Communicable Disease Awareness and Prevention
Communicable diseases (also known as infectious diseases, transmissible diseases or contagious diseases) include clinically obvious sicknesses that that come about from the infection, growth and presence of biological, pathogenic agents in a host organism. For much of the course of a communicable disease, its symptoms may not be apparent. Vector organisms, airborne inhalation, contaminated objects, bodily fluids, infected food and even physical contact can be ways of transmitting communicable diseases. The following will examine communicable diseases in greater detail.
Respiratory disease refers to conditions that are pathological and that affect several parts of the body. These can include the trachea, bronchioles, bronchi, pleural cavity, pleura, alveoli, and muscles and nerves responsible for breathing. Respiratory diseases span a range of different types. They include the common cold, lung cancer, pulmonary embolisms and bacterial pneumonia among others.
Respiratory diseases are typically diagnosed and detected by one of the following methods: pulmonary function test, chest x-ray, computed topography scan, bronchoscopy, culture of microorganisms, biopsy, ultrasound, or ventilation. Treatments for less serious respiratory diseases like the common cold can be very simple with remedies such as getting a lot of rest and using decongestants, but treatments can also be more complex. For respiratory diseases like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, treatment may include methylxanthine drugs like Theophylline.
Gastrointestinal diseases pertain to one’s gastrointestinal tract, and are sometimes referred to as digestive diseases. Diseases of the stomach, esophagus, duodenum, ileum, jejunum, rectum, large intestine and sigmoid colon are considered gastrointestinal diseases. Diagnosis as well as detection of gastrointestinal diseases includes examining a patient for signs and symptoms of these types of diseases. This can mean using an upper endoscopy to get a closer analysis of one’s digestive tract, usually with a camera that features a light. Once a definite diagnosis is made, the treatment and, if possible, the prevention course begins.
Since there exists many gastrointestinal diseases, there are a number of ways to treat and then prevent them from recurring. For instance, in the example of peptic ulcers, the most recommended course of treatment is also a simple one: following a healthy diet is regarded by many doctors as the best and most efficient way to halt any further growth of such an ulcer. Other gastrointestinal diseases such as rectal prolapses (which frequently occur in elderly people and even in children) can include a treatment plan that includes surgery in addition to the aforementioned dietary changes (in the case of rectal prolapses, patients are told to eat more fiber in their diets). The four kinds of surgery options for people victimized by rectal prolapses are perineal surgery, abdominal surgery, a Manchester operation and linear cauterization.
- Dealing with Rectal Prolapse
- Rectal Prolapse Explanation (PDF)
- What is a Peptic Ulcer? (PDF)
Sexually transmitted diseases, or STDs for short, are sicknesses that have a high instance of transmission between human beings, mainly because of transference through sexual conduct. Some sexually transmitted diseases can also be passed on from person to person by way of non-sexual behavior. People who share used and unclean needles are at risk for contracting sexually transmitted diseases, as are the infants of infected mothers who naturally give birth or breastfeed. Sexually transmitted diseases have been in the public conscience for hundreds of years.
Detection and diagnosis of sexually transmitted diseases is possible through screening and diagnostic tests. These tests may be for a particular sexually transmitted disease (HIV, syphilis, etc.) or might include many different tests for an array of sexually transmitted diseases (hepatitis, herpes, chlamydia, gonorrhea, etc.). The treatment and the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases may include medications such as antibiotic combinations like metronidazole, cefixime and azithromycin. Another way of treating and preventing sexually transmitted diseases is through partner therapy. Partner therapy is patient-delivered, meaning one partner brings medications or prescriptions to his or her partner without the benefit of a doctor first seeing the unprescribed partner.
A pandemic is defined as an epidemic of contagious sicknesses, which spreads among human beings over a large geographical area. Some historically infamous examples of pandemics are the Black Plague and the Spanish Flu. The Black Death wiped out an estimated 100 million people in the Middle Ages and gradually left on its own, but only some four centuries after it began the 1400s. The Spanish Flu claimed between 50 million and 100 million people and, like the Black Death, it dissipated on its own, mainly due to mutations of the virus that made it less deadly. Today, epidemics of this magnitude are less of a threat because of vaccines, increased hygiene and greater expertise in the medical profession.