Tuesday, 3 February 2015


Chikungunya
Chikungunya is a disease transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes. Chikungunya also shares some clinical signs with dengue and can be misdiagnosed where dengue is common. The infection caused by Chikungunya virus is was first described in East Africa in 1952. The virus is transmitted by mosquitoes and belongs to the family Togaviridae in the genus Alphavirus.


Mode Of Transmission
Humans are infected when Aedes aegypti and albopictus mosquitoes, containing Chikungunya virus, bite humans and the viruses are trasmitted during the bloodmeal. The viruses then multiply in humans and can then be picked up by other uninfected mosquitoes when they bite infected humans.

Chikungunya virus infection is not considered to be contagious because there is no direct human to human transfer of Chikungunya viruses, so infected individuals cannot directly transfer the virus to another human because the virus has to pass through a mosquito first. However, outbreaks can occur in populations where a number of both mosquitoes and humans are infected with the virus.

Symptoms
Usually the symptoms will develop within 3 to 7 days after a bite by an infected mosquito. The most common symptoms are fever and join pain or the individual may develop such headache, muscle pain, join swelling or rash.

The symptoms are similar to dengue fever that is also spread by same mosquitoes.


Some rare complications include:-

  • Eye problems
  • Inflammation of the heart, liver, brain, skin, kidneys and nerves.
Prevention

No vaccince exists to prevent chikungunya virus infection or disease. Prevent chikungunya virus infection by avoiding mosquito bites and mosquitoes that spread the chikungunya virus bite mostly during daytime. 

  • Use air conditioning or window and door screens to keep mosquitoes outside. Or sleep under a mosquito bed net.
  • Help reduce the number of mosquitoes outside your home by emptying standing water from containers such as flowerpots or buckets.
  • Wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants.



Rabies
Rabies is a zoonotic disease caused by virus Lyssavirus. Rabies virus is endemic virus on all continent except Antarctica. Every year more than 15 million people worldwide receive post exposure vaccination to prevent rabies.

How its spread
Rabies is a viral illness spread via the saliva of an infected animal. This occurs usually through biting a human or another animal. Transmission can also occur through saliva touching an open wound or touching mucous membranes.

After being bitten by a rabid animal, the virus is deposited in the muscle and subcutaneous tissue. For most of the incubation period (1 to 3 months). The virus then travels via peripheral nerves to the brain and from there, again via peripheral nerves, to nearly all parts of the body.

Symptoms
Symptoms can occur as fast as within the first week of infection. Normally the early symptoms are very general such as weakness, fever and headaches.


The disease can take 2 forms:-

  • Paralytic rabies - Patient's muscles slowly get paralyzed starting at the site of the bite. Ends with coma and death
  • Furious rabies - Classics symptoms such as anxiety or confusion, encephalitis causing hallucinations or confusion orcoma, hypersallivation or having difficulty in swallowing
Person at risk
  • Person always contact with rabid animals
  • Person who have a nature with animals or veterinars

Prevention
  • Frequently keep vaccine rabies up to date for pets
  • Frequently have a medical care and take vaccine for immunization
  • Animal control to remove the infected animals
  • Beware of stray animals
  • Vaccinate pets and keep them away from wild and outdoor animals





One of the most devastating pandemics in human history. The Black Death resulting estimated 75 to 200 milion people death in Europe in the years of 1346 to 1353.  No medical knowledge existed in Medieval England to cope with the disease. The Black Death is the name given to a deadly plague (often called bubonic plague, but is more likely to be pneumonic plague) which was rampant during the Fourteenth Century. It was believed to have arrived from Asia in late 1348 and caused more than one epidemic in that century.

By the following August, the plague had spread as far north as England, where people called it "The Black Death" because of the black spots it produced on the skin. A terrible killer was loose across Europe, and Medieval medicine had nothing to combat it.

In winter the disease seemed to disappear, but only because fleas--which were now helping to carry it from person to person are dormant then. Each spring, the plague attacked again, killing new victims. After five years 25 million people were dead,one-third of Europe's people.

Even when the worst was over, smaller outbreaks continued, not just for years, but for centuries. The survivors lived in constant fear of the plague's return, and the disease did not disappear until the 1600s.

Medieval society never recovered from the results of the plague. So many people had died that there were serious labor shortages all over Europe. This led workers to demand higher wages, but landlords refused those demands. By the end of the 1300s peasant revolts broke out in England, France, Belgium and Italy.

Hawar (Plague)


Hawar
Hawar merupakan penyakit berjangkit yang merbahaya yang disebabkan bakteria Yersinia Pestis. Hawar banyak merebak melalui satu tikus yang kotor ke yang lain melalui kutu. Penyakit ini banyak berlaku di seluruh benua kecuali Australia.

Cara Jangkitan

  • Titisan - Bersin atau batuk
  • Sentuhan - Bersentuhan dengan orang yang telah berjangkit (termasuk sentuhan seksual)
  • Sentuhan lain - Bersentuhan dengan tanah ataupun permukaan yang telah tercemar
  • Udara - Jika bakteria tersebut berada di udara
  • Binatang perosak - bawaan serangga atau binatang perosak yang lain
Tanda & Gejala
  • Demam
  • Batuk
  • Bengkak di badan seperti di peha, leher dan lengan
  • Muntah
  • Loya
Terdapat 3 jenis hawar : - 


Hawar Bubonik
Apabila kutu mengigit manusia dan mencemarkan darah luka, bakteria mula masuk kedalam tisu. Bakteria Yersinia Pestis boleh membiak dan menghasilkan semua sel sel di dalam. Apabila bakteria memasuki sistem limpa, bakteria itu melepaskan toksin. Akibatnya, bengkak yang sakit di badan dan akan bernanah. 

Hawar Septisemik
Berlaku selepas hawar bubonik, bakteria boleh memasuki salur darah dan boleh berjalan ke serata tubuh badan. Jangkitan ini boleh menyebabkan kerandangan di selaput otak dan renjatan endotoksid serta pendarahan yang teruk akibat gumpalan darah.

Hawar Pneumonik
Hawar pneumonik mula timbul akibat daripada jangkitan paru paru yang boleh menyebabkan batuk dan bersin yang menghasilkan titisan mengandungi bakteria yang boleh menjangkiti sesiapa sahaja yang menghidunya.

Pencegahan
  • Basmi tikus dan elakkan memegang tikus yang kotor sama ada yang hidup mahupun yang mati
  • Elakkan tempat yang dipenuhi orang
  • Basmi kutu
  • Jika mempunyai hubungan dengan orang yang dijangkiti, elakkan daripada menyentuhi cecair tubuh pesakit dan dapatkan rawatan awal
  • Simpan makanan ataupun lupuskan makanan dengan cara yang betul supaya tidak dicerobohi tikus.