Preventable Diseases

The human life expectancy rate is continuously increasing, thanks to the continuous advancements in medical science. Today we have a cure for almost all chronic diseases and viral attacks and there is continuous research being conducted to improvise the quality and effectivity of these cures. The question that might now pop up in some of your minds is that if medical science is continuously improving, why we have not yet been able to attain 100% expectancy rate or immunity rate for diseases that have an effective cure and have long been researched upon? Is inevitability of fate to be blamed here? No, not completely. It is rather the lack of education on medical developments, inadequate campaign, careless execution, disbelief in modern medication, superstitions etc that need to be blamed for the fatality caused by some common diseases. WHO in a survey in 2002 estimated that 1.4 million of deaths among children below 5 years were caused by diseases that could have been prevented by vaccination. Glance through the lines to follow to learn about some of the preventable diseases that ironically provide shocking mortality data.

Vaccine Preventable Diseases

Diphtheria
Corynebacterium is what causes this bacterial infection. Diphtheria gets transmitted from person to person when they come in close physical or respiratory contact. Diphtheria can also lead to infection of nasopharynx thereby further causing breathing difficulties and even death. This bacterial infection can actually be prevented by the doses of DTP, DT or TD, vaccines that are given by the intramuscular route.

Measles
Measles is one of the common preventive diseases that affect the respiratory tract of the person. The disease breaks out with small symptoms like fever, cough, running nose and watery eyes. This infectious disease causes rashes starting from the neck of the person and spreading to the trunk and limbs. Other serious symptoms of measles are fits, brain damage etc. There is a measles vaccine that is the only preventive measure that should be given to kids, when 9 months old.

Polio 
Polio is a deadly disease that affects the nervous system and lymph and occurs in kids either after birth or before birth. Some symptoms of polio are fever, sore throat, nausea, and stomach ache, stiffness in the neck, back and legs, headaches. Polio gets transmitted through fecal oral route and can even lead to disability through paralysis. IPV is the polio vaccine that should be used in order to prevent the transmission of this disease.

Hepatitis B
Hepatitis B is the disease of the liver. Adults suffering from hepatitis B have fair enough chance of recovery, but in infants who are affected at birth, the disease can take a chronic shape. Infants might carry the virus within for years making it contagious, thereby posing threat to others. Hepatitis B virus is carried along in the blood and other body fluids in a person. Three doses of Plasma derived hepatitis B vaccine or recombinant DNA through the intramuscular route is the preventive measure that can be taken. The dose is injected into the upper thigh for infants and deltoid muscle for adults.

Yellow Fever
Yellow fever is caused due to yellow fever virus that is carried by mosquitoes that feed on infected animals in forests and then feed on people travelling through forest. When these people return to the urban areas and are fed on by the domestic vector mosquitoes, the virus gets transmitted to other humans and the disease becomes an epidemic. A dose of live viral yellow fever vaccine is the preventive cure available for yellow fever.

Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis or TB is a disease affecting the lungs. TB is caused due to Mycobacterium tuberculosis which can also affect other parts of body other than lungs like bones, joints and even brain. It is a contagious disease that can spread through air when the virus gets released by coughing or sneezing by the affected person. Crowded surroundings, poor health care and malnourishment serve as a breeding ground for the virus. Though people from all walks of life and any age group can get attacked by the virus, it is in children that the risk of attack by virus is more. BCG or Bacilli Calmette Guerin is the vaccination that can protect children less than 5 years of age.