Droplet Precautions for Control of Infection

Droplet precautions or airborne infection control is one of the health practices that we really need nowadays. A sneeze or cough from an infected person could spray germ-loaded droplets into the air because viruses and bacteria that infects the lungs, trachea, throat, sinuses and nasal passages are present in mucus and saliva.

Why airborne infections are so common? In almost every public places people cough and sneeze, loading the air with with droplets of saliva for other people to inhale. Number of respiratory infections can be impressively lessened  if all of us realizes the danger of droplet infection.

Droplets caused by sneezing or coughing are usually large (more than 5 microns) and mostly covers only a short distance (about 3-6 feet). Direct inhalation of infected droplets causes the highest risk of transmission that occurs when you are too close to infected person after sneezing or coughing. Settled droplets on surrounding surfaces could also cause infection.

Droplet precautions or airborne infection control should be practiced. Nose and mouth should be covered during a sneeze or cough with a tissue paper then dispose the infected tissue paper properly after. You may be an infected individual or not, hand washing is really important too to for prevention and control of diseases.

Get Rid of Arthropod- borne Diseases

Arthropod- borne diseases are carried by mosquitos, ticks, mites, lice, house fly, cockroach, fleas, kissing bugs, reduviid bugs, tsetse flies, phlebotomine sandflies, black flies and deer flies. Some examples of arthropod-borne diseases are dengue fever, malaria, yellow fever, west nile fever, typhoid, dysentery, epidemin typhus, trench fever, filariasis, spotted fever, bubonic plague, murine typhus, and African sleeping sickness.

These arthropods carry diseases in three different ways. First, the pathogenic organism experience a full of twist and turns life cycle that involves an insect in certain stages and some stages in human host. Best example of arthropod- borne diseases for this method of transmission is malaria.

In second method insect is an alternate host. Organisms that causes infectious diseases are carried as internal parasites in insects. Infected arthropods could infect humans as they have their bloody-meal. Examples of arthropod- borne diseases for this method of transmission are yellow fever, bubonic plague and typhus.

In third method of transmission arthropods acts as mechanical carriers of various infectious agents. House fly and cockroach are examples of mechanical carriers. In this method insects take a trip from source of infection like garbage to foods or go directly to a person or on things that a person usually touch. Microorganisms are carried on their sticky feet or on the bodies of mechanical carriers. Examples of arthropod- borne diseases for this method of transmission are typhoid and dysentery.

Here are some examples of arthropods and arthropod-borne diseases that could infect humans:

Mosquito- Dengue, Filariasis, West Nile fever, Yellow fever, Japanese encephalitis, Rift Valley fever, Ross River fever and St Louis encephalitis

Tick- Lyme, Relapsing fever, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Tick-borne encephalitis

Body louse- Epidemic typhus, Plague, Trench fever

Flea- Endemic typhus, Murine typhus, Bubonic plague

Sandfly- Leishmaniasis, Bartonellosis/Oroya fever, Sandfly fever

Black fly- Onchocerciasis (River blindness)

Tsetse fly- Trypanosomiasis (African sleeping sickness)

House fly and cockroaches- typhoid, dysentery, etc

Be healthy by getting rid of the carriers of arthropod- borne diseases.

How to Avoid from Acquiring Vaginitis

Vaginitis is an infection or inflammation of vulva-vaginal area. What causes vaginitis? Normally, genito-urinary system are thrived by microorganisms, change in pH (acidity or alkalinity) may cause these microorganisms of normal flora to become infectious. Aside from that, vaginitis could also be caused by germs transferred from rectum or carried by male sexual partner and been transmitted through sexual contact. Low immune system due to lack of sleep, stress and poor diet may also trigger vaginitis. What are the symptoms of vaginitis? Itching or burning sensation of vulva, abnormal discharge and desire to void frequently are the usual symptoms.

How can you avoid vaginitis? As they say, “cleanliness is next to Godliness”, we need to be clean always. Try to use non-soap cleansers in washing the vaginal area and avoid use of other people’s towel. Spray, soaps, and talcum powder is not necessary, better eradicate it because it could only trigger vaginosis due to change in pH of the vaginal area. Wear cotton underpants to allow air circulation not those that are made of synthetic material because it could retain moisture that may enhance multiplication of microorganisms on vaginal area. Too tight pants is not good too. Coffee, alcohol, sugar and refined carbohydrates has great effect on vaginal pH too so better have limitation on taking these foods.

Boost your immune system and maintain cleanliness, these are the keys to fight against vaginosis. Douch is also good when it is done occassionally to thoroughly clean the vaginal area.

Strengthen Your Immune System

Be aware! Strengthen your immune system. You might be transmitted by non-seasonal viral or bacterial infection like respiratory tract infections such as tonsillitis, bronchitis and pneumonia. Its manifestations? Cough, colds, sore throat, mucous production and fever. You can get those respiratory tract infections through droplet inhalation like Influenza A (H1N1).

If you suffered the symptoms I mentioned above, you need to rest, a bed rest, and increase your fluid intake. Mucolytic, decongestant and paracetamol medications are sometimes necessary for you to feel better. And, doctor may prescribe you an antibiotic in case you are suffering from bacterial infection. So, if symptoms persist after 24 hours of rest, better go to your doctor.

They say that prevention is better than cure. And, how can you prevent from getting infected from respiratory tract infections and other illnesses? Strengthen your immune system by taking nutritious foods, particularly plant foods such as fruits and vegetables. Having time for exercise everyday and good night sleep matters too in strengthening your immune system. And, as much as possible avoid  crowded places.

The Great Advantage of Using Copper Kitchen Sinks

Have you seen the beauty of copper kitchen sinks? They are not just nice to look at that could fit any kitchen design of your choice but they have health benefits too. Foodborne diseases is not new to us, did you know that bacteria could not thrive too long on copper? Copper are naturally antibacterial, searching on the web of the studies that proves that copper is naturally antibacterial will really amaze you.

Common pathogens of foodborne diseases such as Salmonella and Campylobacter could not multiply in copper. Even Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) that is usually recovered from various infections including food poisoning could not thrive too long in copper. Copper is also toxic to other microorganisms aside from bacteria, no wonder our body needs copper too. Copper kitchen sink’s beauty, elegance and quality speaks a lot aside from being antibacterial. What other kitchen sinks you know could give you all those benefits?

How Disease Spread

Spread of disease is one of our main concern especially now that numbers of Influenza A (H1N1) infected people are multiplying everyday so, today we will be talking about how disease spread.

Spread of disease through contact transmission are classified into two the direct contact and indirect contact. Many infections are transmitted to others through direct contact. People who do patient care activities and those who have personal contact with the patient are the people who are high risk for direct contact infection. Examples of infectious diseases that are spread this way are boils, abscess, fungal infections and sexually transmitted diseases.

Spread of disease through indirect contact transmission are much more harder to avoid. Many objects especially those that are use by many people like doorknobs and telephones are generally assumed that contains bacteria and viruses from droplets of infected nose and throat. Intestinal infection could be transmitted through contaminated food handled by infected person. Everything on the toilet, not just the toilet tools, could be a source of intestinal infection, coins and currency, doorknobs, and other things that are touched by many people could be source for spread of disease.

Spread of disease could also be through airborne transmission. Droplets from infected individual may evaporate to the air and stay there for some time or go with dusts until inhaled by susceptible people, usually those with low immune system are the one that are infected. Examples of infections for this kind of spread of disease are Influenza A (H1N1) and other flu and, pulmonary tuberculosis.

Sources of Food Poisoning

Nowadays, people become more aware that food poisoning could take place in any food. Eggs, poultry, shellfish, and unpasteurized dairy products are the most common source of food poisoning. But, contamination of plant foods from food poisoning bacteria takes place when vegetables, legumes or nuts are grown closely to the ground, especially when farmers uses manure as fertilizer. Food handling is another issue. Food from farm are free from  food poisoning agent but the one that sells the unsealed food products in the market or the person that processed the product or the one that cooks your meal harbors the harmful microorganism and has poor hygiene, possibility of transmission from the food handler to the food products is possible.

If animals are ill, usually they were given  antibiotics, giving antibiotics without following the minimum number of days to  give the antibiotics to the animals may lead to resistance of bacteria to the said antibiotic. When these infected animals (with antibiotic resistant bacteria) were utilized as meat or their products such as eggs or their manure are utilized in the farm as fertilizer, infection of antibiotic resistant food poisoning bacteria to human will be a big problem. The problem of antibiotic resistance food poisoning  bacteria is not the main issue, but the difficulty in treatment of such strain may occur.

Another possible source for food poisoning are foods that has been improperly processed or stored are the ideal habitat for growth of bacteria and fungal elements (in the laboratory, it is equivalent to a culture media – it is where we let the bacteria and fungal elements multiply from thousands into hundred thousands or more). So, be careful in processing and storing your food at home. Most of the microorganisms  if it multiplies, usually causes spoilage of food, others may just give light discomfort to those have consumed the food but some of this bacteria are dangerous, especially those that contains toxins (poisons).

Contaminated water and utensils are good source of possible infection. In this case usually the food handler harbors the harmful microorganism then he practice no proper hygiene. Including the right cleaning of utensils used due to limited amount of water to use by the time he is selling his food products. Good example for this are the street foods. I am not condemning  street food vendors here. We just need to face the fact that lots of people have been hospitalized from eating contaminated street foods.

Remember this, cooking could kill viruses, bacteria and fungal elements present on the food but it is not an assurance that the toxins present are destroyed, toxins in bacteria  that could create variety of problems in the body.

The Importance of Dental Care for Your Newborn Babies

Parents, did you know that the 20 primary teeth you’ll see from your child already exist at his birth? I asked this because lots of people think that newborn baby has no teeth. Yes they have, it’s just that it is still underneath the gums. Therefore parents should not wait until these teeth emerges before they take care their baby’s oral health.

Sleeping with a bottle of milk or letting the baby fall asleep while sucking on his mother’s breast may cause the milk to be converted to acid by the normal bacteria in the mouth. The most important a parent can do for the oral health of the newborn baby is to keep his mouth clean. After every feeding, baby’s mouth should be wiped with gauze pad or a soft damp cloth to remove the possible plaque that may build up on newborn baby’s gum.

Speaking of primary teeth, they are commonly called as baby teeth, that starts to come out at the age of six months. And, by the age of two and a half months it is expected that all 20 primary teeth already emerged.