Contents
😉 Greetings to regular and new readers! What are the features of infectious diseases? This article provides basic information on this topic. Symptoms When hospitalization is needed and when to call an ambulance. About hygiene and nutrition.
What are infectious diseases
Infectious diseases are human health disorders that are caused by viruses, bacteria, protozoa, parasitic fungi, helminths or their waste products, and can be transmitted from infected organisms to healthy individuals.
Most patients release pathogens into the environment, so it is important to know where they are located in the body. How are they released into the environment. How healthy people enter the body. According to these signs, infections can be divided into separate groups, each of which has its own characteristics.
Intestinal infections are spread by the fecal-oral route, that is, pathogens enter the body through the digestive system.
- respiratory tract infections are usually transmitted by airborne droplets;
- blood infections are transmitted mainly by blood-sucking insects;
- infectious diseases of the skin and mucous membranes are transmitted by contact – through the mucous membranes and skin.
Symptoms of an infectious disease
Infectious diseases can manifest themselves:
- general weakness and malaise;
- body aches;
- increased body temperature;
- headache;
- pain in muscles and joints;
- a bowel disorder (diarrhea);
- sleep disturbance;
- vomiting;
- cough;
- runny nose;
- skin rashes;
- sore throat.
These symptoms constitute the syndrome of infectious intoxication of the body, and to one degree or another are characteristic of most infectious diseases.
If the symptoms of infectious intoxication are weak and pass quickly, the body temperature is not elevated, then an adult patient without chronic diseases, after consulting a doctor, can serve himself. In all other cases, patients with infectious diseases require care.
When hospitalization is necessary
Patients with infectious diseases, bacterial or parasitic carriers must be isolated as soon as possible in order to prevent the spread of infection by the sick or carrier among those from the immediate environment.
With especially dangerous infections (plague, cholera, Siberian fever, rabies, typhus, typhoid fever, paratyphoid fever A and B, poliomyelitis, diphtheria, meningococcal disease, hemorrhagic fever, botulism, etc.), immediate hospitalization is required in a specialized hospital.
In case of other infectious diseases, the need for hospitalization is determined by the epidemiological situation, living conditions, the peculiarity of the clinical course of the disease and its prognosis, in each case.
Compulsory hospitalization for epidemiological indications is subject to patients with infectious diseases who:
- live in hostels and unsatisfactory living conditions;
- workers in food enterprises and persons who are equated to them;
- patients living with food workers or children attending preschool.
Clinical indications for hospitalization of patients with infectious diseases are:
- severe course of the disease;
- age – small children and people of old and old age;
- the presence of severe concomitant pathology.
Only a doctor can establish a diagnosis and decide on the possibility of treating such a patient at home.
If a patient with an infectious disease stays at home, he needs to ensure that an appropriate set of anti-epidemic measures is carried out. Create conditions that would exclude the likelihood of the spread of infection.
In case of deterioration of the patient’s condition with an infectious disease, the appearance of new symptoms, an increase in body temperature, after a steady decrease in it (“second wave”), it is imperative to consult a doctor.
Infectious disease
Important features of infectious diseases are their severity and dynamics, as well as the likelihood of sudden changes in the patient’s condition. Therefore, in the acute phase of the disease, the patient should not be left unattended; it is necessary to monitor changes in body temperature, pulse, and blood pressure indicators.
If the patient has any chronic disease, it is important to warn the doctor about this and learn about possible complications during the course of the disease.
Infectious diseases are accompanied by fever and intoxication, in particular, toxic damage to the nervous system, which is manifested by its excitement or depression, delirium, anxiety, and insomnia.
It should be borne in mind that in infectious diseases, clinical recovery, as a rule, outstrips the full functional recovery of the body. During the period of recovery, the state of health of patients is often quite satisfactory, while in fact they are physically weakened for a long time.
They have disorders of the immune, cardiovascular, nervous, and digestive systems.
Fever: what to do
Fever patients need special care. When the body temperature rises, you need to cover the patient with warmth, put a warm heating pad at the feet and give it hot sweet tea. When the body temperature stabilizes at a high level, sweating and heat transfer increase, so you should not cover the patient with warmth.
In case of fever, he should be given more often to drink non-hot tea, berry and fruit juices, rosehip infusion, mineral water. Drinking plenty of fluids helps to eliminate toxic products from the body.
Fever can end in a critical drop in body temperature and profuse sweating. In this case, it is necessary to ensure that the sick person is not in a wet bed and does not overcool.
A rapid decrease in body temperature is dangerous for elderly people with chronic diseases of the heart and blood vessels: if they have an increase in pulse and respiration, a sharp decrease in blood pressure, you should consult a doctor.
In case of fever, it is necessary to adhere to bed rest, physical activity, lack of sleep, and overwork are unacceptable until complete recovery.
When to call an ambulance
It is necessary to urgently call an ambulance if the patient:
- body temperature is above 39 ° C and does not decrease 30 minutes after taking antipyretic drugs;
- high body temperature is combined with signs of dehydration, abdominal pain, rash;
- changes in consciousness and disorientation occur;
- have convulsions;
- persistent vomiting and diarrhea;
- severe chest pain during breathing, shortness of breath;
- continuous severe headache.
Patient care
During the period when patients are contagious, it is advisable to limit their contact. They should use separate utensils that should be washed and decontaminated separately. The patient’s linen is also washed and boiled with the addition of disinfectants separately from the linen of others.
In the room where the patient is located, wet cleaning must be carried out twice a day. The room must be regularly ventilated (no drafts). If the patient is in bed, then during the ventilation he is covered with warmth, his head is covered with a towel. The air in the room should be humidified, the temperature should be within 20–22 ° С.
For patients with infectious diseases of the respiratory tract, separate rooms are allocated, which are not only ventilated and cleaned, but, if possible, are treated with ultraviolet rays (quartz lamp). During contact with such patients, it is recommended to wear a three-layer medical mask.
Hands should be thoroughly washed after each visit to a patient with intestinal infection. It is also important to ensure high-quality disinfection of the patient’s feces.
Features of infectious diseases provide for special patient care. A patient lying in bed may experience irritation, diaper rash, bedsores on the skin.
Therefore, it is necessary in the morning and in the evening to carry out a thorough toilet of the skin – rubbing or washing. It is necessary to regularly change bed and underwear (in case of fever – after each increased sweating).
Infectious diseases often provoke the development of eye diseases such as conjunctivitis, keratitis, scleritis. Therefore, you should carefully monitor the condition of the patient’s eyes, rinse them regularly with boiled water, if necessary, use antiseptic eye drops.
The nasal passages should be systematically examined and, if necessary, rinsed with saline to remove mucus and dry plugs. Dry lips should be lubricated with moisturizer or glycerin.
The oral cavity of seriously ill patients must be cleaned of plaque, accumulated mucus and food debris with cotton swabs or gauze napkins moistened with a weak solution of hydrogen peroxide (a teaspoon per glass of water) in the morning and at night.
Diet 13 for infectious diseases
In acute infectious diseases, a customized diet No. 13 to maintain the protective functions of the body, increase its resistance to infection, reduce the severity of intoxication, while limiting chemical and mechanical irritation of the mucous membrane of the digestive tract.
The patient needs 6-8 small meals a time, the food should be liquid or semi-liquid:
- crackers and white bread;
- meat broth;
- meat soufflé;
- puree soup;
- mashed porridge;
- berry and fruit juices;
- sour cream;
- fresh cottage cheese;
- butter;
- eggs;
- milk;
- steam omelet.
Limit plant fiber. Until complete recovery, exclude from the diet:
- spicy foods and seasonings;
- smoked products;
- sausage;
- fat;
- coffee;
- vegetables with a high fiber content (cabbage, beets, radishes).
For fever, the diet includes only liquid and jelly-like foods. Food is taken every 2 hours. Recommended:
- tea;
- fruit and berry jellies and jelly;
- rosehip broth with sugar;
- rice water;
- light broth;
- different juices diluted with sweet water;
- diluted milk;
- pureed cottage cheese.
Diet for intestinal infections
For intestinal infections, a gentle diet will help, which includes:
- rusks from white bread of the highest grades;
- soups based on fat-free fish or meat broth with the addition of steam or boiled meatballs;
- steam or boiled in water meat and fish cutlets;
- meatballs;
- meat, fish, poultry – boiled or steam;
- mashed porridge in water or weak meat broth;
- egg steam omelets;
- jelly;
- blueberry jelly;
- tea (weak).
The positive psycho-emotional mood of the patient also helps to improve his health and speedy recovery. Friends, share the article “Features of infectious diseases” with other people in the social. networks. 😉 Always be healthy!