and salts.

Ø Severe cases of cholera require intravenous fluid replacement.

Ø Antibiotics can shorten the duration of the illness. Anti-diarrheal medicines are not used because they prevent the bacteria from being flushed out of the body.

Giardiasis:

Giardiasis is a common illness caused by a parasite that may result in diarrhea and stomach cramps. The Giardia parasite can spread through contaminated water, food and surfaces, and from contact with someone who has it. Antibiotics can treat giardiasis.

Causes:

Giardiasis is caused by the parasite giardia intestinalis.

You can get giardiasis through:

Ø Drinking from untreated water sources such as lakes, streams, or swimming pools.

Ø Traveling to countries with poor sanitation practices.

Ø Working closely with young children such as in a child care center.

Ø Swallowing the parasite after touching a surface such as doorknob or toy contaminated with tiny amounts of infected faces.

Ø Having sex, especially anal sex, with an infected person.

Symptoms:

Ø Diarrhea

Ø Fatigue

Ø Unsettled stomach or nausea

Ø Stomach cramps

Ø Bloating or gas

Ø Dehydration, which may cause weight loss.

Treatment:

If you have more severe parasite symptoms, your provider may prescribe an antibiotic with antiparasitic effect to kill the parasite.

Ø Metronidazole (Flagyl)

Ø Tinidazole (Tindamax)

Ø Nitazoxanide (Alinia).

 It is important to follow your physician’s instructions and take every pill as prescribed. If not, you may not clear the infection and may need a second course of medication to get rid of the parasite completely.

Diseases transmitted by insects, parasites and animals:

Malaria, Dengue, Chikungunya, Meningitis, Plague, Rabies. These diseases are spread by animals like mosquitoes, flies, rats, dogs and parasites. Pathogens are transmitted to humans by water-dwelling mosquitoes. Dengue, Chikungunya etc. are transmitted by mosquitoes that live in freshwater.

Symptoms:

Ø Symptoms include cold, fever, headache, leg pain, joint pain.

Ø When disease reaches its advanced stage, serious effects such as convulsions, coma and even death may occur.

Methods of treatment and prevention:

Ø Medicines are available to control fever. Intensive treatment should be given to control pathogens.

Ø In the case of fever like typhoid, its pathogens do not completely leave the body. Medicines and pills should be taken regularly for as long as prescribed by the doctor. Otherwise it may strike again.

Ø Also, vaccines are available for these. During outbreaks, healthy people can avoid the disease by taking these vaccines.

Ø The disease can be avoided by keeping the environment clean. Avoid stagnant water around the house.

Ø Good water in wells, tanks should be covered with nets to keep out mosquitoes. Mosquito nets should be installed on the door, windows and bed to avoid mosquito bites.

Ø You can use mosquito repellents like mosquito bat that have no side effects.

Ø By vaccinating pets at specific times, if bitten by animals like dogs and cats, you can avoid the effects of rabies by consulting a doctor immediately and getting vaccinated.

Blood borne diseases:

Ø Hepatitis B, tetanus, sexually transmitted diseases, AIDS etc. are transmitted through sexual intercourse and blood.

Ø The disease is spread from one person to another by reusing needles, acupuncture needles, etc. that have been used by an infected person.

Ø Also, it is spread from one person to another by having sex with an infected person.

Ø Tetanus germs live on rusty nails and iron objects. These germs enter our body when rusty nails, iron objects prick or scratch the body and cause damage.

Symptoms:

Ø People with Hepatitis B have yellow body, fingernails and eyes. Its symptoms include persistent fever, body aches, tiredness, loss of appetite, and vomiting.

Ø Symptoms of advanced stage of tetanus include seizures, jaw cramping, painful muscle stiffness all over the body, trouble swallowing, headache, changes in blood pressure and heart rate, and coma.

Ø A sore on the genitals that does not heal for a long time is a symptom of STD.

Ø A sore that appears in the genital area does not heal for a long time, sudden weight loss, hair loss, loss of appetite, constipation etc. are symptoms of AIDS.

Methods of treatment and prevention:

Ø Vaccines are available for Hepatitis B. It can be controlled by healthy diet and healthy lifestyle.

Ø It is important not to use a needle used for one person for another. Avoiding sex with an infected person and using condoms for safe intercourse are ways to prevent sexually transmitted diseases like STDs and AIDS.

Precautions to be followed to prevent infection:

Health- promoting practices such as hygienic foods, clean hands, clean residence, covering nose and mouth carefully when sneezing and coughing, not sharing shaving razors, under wear, soap, combs, etc. with others, getting vaccinations, not being too close to animals, and not traveling outside during illness can prevent infection. You can completely escape from the effects of diseases.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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