Cholera
Brief description of the disease
Cholera belongs to the category of acute intestinal diseases. Cholera begins to develop when water or food contaminated with bacteria from the Vibrio cholerae family enters the body. The disease has a short incubation period (often manifests itself within a day after infection), is accompanied by unpleasant symptoms, and if left untreated, it can be fatal. Such serious consequences are associated with the fact that the causative agent of cholera produces enterotoxin, which causes numerous disturbances in the work of the gastrointestinal tract and leads to severe dehydration of the body due to persistent diarrhea. Cholera often provokes severe vomiting, during which water-salt metabolism is also disturbed.
Cholera is a quarantine infection. When boiled, cholera pathogens die literally within a few seconds, but in favorable conditions for themselves, they multiply at an extremely fast pace. Cholera bacteria enter the external environment with feces and vomit of a sick person, and then infect healthy people by water, food, contact-household or mixed routes. High susceptibility to cholera has repeatedly become the cause of large-scale epidemics. An example is 1992, when inadequate and ineffective cholera prevention resulted in more than 100,000 cases in South India and Bengal. In general, over the years of the existence of civilization, this infection has claimed millions of lives and continues to regularly collect its terrible harvest in the countries of Africa and Southeast Asia. The severe epidemic situation in these regions is far from coincidental. The fact is that cholera, the symptoms of which usually appear after drinking contaminated water or food, develops most intensively in those places where there are problems with the disinfection of fresh water and timely medical assistance.
How does cholera enter the human body?
In epidemics of cholera, the source of bacteria is the excrement of infected people. Most often, cholera embryos are found in coastal waters and salt water, from where they enter city sewers and other sources of water supply. Note also that accidental contact with a sick person with cholera will not lead to infection, since the disease is not directly transmitted. At the same time, the causative agent of cholera can easily enter the body in the process of sharing personal hygiene items, therefore, basic precautions are still necessary.
Cholera symptoms
Immediately, we note that the symptoms of cholera are very diverse. In some cases, when cholera is diagnosed, treatment is not required at all (this includes situations with so-called asymptomatic carriage), while in other people cholera leads to severe conditions and death.
The incubation period rarely lasts more than 5-6 days. The onset of the disease is always acute, while the symptoms of cholera are expressed:
- diarrhea, which intensifies at night and in the morning - while the stool is watery, does not have an unpleasant odor, over time it takes the form of "rice water";
- profuse gushing vomiting;
- disruption of the main body systems, the intensity of which depends on the degree of dehydration;
- lack of appetite;
- weight loss;
- constant thirst.
If there is a suspicion that a person is developing cholera, diagnosis, among other things, is carried out on the basis of the clinical picture of the development of the disease. Experts distinguish 4 degrees of cholera:
- I degree - dehydration is weak;
- II degree - in patients, there is a drop in fluid up to 6% of body weight, an acceleration of ESR, a decrease in the number of erythrocytes. Patients complain of dizziness, dry mouth, thirst, and severe weakness. In addition, their fingers turn blue, muscle twitching, hoarseness appear;
- III degree - with severe cholera, treatment involves constant monitoring of blood pressure and body temperature, since a sudden collapse of vital systems is quite possible. The loss of fluid reaches 9% of the body weight; patients may completely stop urine output. In the blood of sick people, there is a decrease in the concentration of potassium and chlorine;
- IV degree - critical fluid loss, development of a state of prostration, shock. Patients have sharpened facial features, dark circles around the eyes, and the skin becomes bluish and sticky to the touch. Heart sounds are muffled, there is a sharp drop in blood pressure, a decrease in body temperature to 34 degrees. Such cholera, the symptoms of which indicate numerous failures in the work of the main systems, often ends in the death of the patient.
If you do not consult a doctor in time, even mild cholera can lead to numerous complications: abscesses, pneumonia, phlegmons, erysipelas and phlebitis. For this reason, you should closely monitor the appearance of warning symptoms of cholera after consuming food or water, and immediately contact a medical facility for an accurate diagnosis.
Cholera diagnosis
When diagnosing cholera, infection is recognized on the basis of a characteristic epidemiological anamnesis and a clinical picture. To confirm cholera, bacteriological studies of feces, gastric contents and vomit are used. In addition, patients are prescribed laboratory physicochemical blood tests.
Cholera treatment
If an infection is suspected, patients are hospitalized. With obvious signs of dehydration, rehydration therapy is carried out immediately in those volumes that are determined by the patient's condition. Typically, recovery activities involve oral fluid administration. It can also be delivered to the stomach through a thin tube if the person is unable to drink on their own. Within an hour, a patient with cholera should consume at least 1-1.5 liters. liquids. If the disease is accompanied by severe vomiting, then the treatment of cholera involves the mandatory introduction of polyionic solutions into the blood.
After the patient's condition is normalized, loss correction continues. The water-salt therapy is finished only after the bowel movements take on a normal fecal character, and the amount of urine exceeds the volume of the feces. After the cessation of vomiting in the treatment of cholera, tetracycline or chloramphenicol is prescribed intravenously. Cholera treatment lasts for 5 days with 6 hour cycles. With timely access to a doctor and adequate help, cholera is treated successfully without any serious complications.
Cholera prevention consists in compliance with sanitary and hygienic rules, thorough washing of products, compliance with established technological standards at public catering establishments. We also strongly recommend that you stop drinking raw tap water when preventing cholera.
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The information is generalized and provided for informational purposes only. At the first sign of illness, see your doctor. Self-medication is hazardous to health!
