Aside loss to life and property, flooding also spawns an increased risk of infection due to exposure to contaminated and polluted waters. the prolonged flooding, now in its third month, has sparked an outbreak of infectious diseases in various parts of Thailand both from direct and indirect transmission. These diseases can be broadly divided into two major categories: viz, water-borne such as typhoid fever, cholera, leptospirosis and hepatitis a, and vector-borne such as malaria, dengue and dengue haemorrhagic fever.

VECTOR-BORNE DISEASES

Floods may indirectly lead to an increase in vector-borne diseases through the rapid increase in vector numbers due to expansion of their breeding sites. Stagnant water collecting in pools after heavy rainfall or overflow of rivers are breeding sites for mosquitoes, and therefore can put people and emergency workers in flood areas at higher risk of contacting dengue and malarial infection.

MALARIA

The number of mosquitoes may decrease at the beginning of flooding as the water flushes out mosquito larvae, but their population quickly expands after a lag time which is usually around 6-8 weeks, before the onset of a malaria epidemic.

Risk factors for an epidemic include:

- Changes in human behaviour such as avoiding using mosquito nets or insect repellent, lack of information about infectious diseases associated with flooding and high population densities in emergency centres are all examples of risk factors with potential to cause an epidemic.

- a change in environment resulting from, say, construction of roads and buildings, water reservoirs or as a result of deforestation have corresponding effect on the breeding sites and habits of these vector-borne insects.

DENGUE HAEMORRHAGIC FEVER

Dengue is transmitted by the bite of an Aedes mosquito infected with dengue viruses. Patients infected with the virus will show symptoms approximately one week after the infective bite. Symptoms can range from a mild fever (dengue), to a severe incapacitating high fever with blood vessels becoming temporarily “leaky” (dengue hemorrhagic fever: DHF) or a deadly form of the disease that causes the patient to go into shock and die (dengue shock syndrome: DSS), seen in 80%, 15%, and 5% of the cases.

Major symptoms range from high fever that can last 2-7 days, skin bleeding, enlarged liver, abdominal pain, and failure of blood circulation leading to a state of shock. the most dangerous stage is the failure of hemodynamic which occurs simultaneously with rapid decline of fever. If the patient does not receive proper medical attention in a timely manner, the conditions will continue to deteriorate, and death is possible within 12-24 hours after entering the state of shock.

While there are no specific antiviral medicines for dengue, early diagnosis and proper clinical management by experienced physicians can significantly lower the mortality rate.

1. Physician may prescribe antipyretic agents to lower high fever to prevent seizure in some patients. Use of acetylsalicylic acid (eg aspirin) and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (eg Ibuprofen) are not recommended as they cause stomach bleeding.

2. Maintain adequate hydration in patients with high fever.

3. Monitor patients closely to detect and prevent shock.

4. Periodically check the change in platelet count and hematocrit.

For patients who experience shock or bleeding, doctor will need to provide specialised treatments using plasma fluid or colloid substance to save the patient’s life and prevent other complications that may occur.

“Lowering mosquito numbers and minimising exposure to bites are important. Mosquito breeding sites must be removed, destroyed, frequently emptied and cleaned or treated with insecticides. during epidemics spray insecticide regularly to kill adult mosquitoes.

- Early diagnosis and treatment: Monitoring laboratory confirmed cases every week allows us to detect malaria outbreak at the early stage.

- Monitoring the population of patients with fever and providing them with proper medical care in a timely manner can significantly reduce the rate of death from dengue hemorrhagic fever and malaria.

- Providing health education, promoting good hygiene and eating habits, and offering critical advice about dengue hemorrhagic fever and its symptoms can pave the way for early detection and treatment.

LEPTOSPIROSIS

It is caused by the bacteria Leptospires that affects both humans and animals. Humans become infected through direct contact with the urine of infected animals especially rodents or with a urine-contaminated environment.

Distribution

Leptospirosis is an occupational hazard for people who work outdoors or with animals and must stay in water for prolonged periods, such as farmers and sewer workers. it is also a recreational hazard to those who swim or wade through waters contaminated with the bacteria, which can gain entry through cuts and abrasions on the skin and through the mucous membrane in the eyes, nose and mouth.

Symptoms

Three to 10 days after infection patients experience acute fever, severe headache, muscle pain, chills, redness of the eyes, abdominal pain, jaundice, haemorrhages in the skin and mucous membranes, vomiting, diarrhoea, and rash.

These symptoms normally occur after wading through muddy water for prolonged periods (average 10 days). Patients need to seek medical care immediately. Do not try to treat yourself with any medicine.

Prevention

Avoid walking through dirty or muddy water especially when having sustained cuts or wounds in hands, arms, legs and feet without wearing protective gear, such as gloves and boots. Bathe immediately after wading through floods. Keep your accommodation and surrounding areas clean to control the spread of infection source (eg rodent and garbage control); eat properly and only cooked food; and store food in clean containers with protective covers.

Bangkok Health Research Center, Bangkok Hospital Group, call 1719.

Latest stories in this category:

Please give me a good website to find out things about Avian Influenza, Anthrax, Haemorhagic Fevers, Cholera, Hepatits B, Diptheria, HIV, Influenza, Leprosy, Plague, Smallpox, Yellow Fever, and Tetanus; things like their scientific name, symptoms and virulence; known reservoirs and vectors; and their geographic isolation and treatments. You guys would be doing me a HUGE favor. Give me some good websites. I have already used the World Health Organization's website and the Center for Disease Control's website.

also try:
emedicine
medscape

what is cholera? what type of pathogens causes cholera? how can it be treated? how can it be prevented? how do you get it? what are the symptoms? why is it deadly?

I need to find graphics of progression of cholera and symptoms and causes as well as treatment.

HELP!!!

wht are the symptoms of disease eg:1,tuber culosis,measles,chicken pox, polio,cholera,typhoid, hepatitis b,maleria

Google is at your hands. Use it.

1 tuberculosis :Fever at night, cough, blood in cough etc
2 Measles : Fever, red rash all over the body
3 chicken pox: red spots generally turning to yellow, fever
4 polio : weak bones generally dis figured bones
5 Cholera :vomit and diarrhea, dehydration lack of water in body
6 Typhoid: high fever,sweating, diarrhea
7 Hepatitis b:loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, body aches, mild fever, dark urine, and then progresses to development of jaundice.
8 Maleria:fever, shivering, arthralgia (joint pain), vomiting, anemia (caused by hemolysis), hemoglobinuria, and convulsions.

Im creating a broshure on the symptoms of cholera for a project and it says: create a public campaign to educate the masses of the illness. and i have no idea what that means.

A mass is a group of people. Basically, you want to educate a 'large group of people' about the illness that you are campaigning about. when it says educate the masses, it means educate society or the people that reside in the society as a whole, as a collective.

the masses are the people

The outbreak of Vibro cholerae 01 Inaba has led to the hospitalization of 913 people since it was first reported on 23 February.At present, the outbreak’s spread is slowing: 11 new cases were recorded on 6 April and the fatality rate fell from 14.4 to 5.5 percent over the previous three weeks. in mid-March, 189 cases were recorded in a single week in the city’s Lubunga district.It is also confined to Kisangani’s five zones. Suspected cases some 125km away from the city tested negative for cholera.“We are not out of the woods yet,” cautioned John Sapu, the doctor in charge of the cholera treatment centre in Lubunga, pointing out that the cholera strain in question was particularly virulent and could survive outside the human body for 15 days. So it will take a fortnight before the effects of the rains and the overall progression of the outbreak can be accurately gauged.according to World Health Organization official Guy Kalambayi, if the rains do not deliver a new spike in cases, “the spread could be brought under control within a month”.But the lack of a dramatic reduction in the caseload led Leen Verhenne, who works with the Belgian branch of Médecins Sans Frontières, to be cautious.“This type of epidemic can stay around for the long term and claim many victims,” she told IRIN, adding that epidemiological data suggested the principal transmission route was from person to person, rather than via consumption of contaminated water, which generally leads to steeper, shorter peaks in transmission rates.

Hygiene lessons Mystery still surrounds how the outbreak’s patient zero, a 50-year-old woman who had never left Kisangani, became infected. first cases of previous outbreaks tend to involve patients who had travelled from cholera-endemic areas such as Katanga or the Kivu provinces.

Results of tests on 11 of Kisangani’s water sources have yet to be released. as a precautionary measure, municipal authorities chlorinated all the city’s main sources of water, distributed purification tablets and increased public education about personal and food hygiene.Of particular concern to health officials is the tradition of mourners embracing the corpses of the deceased before burial; one such incident is known to have caused some early transmissions in this outbreak.and according to Sapu, some patients “go to a church to get healed, rather than a health centre”.because the last major outbreak here occurred more than a decade ago, cholera symptoms now often go unrecognized.“Patients die at home in a sea of their own stool. It’s another risk for the community,” noted Aimé Lukussa, the doctor in charge of the city’s Lubunga Zone. Even though treatment is free, “some come to the health centre too late, when fatal dehydration is too advanced”, he added.

by Lucas Jalong Bato. Posted on March 15, 2011, Tuesday

LIMBANG: a wedding feast could be the source of a bout of food poisoning which broke out among its guests in the district.

The wedding took place on March 6.

The Indoor Stadium was turned into a quarantine zone for 43 persons showing symptoms of cholera. They were mostly guests at the wedding.

Out of that, 20 admitted to the district hospital comprised 13 men and seven women.

Meanwhile, Limbang MP Hasbi Habibollah advised the people not to panic as the outbreak was under control.

He said the Medical Department had sent teams to the ground to make sure the disease would not spread.

He said rural areas given focus were Kampung Buang Api, Kampung Pandam, Mengatai, Gadong and Lubuk Piasau.

“We hope the people do not panic as the Medical Department is investigating the cause of the outbreak and conducting an awareness programme,” said Hasbi.

He said though the case seem isolated, the people in the affected area need immediate medical attention. And they might need to be quarantined to stop the disease from spreading.

what is cholera,what does it do to you?
symptoms?
transmission?

I only know a little bit about it:
It is a disease passed through drinking dirty water, and I'm pretty sure it affects your ability to breathe properly.

1. There's none left.
2. There 's no one left.

3. she had none of the typical symptoms of cholera.
4. she had no typical symptoms of cholera.

5. none of the children were awake.
6. no children were awake.

7. none of the furniture have arrived yet.
8. none of the furniture has arrived yet.
9. no furniture have arrived yet.
10. no furniture has arrived yet.

they all make sense accept number 7.

Except 7 and 9, they all make sense.