In the world there are a lot of diseases that are rare, difficult to treat, or completely resistant to therapy. Plague and cholera are particularly dangerous infections that lead to death. In addition to them, of course, there are others, details of which are given below. The order of especially dangerous infections was issued by WHO. It prescribed the main preventive measures, behavior in case of infection and contact with the patient.
Plague
Plague (lat. Pestis "infection") - an acute natural infectious disease belonging to the category of quarantine conditions. Plague - a particularly dangerous infection, is extremely difficult and is accompanied by ongoing fever, damage to the lymph nodes, impaired functioning 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 Alexander Yersen and the Japanese bacteriologist Kitasato Sibasaburo. According to their conclusion, this agent is carried by black and gray rats, woodchucks, ground squirrels, gophers, gerbils, mouse-like rodents, cats, camels, and some species of fleas.
Plague infection occurs instantly when a flea bites, populating a place of residence with rodents and other animals - carriers of bubonic bacillus. Getting through microtrauma on the skin, through the mucous membranes or conjunctiva, the virus begins to spread at cosmic speed. At the site of a bite (infection), a person develops a rotting papule filled with a white muddy liquid. After opening the abscess, the infection spreads throughout the body. The next stage of the development of the disease is considered swelling of the lymph nodes and difficulty swallowing. Literally a few hours later the patient experienced a sharp rise in temperature, impaired respiration and heartbeat, dehydration.
Cholera
Cholera is an acute intestinal infection that develops when a person is affected by the vibrio virus. The disease is manifested by diarrhea, vomiting, dehydration, dry skin and sclera, acute 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 that are contained in wastewater and polluted water bodies for a rather long time. Like any other complex bacterium, Vibrio cholerae is resistant to environmental influences. A particularly nutritious medium for it is sour milk or meat.
According to SanPin, a particularly dangerous infection immediately after infection with cholera vibrio does not manifest itself. The incubation period of exposure varies 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 the fluid, the stool is fluid and permanent, vomit can be a source of infection for people around.
Polio
Poliomyelitis is a viral infection in which the gray matter of the spinal cord is affected, 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 rapid development of peripheral paralysis, deformation of the extremities, asthenic syndrome, impaired functioning of the autonomic nervous system.
Depending on the type of pathogen that has entered the blood, several main forms of the disease are distinguished:
- Spinal. Flaccid paralysis, paresis of the sternum, lower and upper extremities, muscles of the diaphragm, neck and trunk are characteristic.
- Bulbar. 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, malfunctioning of the heart, pulmonary spasms.
- Pontina. The patient has a complete or partial loss of facial expressions, speech loss, drooping of the angle of the mouth to one half of the face.
- Encephalopathic. It is represented by a total lesion of the brain and spinal structures.
- Mixed. Includes all known forms of the disease.
Smallpox
Smallpox (Latin 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;
- the formation of purulent pustules on the body;
- neurological disorders (due to persistent heat);
- violation of the respiratory and cardiovascular systems - an increase in lymph nodes, bronchial stenosis, arrhythmia, weakness of the pectoral muscles and difficulty breathing in / out.
Smallpox virus is a pathogenic agent of the external environment that is 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;
- rod-specific LS antigen;
- group-specific nucleoprotein NP antigen.
The general indicator of the susceptibility of a living organism to the effect of VNO is 95-98%. Penetrating through the mucous membranes, microtraumas on the skin inside the object, the virus begins to quickly integrate into the DNA structure, leading to a general weakening of immune processes. The main transmission routes are:
- Tableware.
- Underwear and hygiene items.
- Biologically active components: blood, saliva, sperm.
- Pet hair.
In the event that VNO 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. A list of these countries is published annually by the World Health Organization (WHO). More than two hundred thousand cases of infection are recorded per year, thirty thousand of them fatal. The causative agent of the fever is an RNA-containing virus. The source of infection is animals. The disease spreads by a transmission mechanism.
Signs of the disease appear from 3 to 6 days after charging. Yellow fever exists in two epidemiological forms:
- jungle fever is the transmission of an infection from an insect to humans;
- human fever is the transmission of infection from person to person.
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 the development of jaundice and abdominal pain.
According to WHO rules, when traveling to countries with favorable virus development, it is necessary to vaccinate against this virus. This vaccine is valid for 10 years and, if necessary, is repeated 10 days before visiting the country.
Ebola virus
Especially dangerous infections are the Ebola virus, which cannot be infected through air or through food. Infection can occur only during the contact of a healthy body and biological fluid of an infected person who recently died from this disease. Simply put, the virus is transmitted with blood, saliva, sweat, tears, sperm, urine, intestinal mucus and vomit. In addition, objects recently used by the patient may be infected, on which any of the above vital products of the body remain.
Before the onset of symptoms, a person is not contagious, even if there is a virus in the body. Symptoms appear after 2 days, maximum 3 weeks. The disease is accompanied by:
- high temperature, starting from 38.5 ° and higher;
- 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 patient decreases the number of cells responsible for blood coagulation. The result is the appearance of both internal and external bleeding. Patients often suffer from vomiting, diarrhea and rash. These are the main problems of a particularly dangerous infection. According to data obtained due to the outbreak of epidemics in 2013-1014, it was possible to establish the mortality rate of the disease, it is 50%. But there were also outbreaks of the disease in which mortality reached 90%.
Marburg virus
For the first time, the Marburg virus, or Marburg hemorrhagic fever, was first discussed in 1967, after a series of epidemics that erupted in Marburg, Belgorod and Frankfurt. The infection occurred after people contacted with African green monkeys. In addition, the vectors of the virus are the fruit-eating bats from the Pteropodidae family. Thus, the spread of the virus coincides with the habitat of these animals. The disease is characterized by high infectivity and severe course. Mortality rates reach 90%. The incubation period is from 2 to 21 days.
The first symptomatology manifests itself sharply: fever, severe headaches, myalgia in the lumbar region, high fever. Viral particles multiply in all organs of the body, affecting the lymphoid tissue, liver, spleen, skin and brain. Often, localized necrosis of the organs of the genitourinary system is noted. In the next stage, nausea, vomiting and profuse diarrhea appear, lasting up to several days. With the development of the disease, the symptoms become more severe: rapid weight loss, pancreatitis, dysfunction of the internal organs, disorders of the central nervous system, accompanied by hallucinations and delusions.
Gastrointestinal, uterine, and nasal hemorrhages are common manifestations. Blood found in urine and feces is a danger, because it serves as a source of infection. As for lethal outcomes, death occurs on the 8-16th day after the onset of the first symptoms, it is preceded by the patient’s shock and profuse hemorrhage, including conjunctival hemorrhage.
There is no specialized treatment or vaccine. Patients undergo symptomatic treatment: intravenous infusion of water-salt 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 diagnostics can only be carried out under laboratory conditions (subject to special control measures and precautions) using the serum neutralization reaction and reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).
In surviving patients, the recovery period is protracted: immobility, pain, and alopecia develop for a long time. Encephalitis, orchitis, pneumonia, and cognitive impairment can also be associated diseases. There have been experimental attempts to treat serum from convalescing patients, but its effectiveness has not been proven. A number of potential vaccines are currently being tested, but their use in clinical cases will only be possible in a few years.
Typhoid fever
There are three types of typhoid, and even the clinical symptoms are similar:
- Typhoid fever is an infectious disease, the carriers of which are lice-parasites. Essentially, a bite is not a cause of infection. Through the wound, the infection enters the body. After this, the pathogen reaches the lymphatic flow, and after the end of the incubation period, it reaches 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 transmitted by parasites. His tendency to retreat and reactivate is one of the hallmarks of this disease. The typhoid pathogen has a flexible structure, this gives it the ability to change its structural appearance.
- The causative agents of typhoid fever enter the body through food. This intestinal infection is caused by microorganisms from the genus Salmonella.
Another characteristic of a particularly dangerous infection is called fever, which is a common symptom for each type of typhoid. Typhus is recognized by rash, headache, and weakness. If we are talking about relapsing fever, then delirium will complement the fever - an acute mental disorder with severe anxiety attacks, impaired orientation and sensuous delirium. Also the spleen with the liver will be enlarged. The following symptoms are observed in a patient with typhoid fever:
- Decreased appetite.
- General weakness.
- Bradycardia
- Pale pink rash - roseola.
- Disturbed by a fever consciousness.
Malaria
Malaria is on the list of highly dangerous infections. This is an infectious and parasitic disease, which manifests itself as an increase in body temperature, 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 simplest blood-sucking organisms - mosquitoes that introduce bacteria when injected with an antiseptic substance. After the infection enters the blood, a gradual damage to the liver cells occurs. It is considered the first transplacental stage. Subsequently weakened by toxic substances and the virus, the body ceases to actively resist and opens up access to malaria directly to the blood cells - red blood cells.
A person with malaria has yellowness of the skin, low hemodialysis, a state of weakness, a violation of the digestive functions, problems with the musculoskeletal system, and 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. In young children, malaria is especially difficult. Mortality from this infection is 80 out of 100 newborns.
Prevention
In Russia, 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 serious, but can be fatal. To prevent epidemics from harming the health of citizens living in Russia, doctors periodically prevent especially dangerous infections:
- Temporarily isolate all who fell ill first.
- The patient’s diagnosis is clarified so that there is no doubt that the assumption was correct.
- They collect information about the patient and record them in medical forms for archives, in the future these records can be taken for research.
- They provide the patient with first aid.
- All necessary materials for analysis are taken from the patient for study in the laboratory.
- They try to find out the whole list of those who managed to be in close contact with a sick person.
- All who contacted the patient are placed in an isolation ward to monitor them during the quarantine period until it becomes clear whether the person is healthy or infected too.
- Disinfection of all persons, both sick and those who were in contact, but have not yet become ill.
Among the dangerous diseases include: all types of viral fevers, cholera, plague, new strains of influenza, smallpox, malaria, SARS.
How to protect people from especially dangerous infections? Disease prevention measures are number one 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.