Archive for the 'Infectious Diseases' Category

Dengue fever is the most common disease in the regions of tropical and subtropical regions of the world.

Now it has become the most common disease in all humans caused due to arboviral infection. This infection mainly spreads by the bite of an Aedes mosquito.

This mosquito usually transmits the infection by biting an infected person and then biting some other individual without infection.

Dengue fever is associated with certain abnormal health conditions:

Dengue fever is mainly caused by a group or family of viruses which are usually transmitted by mosquitoes. It is considered as an acute infection which is associated with sudden onset of illness followed by head ache, severe pain in your muscles and joints and also swollen glands.

If you are infected with the virus responsible for dengue fever, then you can also experience rashes on your skin for three to four days.

Most of the infections of dengue results in comparatively very mild illness but some times you have chances to get infected with dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF).

Due to this dengue hemorrhagic fever, your blood vessels starts to leak and leads to bleeding of your nose, mouth and also bleeding of gums in your mouth.

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Chicken pox, a highly contagious disease, is most commonly found in children between the ages of 5-10 years.

A child infected with chicken pox can develop the signs of infection after 14 to 16 days, after being exposed to infection.

Chicken pox mainly spreads through air and affects the children who have weak immune system.

If your child has weak immune system, then he/she has more chances to get infected with chicken pox by direct contact with the infected or even by breathing the droplets of infection.

The red itchiness on the skin of a child affected with chicken pox is mainly due to presence of varicella-zoster virus, a part of group of viruses called herpes viruses. It easily spreads through air from one person to another through direct contact or by other means.

Most of you might think of chicken pox as a mild disease and at most lasts for about 2 to 3 weeks and also rarely cause complications. But be aware; some times chicken pox can also cause severe complications even in healthy children.

Bacterial meningitis is a very rare, but actually a serious inflammation, which can become a life threatening problem for your kid, if not diagnosed in a better way.

Meningitis usually takes it origin in two different forms: one is viral and the other is bacterial.

Viral meningitis is very common and also not dangerous when compared with bacterial meningitis. As the symptoms associated with viral meningitis are quite similar to common flu, they cannot be diagnosed easily.

Kids are more prone to this bacterial inflammation!

Bacterial meningitis is most common in kids and children and it spreads easily between the children living in close quarters and also in teens and college students.

Children studying in boarding schools are considered to be at increased risk of getting this bacterial infection.

If your kids are suffering with any chronic illness like nose or ear infection, then they are more prone to get this inflammation. Impaired immune system is also one of the common reasons to increase the risk of bacterial meningitis in your children.

Bacterial meningitis is usually characterized with headache, chills, high body temperature or fever and also stiff neck, which cannot allow the person to lower his/her chin to chest.

Candida is the name given for group of yeasts that commonly affect the moist areas of your body like vaginal regions and also alimentary tracts.

These forms of yeast are normally found in lower bowel regions and causes infection to your skin.

The most significant form of this group of yeasts is Candida albicans.

This form of bacteria is present in small numbers in your body and causes no harm for you. It is controlled by the beneficial bacteria and also by your immune system.

When ever this beneficial bacterium is destroyed with harmful antibiotics, then these small numbers of Candida starts growing. When this growth of bacteria exceeds its tolerance level, then it can lead to weakening of your immune system.

Responsible factors for developing Candida:

• Usage of certain oral contraceptives, anti-ulcer drugs, steroids and also long term use of antibiotics can improve the growth of Candida in your body.
• Consuming high sugar contents is also one of the major reasons which will help in the development of Candida in your body.
• In women, during pregnancy, you have more chances for the development of candida bacterium in your body.

Anthrax is a disease caused due to the Bacillus anthracis bacterium that lives in soil. Most commonly, anthrax occur in animals. Humans can get this when there is a contact with infected animals or tissue from infected animals.

Three forms of anthrax disease that affects people often include:

Cutaneous anthrax:

This is an infection of the skin caused by bacterium.

During this infection, initially skin lesions will form and leads to blisters.

After that, the blister will break down into a black ulcer.

The nearby lymph nodes will also be infected and they will be very much painful.

If this disease is left untreated, it can spread to the blood stream and becomes fatal.

Inhalation anthrax:

This is also called as respiratory anthrax which affects the lungs.

It is due to the breathing the spores of the bacterium bacillus anthracis.

This affects when you breathe in airborne anthrax spores.

This disease develops when anthrax spores enter into the lungs. Antibiotic therapy will help you in preventing the disease.

The chief kind of inhalational anthrax includes hemorrhagic infection of the lymph nodes in the chest. Most of the affected people will have hemorrhagic meningitis.

Cholera is a serious form of bacterial infection which can lead you to death with in hours, if left untreated.

Contaminated water is the main source for cholera to spread.

It is an acute intestinal infection which is mainly caused due to intake of contaminated food or water.

Cholera is an acute illness which is mainly characterized with watery diarrhea. The toxin released by this bacterial infection increases the secretion of water and chloride ions in the intestine and develops massive diarrhea.

This bacterial infection can occur under certain epidemic conditions like poor sanitation, famines, crowding and during war times. The mild form of cholera is associated with a short incubation period of one to five days.

Don’t get confused with diarrhea and cholera

For most of the people, the signs and symptoms of cholera are not exposed and you will never feel any illness and infection, until the disease becomes serious. If you become sick with cholera, then you can experience mild to moderate forms of diarrhea and it is hard to distinguish the diarrhea caused with bacterial infection and with other problems. These are some of symptoms which you can rarely experience when you get cholera infection.

West nile virus is a dreadful mosquito borne disease which is most prevalent in warmer places.

As the temperature rises the growth in mosquito population rapidly increases.

These mosquitoes not only transmit west nile virus but also spread equine encephalomyelitis, a virus which causes sleeping sickness.

West nile virus not only influences people but also show its effect on birds, horses, and some other mammals.

Mostly humans are caught with this virus.

How to identify the west nile virus disease?

West nile virus does not show any signs and symptoms as such when you have mild effect of this virus but if it is severe then the following signs will help you to identify this virus:

• When you have mild effect, then you can feel slight head ache and low fever and body pains. Some times you can find some rashes over the skin with swollen lymph’s.
• The severe form of west nile virus shows high fever, weakness in muscles and stiffness in neck.
• If the infection is much severe then it may lead to paralysis and also there are chances to drive the affected person to coma.

The symptoms and effects of all hepatitis viruses are similar on the lungs; however, it is constricted in different ways.

The severity and duration of hepatitis infection depends on the organism by which the disease is caused.

There are different forms of hepatitis, but this disease is caused by one of several hepatitis viruses (A, B, C, D or E). This disease varies from acute to chronic.

Hepatitis A virus is transmitted primarily by fecal contamination of food and water or through person-to-person contact.

This infection is less dangerous when compared to other viruses. In rare cases, this virus leads to damage of the liver.

The person who has this infection may not have symptoms and the inflammation lasts only for a few weeks.

Once if a person acquires this infection, that person has immunity to this virus and will never expose to this infection again. People should protect themselves from hepatitis A vaccine.

Hepatitis B virus is transmitted from person-to-person through the blood at the time of sex, during birth, or by contaminated needles and syringes. Most of the people in United States get infected with this virus because of unprotected sex. This is considered to be the more dangerous infection as it can lead to cirrhosis of the liver, liver failure, or liver cancer causing severe illness or even death.

As chicken pox is a benign disease that usually occurs in children below 15 years of age, the aim of treatment is treating the symptoms.

Usually, treatment of chicken pox takes place at home until the symptoms are worse.

Since the chicken pox is a contagious disease, the patient should stay at home until the new blisters have stopped coming and all the old sores have healed well.

Fever, headache, muscle aches, and fatigue will be seen in patients, who suffer from chicken pox.

Acetaminophen is a drug that helps the patients to reduce those symptoms.

Depending on weight, dose of acetaminophen will be given.

Never give a child, who suffers from chicken pox, aspirin or the drug that contains aspirin as this will lead to a dangerous condition called Reyes Syndrome.

Getting relief from chicken pox:

Numerous baths helps in improving itching. Lukewarm bath for every few hours is helpful to reduce itching. One cup of baking soda to bath water is also useful for itching. Adding oatmeal to the bath water reduces the skin irritation.

Do not rub the skin with towel after bathing. Put the patient in cool environment as the heat and sweat will make itching worse.

What conditions outside the liver are associated with hepatitis C?

Several conditions outside the liver are associated with hepatitis C. These conditions are not common. Cryoglobulinemia is the condition most widely described. The condition occurs due to the abnormal antibodies presence that comes from hepatitis c virus stimulation of lymphocytes.

Inflammation of vessels in tissues throughout the body occurs due to the deposition of antibodies in small blood vessels.

Cryoglobulinemia symptoms include joint pain, weakness, swelling, skin rash, legs and feet swelling due to protein loss in the urine and nerve pain.

With special test, diagnosis of the disease can be done.

Cryoglobulins are identified in the test when the blood sample is exposed to the cold.

Treatment of hepatitis C infection can cure cryoglobulinemia.

B-cell non-hodgkin’s lymphoma, which is a cancer of the lymph tissue, has also been associated with hepatitis C virus. Due to the excessive stimulation by the hepatitis C virus of B-lymphocytes, abnormal reproduction of the lymphocytes can result. Anti-cancer therapies are required for high grade non-hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Lichen planus and porphyria cutanea tarde are also associated with hepatitis C virus. These conditions can be cured with interferon therapy.