Typhus - what is it? Symptoms of the disease, prevention and treatment

Medicine does not stand still and is constantly evolving. Scientists from day to day find various medications against all sorts of diseases. However, doctors still have a list of the most terrible ailments that threaten humanity. One of these problems is typhus. What is, what the disease is dangerous, the reasons for its occurrence and the main symptomatology will be discussed below.

basic information

Initially, you need to understand the terminology. So, typhus - what is it? This is a serious disease, the causative agent of which is salmonella. Experts argue that it occurs most often where there is a large crowd of people. The causative agent of this disease are such species of bacteria as Salmonella typhi and Salmonella paratyphi (i.e., typhoid and paratyphoid infections). These microorganisms initially develop in the intestines, after which they gradually penetrate into the blood and other organs (most often into the liver, gall bladder and spleen).

Causes of the disease

As already mentioned above, the causative agent of typhoid is a bacterium, which in medicine is called Salmonella typhi and Salmonella paratyphi (that is, salmonella). It is not difficult to obtain them. They can be infected through dirty food, and also through water. That is one of the causes of the disease - non-compliance with personal hygiene rules. The main ways of transmission of salmonella are oral-fecal method.

It should also be noted that from the category of food the most dangerous in this case is milk, less often - meat and vegetables. Doctors also note that basically this disease occurs in those localities and regions where the level of cultural and sanitary development is very low.

We must not forget that typhoid is transmitted not only through urine and feces, but also through sweat, saliva and along with the mother's milk.

The main symptomatology

Typhoid - what is this disease? We deal with this further. Now I want to consider the main symptomatology, which manifests in a person in case of infection. It should be noted that the signs of the disease will not be noticeable immediately after infection. So, they will appear on average on the 7-14 day of the disease. In this case, a person can feel:

• Constant headache.
• Raise body temperature.
• Stomach ache.
• Stool disorders. Most often there are constipation, followed by a loose stool.
• Patients often have a dry cough.
• There may be pink spots that mostly concentrate on the back, stomach, and also on the chest.

About the types of disease

Typhoid fever - what is it? What else interesting can you learn about this disease? So, it is necessary to say that today physicians distinguish three of its types:

1. Typhus.
2. Typhoid fever.
3. Relapsing fever.

Depending on this, the symptomatology of the disease will vary. For each type of disease, the symptoms will be slightly different from each other.

About typhoid fever

Typhoid fever is the most common form of this disease. So, it arises in case of non-observance of sanitary and hygienic norms. Symptoms are very similar to colds. This is a headache, fatigue, and weakness. Somewhat later, there is an increase in body temperature: it can reach a mark even at 40 ° C. At the same time, there is a decrease in appetite, a violation of sleep. The patient may alternately experience then insomnia, then constant drowsiness. A week after infection, a skin rash appears on the patient's skin, which then appears, then disappears. The man himself becomes somewhat inhibited, his face pales. Even later, the pulse may become more frequent, and blood pressure may drop. At this time, the patient is listening to wheezing - this is the so-called specific bronchitis.

Initially, a sick person does not pose a threat, it turns out to be dangerous in the second week of the disease. And all because bacteria at this time are already allocated not only with bowel movements, but also with sweat. Others can pick them up at any time.

About typhus fever

What is the characteristic of typhus? Its main difference - in addition to fever and increased body temperature, it also causes damage to the cardiovascular, nervous systems of the body. This type of disease is transmitted with the help of lice: clothes, head. The insect itself is not at all dangerous, but it can carry the infection. The latter enters the human blood together with the insect bite. It can also spread through the discharge of lice, if they settle on the head of a new host. When combing bites, they rub their excrement into the head. The symptomatology is the same as in typhoid fever. However, rashes on the skin are not only on the stomach, back and chest, but also on the elbow and knee folds, joints.

About recurrent typhoid

It's time to consider such a problem as recurrent typhoid. What is the difference between this disease? Initially, it should be noted that the vectors of the disease are mites, as well as lice. Call it his spirochaetes, in other words - Borrelia reccurentis. It is also important to note that there are two types of illness:

1. Lousy recurrent typhus (or recurrent lice fever).
2. Tick-borne typhus.

It is not hard to guess that in the first case lice are the carrier of the disease. And most often - clothes. Much less often - head or pubic. The maximum fatigue a person presents during a fever. So, an insect is able to drink the blood of an infected person. Getting on the human body, it can infect only if it is crushed in place of abrasions, wounds or scratches. That is, it is necessary that the particles of the infected insect get into the human blood. This is how lousy recurrent typhoid can appear.

Typhoid typhus is very similar to nitpick, but there are some differences. First of all, they consist in the fact that the causative agents of the disease are very similar. However, in this case, the distributors are rodents, and carriers - mites. It is worth noting that this type of disease is common in Africa, Asia, Latin America, as well as in Spain and Portugal. I must say that the epidemic of typhoid fever can not arise, in any case, there have not been such precedents yet.

Diagnosis and treatment

Be sure to tell what tests will have to pass, so that you can put this diagnosis. To do the analysis for typhus, you will have to send blood and feces to a laboratory test. And already on these results, you can draw certain conclusions.

With regard to treatment, you can cope with the disease. However, you need to start treatment as soon as possible in order to get rid of the problem faster. So, you have to take antibiotics. These can be such drugs as "Erythromycin", "Penicillin", "Tetracycline". It is important to note that the goal of antimicrobial therapy is not only to kill pathogenic microorganisms, but also to prevent the occurrence of relapses. In this case, both symptomatic treatment and detoxification therapy can be performed .