Diseases transmitted by airborne droplets are especially dangerous to health. Indeed, in order to become infected with a particular disease, a person just needs to stand next to the carrier of the infection for some time.
What disease can you get through the air: flu
Typically, such an acute infectious disease is characterized by intoxication of the body, as well as damage to the mucosa of the upper respiratory tract. This virus is transmitted through the air and immediately multiplies in the cells of a healthy body, as a result of which the latter becomes ill. The latent incubation period of influenza is from several hours to several days. Uncomplicated virus disappears after five to six days. However, a full recovery of a person occurs only after two weeks. As a result of non-timely treatment, such a disease can cause inflammation of the middle ear, laryngitis, inflammation of the lungs, as well as renal pelvis and separate (soft) membranes of the brain.
What disease can be infected through the air: adenovirus infection
The incubation period of such a disease lasts about 1 week. Thus, a person immediately rises high fever, conjunctivitis of the eyes appears, and catarrhal phenomena appear .
What disease can be infected through atmospheric air: whooping cough
The causative agent of such an infection is a stick (whooping cough), which quickly dies, getting into the environment. The course of the disease is cyclical. In other words, a person who has contracted such a disease has a strictly sequential development of periods:
- Incubation - from two to fourteen days.
- Catarrhal - from the first or second week. This period is characterized by malaise and cough, which is greatly amplified in the late evening.
- Spasmodic - from the second or eighth week. Coughing becomes convulsive with seizures.
- After forty days, a person is not contagious.
Complications of whooping cough can occur in the form of severe spasmodic cough, nosebleeds, conjunctivitis of the eyes, frequent urinary incontinence, prolapse of the rectum from the anus, and cerebral hemorrhage. It is also worth noting that young children have the following features during this disease:
- the catarrhal and latent period of the disease is quite short (two or three days);
- there is no coughing attack typical of whooping cough, but there is still a slight cough.
What disease can be infected through atmospheric air: diphtheria
The causative agent of this disease is aerobic bacillus. This infection can get on the mucous membrane of the nose, pharynx or eyes of a healthy person.
Diphtheria is localized in the form of plaque on the tonsils, palate, tongue and throat. Symptoms of this disease are fever, weakness, headache, impaired sleep and appetite.
Also, signs of diphtheria are swelling of the tonsils and pharynx, significant deposits of ash color and a musty smell from the mouth. With this disease, a film and significant edema are formed on the mucous membranes, which lead to a narrowing of the lumen of the throat, which makes it difficult for a person to breathe. In this case, diphtheria croup may occur.
Airborne diseases: scarlet fever
As a rule, a healthy person gets sick after using the patient’s clothes or bedding, as well as through toys (in the case of children).
The incubation period of such a serious illness lasts from one to twelve days. A person develops chills, a rash, as well as fever and tonsillitis.
With such an infection, the patient may develop a complication in the form of disorders in the cardiovascular system, inflammation of the kidneys, middle ear and exacerbation of existing diseases.
It is also worth noting that such misfortunes that are transmitted through ordinary air and household items include measles, chickenpox, rubella, and mumps, which are often called mumps in the common people. These diseases are extremely life-threatening. That is why, if a person suspects any of them, he should be immediately quarantined and appropriate treatment should be prescribed.
Thus, with timely access to the hospital, it is possible to avoid not only complications of the disease, but also its spread among the relatives and people around the patient.