Major communicable diseases
Disease state is a state of discomfort whereby there is disturbance of the normal body function. This state of discomfort results from different causes and effects. There are several types of disease and they are being influenced by different factors such as environment, poverty, and other factors. Modes of contacting diseases are mainly categorized into communicable and non-communicable diseases. The communicable diseases are those diseases that spread from one individual to another through either by direct or indirect contact. The three major communicable diseases selected are the cholera, typhoid, and tuberculosis. The most affected countries are Tuberculosis...South Africa, Typhoid fever...India and cholera...Senegal
Typhoid fever occurs when an individual experience an increase in body temperature which is as high as 40 degree Celsius and accompanied by profuse sweating. There might also be associated history of headache, cough, rash, or gastroenteritis. This illness results from the infection with salmonella typhi and the condition as been termed with names such as gastric fever or slow fever. Tuberculosis is highly infectious and it is caused by mycobacterium tuberculosis. The affected individual shows various symptoms such as cough that is chronic in nature and with associated blood stained sputum. Other symptoms include night sweats, loss of weight, fever, and fatigue. The patient will then present with immunosuppression leading to some other infections. The Tuberculosis can also occur in some other parts of the body apart from the lungs.
Cholera occurs with some form of diarrhea that is painless but profuse and vomiting at same time. The patient tends to lose large amount of body fluid and dehydration set in. Those body changes eventually leads to low blood pressure which also leads to some other changes such as high pulse rate or sunken eyes.
Preventive measures for cholera include; sterilization, sewage disposal, provides information on sources to the public, water boiling, vaccination, and surveillance protocol. Improvement on the highlighted measures relates to education of citizens and government helping provide good source of water. In case of tuberculosis: patient’s isolation and vaccines for children works well. Improvement is achieved by educating the public and identification of high-risk patient and managing them on time (patients with lower immunity such as HIV patients).
Typhoid fever: environmental cleaning with effective waste disposal, personal hygiene, hand washing, careful food preparation, and vaccinations are the main preventive measures. Patient’s education regarding proper hygiene and sanitation will be improved. The similarities between those three diseases are that they are all communicable diseases.
Cholera and Typhoid both spread through food and water while tuberculosis is by air. Incubation period for cholera and tuberculosis are less than a week while typhoid is about 3 weeks. The three diseases have no gender predilection. Cholera is managed by hydrating the patient (Oral rehydration solution), and Typhoid is treated with antibiotics such as (Ciprofloxacin or ceftriaxone). Treatment for tuberculosis is by a prolonged therapy using rifampicin or isoniazid antibiotics
The highlighted communicable diseases could lead to morbidity whenever it occurs; hence, there is always a need for a quick response towards managing them. This helps both the patient and the neighbors.
