Pseudotuberculosis is a disease that affects the entire gastrointestinal tract. This is an acute infectious disease caused by intestinal bacteria.
The spread of pseudotuberculosis
The source of infection can be vegetables and a number of dairy products that were eaten without prior heat treatment. The main route of infection is food. Pseudotuberculosis bacilli are found in soil and water. Dog disease, cattle, pigs are transferred. But the main distributors of infection are rodents.
Bacteria can be in the environment and retain the ability to reproduce for a long time. They live in the soil for a year, in water - about 8 months, in milk - 30 days, in bread - 150 days, in sugar - 20 days, in oil - about 5 months.
Pathogens feel normal at a temperature of +2 ... +12 0 C, therefore, most often they detect pseudotuberculosis in the spring. Symptoms often resemble other diseases, so only an infectious disease specialist should be involved in the diagnosis.
Infection pathways
You can get pseudotuberculosis by eating vegetable salads (for example, from cabbage, carrots, beets). The peak incidence is usually in the spring months. This is due to the fact that pathogens of pseudotuberculosis are introduced into the vegetable store. The sticks get there along with the excrement of birds and rodents. And if we take into account that bacteria can actively multiply at temperatures above +2 0 C, then one won’t be surprised that this factor is called the first cause of infection of vegetables and fruits.
Much less often, infection is carried out through water - in order to catch an infection, you need to drink from open water, and a person in their right mind will not do this. Dairy products may also be contaminated. Therefore, before use, they should all be susceptible to heat treatment. If you do not want to know what the symptoms of pseudotuberculosis are, then you need to remember that the causative agent of this infection dies when boiled for 10 seconds or a minute after disinfection with 2% chloramine.
Course of the disease
It is worth noting that it is not always possible to immediately diagnose pseudotuberculosis. Symptoms in children often resemble manifestations of scarlet fever. Specialists distinguish several phases of the disease.
The first of these is the infection process. The causative agent of infection, entering the intestine, begins to invade its walls. As a result, there are symptoms of inflammation - enteritis. From the walls of the intestine, the sticks can penetrate into the mesenteric lymph nodes and lead to the development of lymphadenitis. This occurs at the second stage of the development of the disease.
In the last phase of the microbial pseudotuberculosis and the toxins produced by them enter the bloodstream. This is the reason for the development of bacteremia and toxemia. At this stage, the presence of microbes in the tissues of the spleen and liver is recorded. It is also possible damage to the thermal section of the small intestine and the development of erosive and ulcerative colitis. In this case, a picture of acute appendicitis is observed.
It is also important to know that the incubation period can be from 3 to 18 days. Therefore, it can be difficult to identify the source of the disease.
Clinical picture
In most cases, pseudotuberculosis starts the same way. Symptoms of many people are similar. Patients have a feeling of chills, and the temperature rises to 38 0 C or more. In addition, patients complain of pain in the joints, muscles, head. Weakness is also noted.
Along with these symptoms, a feeling of nausea appears. Some may vomit. Others complain of abdominal pain that may be persistent or cramping. They are localized on the right in the lower abdomen, around the navel, in the epigastric region or in the right hypochondrium.
A characteristic feature of pathologists is a liquid, viscous stool with a pungent odor and foreign inclusions. It can be from 2 to 15 times a day. It happens that pseudotuberculosis also affects the large intestine . Symptoms in adults and children in this case are supplemented by the presence in the stool of impurities of mucus or even blood.
External signs
We have listed typical symptoms of the disease. But besides them there are also special symptoms characteristic only for the disease pseudotuberculosis. In children (photos of babies with this disease can help you diagnose yourself, but it’s better to consult a doctor), as in adults, one of the brightest signs is the appearance of the so-called “hood”, “gloves”, “ socks. " The skin on the face, neck, hands and feet turns red. Changes become noticeable at 2-4 days of illness. In 70-80% of patients, a rash similar to scarlet fever appears on the body.
Patients' skin is dry and hot. The face may be puffy. Often, reddened conjunctiva can be seen in patients. Blanching of the nasolabial triangle is often noted in children.
There are other symptoms of pseudotuberculosis in the disease. Photos of patients who have been ill for the second week are very similar. They begin to branally peel skin integument throughout the body. And on the neck, face, feet and palms there is lamellar (or, as it is also called, leaf-like) peeling.
The disease can last from 2 to 15 days. First, the patients' tongue is coated with white coating, it is cleaned for 5-7 days, after which it acquires a raspberry shade.
Other symptoms
But intoxication and external manifestations are not all signs of a disease such as pseudotuberculosis. Symptoms (treatment prescribed on time will help get rid of the negative manifestations of the disease) are quite diverse. So, patients complain of pain (arthralgia) in the wrist, ankle, knee and interphalangeal joints.
Also, doctors often find that patients have an enlarged liver and spleen. Sometimes this leads to yellowness of the sclera and skin. In addition, changes are observed in the cardiovascular system. They are detected in the form of systolic murmur, muffled heart sounds. In severe cases, arrhythmia occurs.
At the peak of intoxication, a decrease in the amount of urine excreted is sometimes observed. This is accompanied by pain in the lumbar region. The development of a disease such as diffuse glomerulonephritis cannot be ruled out. True, with pseudotuberculosis it occurs very rarely.
Other forms
It should be noted that it is far from always easy to diagnose this disease in patients. After all, it may not occur in a classical form. It happens that the symptoms inherent in the disease are pseudotuberculosis. In children (treatment, by the way, in this case may be prescribed incorrectly, so it is better to pass all the tests), the catarrhal form of the disease resembles the usual ARI. And the erased symptoms may resemble ordinary food poisoning.
As a rule, patients feel better by 5-7 days. But all manifestations of the disease pass only after 1.5 months. Throughout this period, the skin continues to peel off. Plus, relapses occur in 20% of cases, so in some patients the disease can drag on for 3 months.
Imminent danger
Most often diagnosed with pseudotuberculosis in children. Symptoms and treatment (photos of young patients give an idea of the external manifestations of the disease) are determined in the hospital. Indeed, to establish a diagnosis there is little external examination.
The situation is complicated by the fact that at the first stages it is not always possible to detect the disease. It is diagnosed, as a rule, already when microbes begin to die in large quantities in the body and toxins are produced.
It is important to know how pseudotuberculosis (symptoms) can occur in children. Reviews indicate that untimely diagnosis and untimely treatment lead to the defeat of all organs and systems. Doctors specify that dystrophic changes begin in the tissues, granulomas and microabscesses appear.
On the mucous membranes (in the mouth, pharynx, intestines) ulcers form that bleed. If untreated, they can lead to necrotic changes in the affected tissue.
Diagnostics
Having assessed the general clinical manifestations, the doctor should prescribe tests. A diagnosis of pseudotuberculosis requires bacteriological and serological testing. To get a complete picture of the disease, patients take blood, feces, urine. It is also necessary to check cerebrospinal and lymphatic fluids.
To identify the causative agents of pseudotuberculosis in the test material using the ELISA method (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay). They also resort to the help of express diagnostics. To do this, conduct a study called the indirect hemagglutination reaction with immunoglobulin diagnostics. Only after a full examination can we say that a person has pseudotuberculosis. Symptoms in children are often similar to manifestations of other diseases. Therefore, in parallel, differential diagnostics are carried out in order to exclude scarlet fever, rubella, tonsillitis, viral hepatitis, appendicitis, gastroenteritis or polyarthritis.
Treatment tactics
If pseudotuberculosis is suspected, the patient is hospitalized in a hospital. They conduct a full examination and establish an accurate diagnosis. In the treatment using antibiotics, chemotherapy and sulfonamides. The necessary duration of therapy is determined by the doctor. It depends on the course of the disease. With a generalized form , 12-14 days of therapy are necessary, with a localized form 10 is enough.
For treatment, the antibiotic Levomycetin is most often used. To eliminate the symptoms of intoxication, an intravenous administration of a glucose solution with ascorbic acid is prescribed. Ringer-Locke solution may also be infused. For severe lesions, corticosteroids are used.
Medications are prescribed depending on what kind of symptoms pseudotuberculosis gives in children. Photos of babies at different stages of the disease make it possible to understand how it should proceed. Vitamins of groups C and B are prescribed without fail to stimulate the immune system.
In addition, desensitizing agents are prescribed. They can use drugs such as Diazolin, Suprastin and other analogues.
Infection prevention
Unfortunately, there is currently no vaccine for a disease such as pseudotuberculosis. The symptoms of this infection should be known to everyone in order to suspect it in time and consult a doctor.
Medicine is not yet able to protect patients from pseudotuberculosis infection. Therefore, it is important to pay attention to preventive measures. They must be implemented at the state level. It is necessary to monitor vegetable stores, carry out preventive control of rodents, observe all the rules of storage and transportation of vegetables. In addition, continuous quality control of the supplied water should be carried out.
To prevent the disease, it is advisable to use only thermally processed foods and drink boiled water.