Infectionist

2024 Author: Rachel Wainwright | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 07:39

An infectious disease doctor is engaged in the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of infectious diseases. As a rule, the reception of an infectious disease specialist takes place in an infectious diseases hospital or in an infectious diseases office.

An infectious disease doctor is studying the occurrence and mechanisms of development of infectious diseases, their clinical manifestations and develops ways of their treatment and prevention.

A pediatric infectious disease specialist is engaged in the diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases in children. The class of childhood infectious diseases includes influenza, acute respiratory diseases, childhood infections (chickenpox, rubella, measles, mumps), as well as such serious infections as hepatitis, meningitis and diphtheria.

For what diseases is it worth consulting an infectious disease specialist?

Brucellosis;
Rabies;
Typhoid fever;
Viral hepatitis;
Botulism;
Chicken pox;
Flu;
Jaundice;
Omsk or Crimean hemorrhagic fever, hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, etc.;
Dysentery;
Whooping cough;
Measles;
Yersiniosis;
Diphtheria;
Infectious mononucleosis (Filatov's disease);
Rubella;
Malaria;
Anthrax;
Foot and mouth disease;
Tick-borne encephalitis (spring-summer, taiga);
Cholera;
Plague;
Scarlet fever;
Ornithosis;
Food toxicoinfections;
Tularemia;
Erysipelas;
ARI;
Leishmaniasis;
KU fever;
Measles;
Meningococcal infection;
Mumps (mumps);
Helminthiasis;
Acute intestinal infections;
Typhus;
Paratyphoid A and B.

When should you see an infectious disease specialist?

With various secretions from the cervix, vagina, urethra, green, yellow, gray, white, purulent or mucous in nature, with or without an unpleasant odor, liquid, curdled or foamy consistency;
In case of burning and itching in the genital area;
With painful sensations in the perineum or in the urethra;
In case of painful urination;
With spotting or bleeding of an unexplained nature from the genitals;
With increased urge to urinate;
When the color of urine changes, flakes, blood, lumps and threads appear in it;
In case of redness, chafing, warts, sores and blisters in the genital area or anus.

Often symptoms of infection are pain in the lower abdomen, groin, lower back, perineum, causing fever.

The enlargement of regional lymph nodes is also a symptom of a sexually transmitted disease. If a person often changes sexual partners and does not use barrier methods of contraception, then he should regularly consult an infectious disease specialist for sexually transmitted infections.

When is it necessary to visit a pediatric infectious disease specialist?

Having a headache in a child is a fairly common symptom of an infectious disease. Most often, it manifests itself as a result of intoxication of the body and occurs against the background of an increase in body temperature, aching muscles, chills and pain in the eyes. In addition, the presence of a headache may indicate such a formidable infection for a child - meningococcal, which is very dangerous and can lead to death in just a few hours. Therefore, it is extremely important to contact a pediatric infectious disease specialist in time.

Vomiting is another common symptom of an infectious disease in a child. As a rule, it occurs in diseases that are grouped into the concept of "acute abdomen" and require surgical intervention (peritonitis, acute appendicitis, intestinal obstruction, cholecystitis).

In infectious diseases, vomiting can tell the infectious disease doctor about the presence of intestinal infections, such as salmonellosis, cholera, foodborne toxicity, dysentery, etc.

A rash is a common symptom of infectious diseases and requires urgent consultation with an infectious disease specialist. As a rule, a rash is accompanied by an increase in temperature and can be a symptom of rather dangerous infectious diseases, on the early diagnosis and treatment of which the life of a small patient depends.

Diarrhea is also a symptom of infection. It is especially worth paying attention to infectious disease specialists, if its frequency exceeds 10 times a day, the child's appetite disappears, and there are blood impurities in the feces.

If there is blood in the child's stool, it is necessary to immediately go to an appointment with an infectious disease specialist, since it can be a symptom of such infectious diseases as amebiasis, balantidiasis, dysentery.

What are the main diagnostics performed by an infectious disease doctor?

An infectious disease specialist can carry out the following diagnostics: electrocardiography, ultrasound, irrigoscopy, X-ray, sigmoidoscopy, liver scan, fibrocolonoscopy.

Prevention of infectious diseases

To prevent infectious diseases, it is necessary to regularly carry out anti-epidemic measures, the main of which are:

Limiting contact with patients;
Immunization;
Increasing human resistance to infectious diseases;
Chemoprophylaxis of infections: the use of medicines in order to prevent possible infection and reproduction of the pathogen.

Limitation of contacts, as a rule, comes down to the isolation of sick persons. Each person should remember that when the first signs of infection appear, he should immediately go to an appointment with an infectious disease specialist, since otherwise he harms not only his own health, but also the health of the people around him.

Timely immunization is a very reliable prevention method. It is carried out by introducing an appropriate vaccine, which is made from weakened or killed microorganisms that cause a mild form of a certain disease.

Chemoprophylaxis is carried out to prevent certain infectious diseases through the use of chemotherapy drugs or antibiotics. An example is the prevention of reinfection in angina, when after a course of penicillin, patients are injected with bicillin-5, which prevents the development of various complications.

You should not neglect also increasing the body's resistance to various infections. So, for example, strict adherence to the rules of personal hygiene, fortification, good nutrition, physical activity significantly increase the body's resistance to certain infections.

Prevention of childhood infectious diseases is based on one principle: after a child has suffered an infectious disease, he develops a strong immunity to it in the future. Based on this, children's infectious disease specialists have developed vaccines that allow the formation of persistent immunity to certain diseases.

Vaccines have already been developed against rubella, measles, mumps, hepatitis and many other diseases.

Found a mistake in the text? Select it and press Ctrl + Enter.