Many infections are not particularly dangerous. But there are those that can cause many complications and even lead to death.
How to prevent this, explains Professor, Head of the Department of Infectious Diseases of the National Medical University. Bogomolets, chief infectious disease specialist of the Ministry of Health Olga GOLUBOVSKAYA.
The source of the infection, or why stagnant water is dangerous
— Olga Anatolyevna, how can you explain the surge in infectious diseases in the summer?
— Infections love warm and humid climates. And although it is more typical of the tropics, which are characterized by lush vegetation and the presence of many pathogens, it is worth considering the sharp warming that occurs in our latitudes.
Ponds with stagnant water pose a particular danger, bathing in which threatens with such a serious illness as leptospirosis or, as it is sometimes called, water fever. If many infectious diseases do not pose a particular danger and go away on their own, then leptospirosis threatens with serious complications, even death.
If there are posters “Beware of leptospirosis” marked by the sanitary and epidemiological services on the shore of a reservoir, this means that under no circumstances should you swim in them, no matter how much you want to.
— In addition to leptospirosis, what other infectious diseases can be caught in water bodies?
— Viral hepatitis A. Its insidiousness lies in a long incubation period, which is 50 days or more. Most often, doctors see a hepatitis clinic in the fall, when a person has long returned from vacation and does not associate his condition with him in any way. Moreover, the picture of the disease is expressed only in an increase in temperature.
What do many people do in such cases? They drink antipyretic drugs, which differ from all others in high toxicity. That is, when a person in this state begins to drink in large quantities all these solutions with a pleasant taste of lemon or raspberry, he deals an additional blow to the liver, which is already affected by the hepatitis virus.
Hepatitis itself does not pose a particular danger: it does not lead to chronic forms, and even more so to fatal outcomes.
If there is a rise in temperature after swimming in water, you should consult a doctor and make a blood test, which will allow you to make a correct diagnosis.
— What to do in those cases when there is practically no temperature, but it hurts the joints?
— This is one of the manifestations of enterovirus infections, which are characterized by myalgia. You can become infected with them in warm reservoirs, the concentration of pathogens in which is directly proportional to the rising temperature. That is why it is so dangerous to swallow water while bathing, which is especially common for children, or even more so to rinse their throats with such water, which is done by some adults.
Life-threatening: lambiosis — disease of unwashed hands and products
— What, besides water bodies, is dangerous?
— Helminthiasis. In order to become their victim, you don’t have to go to hot countries at all, although many tourists bring helminth from there: on themselves or in themselves.
Schistosomes or blood flukes, which can get to a person through contaminated water, are of particular danger.
Reminder to tourists going on holiday to hot countries:
• do not swim in water;
• do not take water from lakes and rivers;
• drink only boiled or bottled water.
However, in order to become a reservoir for helminths, one does not have to go to distant lands at all. Most often, non-observance of simple rules of hygiene leads to the fact that a parasite settles inside a person.
It's very easy to explain. As you know, a number of helminths need soil for maturation. And this means that berries ripened in summer cottage beds, and melons or watermelons plucked on melons, which are sometimes directly served on the table in their original form, can become a container for their transfer. And even a beloved dog returning from a walk can become a source of infection.
Rules of conduct to prevent helminth infestation:
• do not eat raw meat or fish;
• do not walk on the beach without flip flops or flip flops;
• do not swim in untested waters;
• avoid insect bites.
Unfortunately, very little is said about lyambiosis (when infection occurs mainly due to dirty hands or poor hygiene), although quite a lot is infected with it.
— Can this be avoided?
— Yes, as long as you follow simple hygiene measures.
Prevention of infectious diseases — observance of hygiene rules
• wash your hands before eating;
• rinse vegetables and fruits thoroughly under running water;
• observe the rules of personal hygiene;
• drink filtered or bottled water;
• clean the room with disinfectants.
In this regard, the experience of Ancient Egypt is noteworthy. When the pyramids were erected, a cholera epidemic was raging in the country, and not a single case of the disease was recorded at construction sites. And all because the slaves drank only boiled water, and put on clean clothes every day. And the disease did not touch them.
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