There are a lot of diseases in the world that are rare, difficult to treat or not amenable to therapy at all. Plague and cholera are especially dangerous infections that lead to death. In addition to them, of course, there are others, the details of which are given below. The Order on Especially Dangerous Infections was issued by the WHO. It spelled out basic preventive measures, behavior in case of infection and contact with the sick.
Plague
Plague (lat. pestis "infection") is an acute natural infectious disease that belongs to the category of quarantine conditions. Plague is a particularly dangerous infection, it is extremely difficult and is accompanied by incessant fever, damage to the lymph nodes, disruption of the lungs, heart, and liver. The final stage is represented by blood poisoning and death.
The causative agent of a particularly dangerous infection is the bubonic bacillus, discovered back in 1894 by the French scientist Alexandre Yersin and the Japanese bacteriologist Kitasato Shibasaburo. According to their conclusion, this agent is carried by black and gray rats, marmots, ground squirrels, gerbils,mouse-like rodents, cats, camels, some types of fleas.
Infection with plague occurs instantly when bitten by a flea, populating the place of residence with rodents and other animals - carriers of the bubonic bacillus. Getting through microtraumas on the skin, through the mucous membranes or conjunctiva, the virus begins to spread at cosmic speed. At the site of the bite (infection), a rotting papule appears in a person, filled with a white cloudy liquid. After opening the abscess, the infection spreads throughout the body. The next stage in the development of the disease is swelling of the lymph nodes and difficulty swallowing. Literally a few hours later, the patient has a sharp rise in temperature, a violation of the processes of breathing and heartbeat, and dehydration.
Cholera
Cholera is an acute intestinal infection that develops when a person is infected with a vibrio virus. The disease is manifested by diarrhea, vomiting, dehydration, dry skin and sclera, sharpening of facial features, oligoanuria. To detect cholera, a screening study of vomit and feces, bacteriological tests are used
Cholera is a particularly dangerous infectious agent whose scientific name is Vibrio cholerae. To date, more than 150 serogroups of cholera vibrios are known, which are contained in wastewater and polluted reservoirs for quite a long time. Like any other complex bacterium, Vibrio cholerae is resistant to environmental influences. A particularly nutrient medium for her is sour milk or meat.
According to SanPin, a particularly dangerous infection does not manifest itself immediately after infection with Vibrio cholerae. The incubation period of exposure ranges from several hours to 5 days inclusive. The height of cholera is considered to be an acute condition, when all the symptoms appear almost immediately. Within 10 hours, the human body loses about 20-30% of fluid, the stool is liquid and constant, vomit can be a source of infection for people around.
Polio
Polio is a viral infection that affects the gray matter of the spinal cord, which leads to the development of multiple paralysis, paresis. Depending on the form of the disease, the patient may experience: febrile seizures, impaired motor function, indigestion or the rapid development of peripheral paralysis, limb deformity, asthenic syndrome, disruption of the autonomic nervous system.
Depending on the type of pathogen that enters the bloodstream, there are several main forms of the disease:
- Spinal. Characterized by flaccid paralysis, paresis of the sternum, lower and upper limbs, muscles of the diaphragm, neck and trunk.
- Bulbarnaya. It is associated with damage to the central nervous system and the development of speech disorders - dysarthria, dysphonia. In addition, the patient has a violation of the function of swallowing, chewing, malfunctions of the heart, pulmonary spasms.
- Pontine. The patient has a complete or partial loss of facial expressions, loss of speech, drooping of the corner of the mouth on one half of the face.
- Encephalopathic. Presentedtotal damage to the brain and spinal structures.
- Mixed. Includes all known forms of the disease.
Smallpox
Smallpox (lat. variola, variola major) is a particularly dangerous viral infection transmitted by airborne droplets and aerosol (dust) from an infected person. The incubation period of VNO is 3-8 calendar days. After this period, the patient has all the epidemiological signs of a complex inflammatory process. The following symptoms indicate the height of the disease:
- severe intoxication;
- two wave fever;
- formation of purulent pustules on the body;
- neurological disorders (due to persistent high temperature);
- disturbance of the respiratory and cardiovascular systems - swollen lymph nodes, bronchial stenosis, arrhythmia, weakness of the pectoral muscles and difficulty breathing in and out.
The variola virus is a pathogenic agent of the external environment, the most resistant to the influence of temperature and other natural factors. The period of his stay in the open air can significantly exceed 60 days. VNO antigens are:
- early ES antigen;
- genus-specific LS-antigen;
- group-specific nucleoprotein NP antigen.
The general indicator of the susceptibility of a living organism to the effects of VNO is 95-98%. Penetrating through the mucous membranes, microtraumas onskin inside the object, the virus begins to quickly integrate into the DNA structure, leading to a general weakening of the immune processes. The main routes of transmission are:
- Dishes.
- Underwear and hygiene items.
- Biologically active components: blood, saliva, semen.
- Pet hair.
In the event that UPE led to the death of a person, his body is also a focus of a particularly dangerous infection.
Yellow fever
Yellow fever is one of the most dangerous viral infections. Distributed in Central and South America, as well as Africa. The World He alth Organization (WHO) publishes a list of these countries annually. More than two hundred thousand cases of infection are registered per year, thirty thousand of them are fatal. The causative agent of fever is an RNA-containing virus. Animals are the source of infection. The disease spreads through a transmissible mechanism.
Signs of disease appear 3 to 6 days after charging. Yellow fever exists in two epidemiological forms:
- jungle fever is insect-to-human transmission;
- Community fever is person-to-person transmission.
The disease is characterized by fever, rash, damage to the organs of the excretory system, liver. The development of the disease is divided into several stages:
- acute stage with signs of nausea, vomiting and fever;
- more toxic second stage with jaundice and abdominal pain.
According to WHO rules, when traveling to countries with a favorable development of the virus, it is necessary to vaccinate against this virus. This vaccination is valid for 10 years and, if necessary, is repeated 10 days before visiting the country.
Ebola virus
The Ebola virus is also a particularly dangerous infection, which cannot be contracted through the air or through food. Infection can occur only during the contact of a he althy organism and the biological fluid of an infected person who recently died from this disease. Simply put, the virus is transmitted through blood, saliva, sweat, tears, semen, urine, intestinal mucus, and vomit. In addition, objects recently used by the patient, on which any of the above waste products of the body have remained, may also be contaminated.
Until symptoms appear, a person is not contagious, even if they have the virus in their body. Symptoms appear after 2 days, maximum 3 weeks. The disease is accompanied by:
- high temperature starting at 38.5°C and above;
- headaches;
- joint and muscle pain;
- sore throat and redness;
- muscle weakness;
- lack of appetite.
In the course of the course and development of the disease, the number of cells responsible for blood clotting decreases in the patient. This results in both internal and external bleeding. Often patients suffer from bloody vomiting, diarrheaand rashes. These are the main problems of a particularly dangerous infection. According to the data obtained due to the outbreak of epidemics in 2013-1014, it was possible to establish the mortality of the disease, it is 50%. But there were also outbreaks of the disease, in which the mortality rate reached 90%.
Marburg virus
For the first time about the Marburg virus, or Marburg hemorrhagic fever, they started talking in 1967, after a series of epidemics that broke out in Marburg, Belgorod and Frankfurt am Main. Infection occurred after human contact with African green monkeys. In addition, fruit-eating bats from the Pteropodidae family are carriers of the virus. Thus, the spread of the virus coincides with the habitat of these animals. The disease is highly contagious and has a severe course. Mortality rates reach 90%. The incubation period is from 2 to 21 days.
The first symptoms appear abruptly: fever, severe headaches, myalgia in the lumbar region, high temperature. Viral particles multiply in all organs of the body, affecting the lymphoid tissue, liver, spleen, skin and brain. Localized necrosis of the genitourinary system is often noted. At the next stage, nausea, vomiting and profuse diarrhea appear, lasting up to several days. As the disease progresses, the symptoms become more severe: rapid weight loss, pancreatitis, dysfunction of internal organs, central nervous system disorders accompanied by hallucinations and delusions.
Gastro-intestinal, uterine and nasal hemorrhages. Blood found in urine and feces is a danger, because it serves as a source of infection. As for lethal outcomes, death occurs 8-16 days after the onset of the first symptoms, it is preceded by the patient's state of shock and heavy blood loss, including hemorrhages under the conjunctiva.
There is no specific treatment or vaccine. Patients receive symptomatic treatment: intravenous infusions of water-s alt solutions, blood transfusions, oxygen therapy.
The clinical manifestations of the disease are identical with other severe infections such as typhoid fever, leptospirosis, cholera and others. Accurate diagnosis can only be made in the laboratory (with special controls and precautions) using a serum neutralization test and reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).
In surviving patients, the recovery period is protracted: immobility, pain, alopecia develop for a long time. Also associated diseases can be encephalitis, orchitis, pneumonia and cognitive impairment. There have been experimental attempts to treat with serum obtained from convalescents, but its effectiveness has not been proven. A number of potential vaccines are currently being tested, but clinical use will only be possible in a few years.
Typhoid
There are three varieties of typhus, and even their clinical symptoms are similar:
- Typhus is an infectious disease carried by parasitic lice. In essence, the bite does not cause infection. Through the wound, the infection enters the body. After that, the pathogen reaches the lymph flow, and after the end of the incubation period - into the blood system. But all this will happen if the bite site is combed.
- Relapsing fever is also an infectious and acute disease that is carried by parasites. Its tendency to retreat and reactivate is one of the hallmarks of this disease. The typhoid pathogen has a flexible structure, which gives it the ability to change its structural appearance.
- Typhoid pathogens enter the body through food. This intestinal infection is caused by microorganisms from the genus Salmonella.
Another characteristic of a particularly dangerous infection is fever, which is a common symptom for each type of typhus. Typhus is recognized by the rash, headache, and weakness. If we are talking about relapsing fever, then the fever will be supplemented by delirium - an acute mental disorder with severe anxiety attacks, impaired orientation and sensual delirium. Also, the spleen with the liver will be enlarged. A patient with typhoid fever has the following symptoms:
- Appetite reduced.
- General weakness.
- Bradycardia.
- Pale pink rash - roseola.
- Fever disturbed mind.
Malaria
Malaria is included in the list of especially dangerous infections. itinfectious and parasitic disease, which is manifested by fever, anemia, hepatomegaly and splenomegaly. The carriers of this virus are mosquitoes and other blood-sucking insects. That is why the disease is widespread in South America and Southeast Asia.
The source of the virus is the protozoan blood-sucking organisms - mosquitoes, which introduce bacteria when injected with an antiseptic substance. After the infection enters the blood, a gradual damage to the liver cells occurs. It is also considered the first transplacental stage. In the future, the body, weakened by toxic substances and the virus, ceases to actively resist and opens the access of malaria directly to blood cells - erythrocytes.
A person suffering from malaria has yellowness of the skin, low hemodialysis, a state of weakness, impaired digestive functions, problems with the musculoskeletal system, neurological disorders. The height of the disease is characterized by a sharp increase in body temperature, pronounced oxygen starvation, a change in the shape of the feet and hands. Malaria is especially severe in young children. The death rate from this infection is 80 out of 100 newborns.
Prevention
In the Russian Federation, there are many diseases of such a degree of complexity that it is difficult to cope with them during an epidemic outbreak. The consequences are not only severe, but can also be fatal. So that epidemics do not damage the he alth of citizens living in Russia, doctors periodically carry out prevention of especially dangerous diseases.infections:
- Temporarily isolate all those who fell ill first.
- Clarify the patient's diagnosis so that there is no doubt that the assumption was correct.
- Collect information about the patient and record it in medical forms for the archive, in the future these records can be taken for research.
- Provide first aid to the patient.
- They take all the materials necessary for analysis from the patient for study in the laboratory.
- Trying to find out the entire list of those people who managed to be in close contact with a sick person.
- Everyone who has been in contact with the sick person is placed in isolation to be monitored during the quarantine period until it becomes clear whether the person is he althy or also infected.
- Disinfection of all persons, both sick and those who have been in contact but not yet sick.
Dangerous diseases include: all types of viral fevers, cholera, plague, new strains of influenza, smallpox, malaria, SARS.
How to protect people from particularly dangerous infections? Disease prevention measures are the number one point in the fight against infections. Useful, accessible information increases the literacy of the population in such matters and gives a chance to protect people from possible infection.
