Infectious diseases transmitted by blood. Alternative medicine

UNIVERSAL PRECAUTIONS

When working with blood or other body fluids, there are typical precautions that everyone follows to prevent unwanted and unintentional contact. medical workers. Even if you are not involved in medicine, remember these measures, they will be useful for situations where you do not want to be at risk of getting a disease. These include:

1) Protective barriers - gloves, masks, gowns, goggles, etc. If you are allergic to latex, there are alternative materials such as nitrile, polyurethane, polyisoprene and others. Cost varies depending on the type of material.
2) Wash your hands thoroughly, especially after contact with anything.
3) The needles should not come into contact with any part of the body.
4) Dispose of single-use (disposable) syringes in a sharps container.
5) It is recommended to sterilize non-disposable blades before use - dry high temperature ovens and autoclaves (or more simply - in a pressure cooker).
6) Clean wounds to prevent blood poisoning (see below for details).

The following list of diseases are examples of why it is extremely IMPORTANT for you and your donor to get tested, and why you should take precautions at all times if you do not want to risk diseases that can be passed on to the donor, just as they can be passed on from the donor. This is far from full list- I covered only those diseases for which the risk of infection is the highest, but besides this there are others, no less common, about which I remained silent, in addition, there are rare diseases that I did not consider here.

HEPATITIS A

Causes: Low level hygiene and sanitation.

Is there a vaccine? Yes
Possibility of avoidance? Yes
Fatal? Not always

Symptoms: Typically seen more often in adults than children, jaundice (yellowing of the skin), fatigue, abdominal pain, loss of appetite, nausea, diarrhea and/or fever.

Other notes: Hepatitis A usually does not have a chronic form. Once you have had Hepatitis A, you cannot get it again. It is usually spread by contact with contaminated feces, so we advise you to always wash your hands after using the toilet.

HEPATITIS B

Causes: Contact with the blood or body fluids of an infected person. While unprotected sex and the use of disposable needles often come to mind, other sources of contamination must be considered, such as toothbrushes, razors and other personal items, as well as tattoo equipment that has not been properly sterilized.

Is there a vaccine? Yes
Possibility of avoidance? Yes
Fatal? In case of chronic infection - 15-25% of cases.

Symptoms: About 30% of infected people have NO signs or symptoms. Typically seen more often in adults than children, jaundice (yellowing of the skin), fatigue, abdominal pain, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting and/or joint pain.

Other notes: Can become a chronic infection if left untreated, and if the disease becomes chronic, death can occur in 15-25% of cases.

HEPATITIS C

Causes:

Is there a vaccine? No
Possibility of avoidance? Yes
Fatal? 1-5% of cases are fatal, as well as the risk of developing hepatitis B

Symptoms: 80% of infected people have no symptoms. When they occur, the symptoms are: jaundice, fatigue, dark urine, abdominal pain, loss of appetite and/or nausea.

HEPATITIS D

Causes: Contact with the blood or body fluids of an infected person. While unprotected sex and the use of disposable needles often come to mind, other sources of contamination must be considered, such as toothbrushes, razors and other personal items, as well as tattoo equipment that has not been properly sterilized.

Is there a vaccine? No
Possibility of avoidance? Yes
Fatal? A liver transplant may be required if the disease has progressed sufficiently.

Symptoms: Jaundice, fatigue, abdominal pain, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, joint pain, and/or dark (black or tea-colored) urine.

Other notes: There may be co-infection (occurring at the same time) or superinfection in people with hepatitis B. Liver disease is more common in this case.

HEPATITIS E

Causes: Contaminated food or water is present in the feces of infected people and animals.

Is there a vaccine? There is no specific vaccine for Hepatitis D, but the Hepatitis B vaccine prevents the combination of Hepatitis B/Hepatitis D infections.
Possibility of avoidance? Yes
Fatal? Unknown.

Symptoms: They can appear anywhere from 2 to 20 days after infection and usually include redness and tenderness of the skin, followed by blisters. Flu-like symptoms are common, and urination may be painful.

Other notes: A person can be infected without any visible signs - not everyone develops blisters or other typical signs.

HERPES

Causes: Touching infected skin. Typically, this involves contact with an open wound, but in some people, the disease passes without visible symptoms and, nevertheless, they carry the infection. This means that the virus will spread without visible open wounds.

Is there a vaccine? Not yet, but it is under development
Possibility of avoidance? Yes
Fatal? Cases unknown

Symptoms: Jaundice, fatigue, abdominal pain, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, and/or dark urine.

Other notes: The risk of infection is high in developing countries, but infected people can be found in almost all countries.

HIV AIDS

Causes: Infection through damaged skin and mucous membranes. It can also be transmitted from mother to child during pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding.

Is the vaccine available? No.
Possibility of avoidance? Yes
Fatal? In most cases - yes

Symptoms: HIV/AIDS symptoms can mimic other diseases, the only reliable way to find out is to take a test. Symptoms may include rapid weight loss, dry cough, fever/night sweats, chronic fatigue, swollen lymph nodes, diarrhea, sudden loss of appetite and more.

Other notes: at least two main forms are known - one is the usual slow-acting type, which is familiar to most people, however, at the end of 2004 at the beginning of 2005, a new form appeared that lasts the entire period of the illness and includes slow (with agony, suffering) death during 6 months. You cannot rely on one symptom to determine whether you or someone else actually has HIV/AIDS. If you need a test, you should contact your local (local) doctor, clinic, government medical center or any other specialized place where this test can be done.

PRION DISEASES

Spongiform encephalopathy (BSE/"mad cow disease")
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD, vCJD, nvCJD)
Kuru (disease spread mainly in cannibalistic societies - not covered in this article).

Causes: Infected proteins (prions) come from contaminated blood or meat. Through blood transfusions from infected individuals. Or by eating contaminated meat from sick animals, the virus spreads to the brain, spinal cord, retina, dorsal ganglia (a bundle of nerves at the base of the spine), distal ileum ( Bottom part small intestine) and bone marrow, these organs are thought to be most susceptible to infection, and if the processing facilities are not clean enough, infected parts may touch uninfected parts.

Is there a vaccine? No
Possibility of avoidance? Yes
Fatal? Yes - 100% (with or without treatment)

Symptoms:
BSE: Characterized by loss of motor coordination, dementia, paralysis and eventual death usually following pneumonia.
CJD / others: From mental or sensory abnormalities, lack of coordination (in the beginning) to dementia and muscle spasms at last stages diseases.

Other notes: Additionally, mad cow disease, BSE, and CJD/vCJD/nvCJD have been found in moose, deer, and other artiodactyls. Additionally, a disease called Scabies, seen in sheep, is thought to be a source of BSE in cows when animal parts are used as cattle feed.

SEPSIS/SEPTIC SHOCK

Causes: Any pathogenic organisms (bacteria, fungi, viruses) can cause sepsis and septic shock. These organisms can enter the body in several ways - at sites of other infection, surgical procedures, IVs/needles, catheters, and physical trauma that compromises the integrity of the skin. Sepsis affects approximately 66% of hospital patients.

Is there a vaccine? No
Possibility of avoidance? Yes
Fatal? Yes, 5-60% death depending on complicating factors: what kind of infected organism is and what its immune system is.

Symptoms: Most patients have fevers and colds that come on abruptly. Some may have low temperature body, rapid breathing, changes in mental state, etc. Loss of interest in food or others may also develop. If it is caused by meningitis bacteria, there may be a hemorrhagic rash - groups of tiny blood spots that look like pin pricks. If left untreated, they gradually become larger and begin to look like fresh bruises.

Other notes: Don't be stupid - it's so easy to prevent by decontaminating any wounds, there's no excuse for not following good hygiene.

SYPHILIS

Causes: As a rule, during sexual contacts; an open wound will spread the germ through the mucous membrane or broken skin. It can be passed from mother to child during pregnancy.

Is there a vaccine? No
Possibility of avoidance? Yes
Fatal? Yes, if left untreated

Symptoms: The primary stage is a wound at the site of infection, which disappears within a few weeks. The secondary stage is a penny-sized skin rash that appears 3-6 weeks after the sores appear. The rash may take several weeks or months to heal. The second stage is infectious! If the disease is untreated and progresses to the tertiary stage, the bacteria attack the heart, eyes, brain, nervous system, bones, joints or almost any other part of the body.

If the disease invades the nervous system - called neurosyphilis - then the time from infection to the onset of symptoms can take up to 20 years.

Other notes: Syphilis increases the risk of transmitting or acquiring HIV/AIDS by 300-500%. Symptoms can resemble many other diseases, so syphilis is often left untreated for a very long time. Even if the disease is recognized and treated, the damage already done to organs and parts of the body cannot be completely reversed.

Other notes: If you have hepatitis C, do not donate blood, organs or tissue - the infection will spread through the organ tissue.

A person is attacked by various pathological microorganisms. Some are transmitted by airborne droplets, others through blood. How to deal with blood infections, and what are the causes of their occurrence?

What is a blood infection?

This is an infectious disease that occurs when pathogenic microflora enters the body through the blood. IN Lately Such microorganisms often affect human health. The causative agents of blood infections are viruses, protozoa, bacteria and rickettsia. They are constantly in the circulatory system, that is, in a confined space, and cannot freely exit the human body.

These include such particularly dangerous infections as plague, yellow fever, malaria, and typhoid. These diseases are most often transmitted by insects: ticks, fleas, lice. Such a blood infection is transmitted through the saliva of an insect from one person or animal to another at the moment when they are bitten by this same insect. This also includes HIV infection and viral hepatitis. They can enter the human body through contaminated equipment or sexual contact.

What types of these diseases are there?

There are two types of blood infection: transmissible and non-transmissible. Vector-borne blood infections are carried by living creatures. These include plague, malaria, hemorrhagic fevers. The sources of such infections can be a sick person or animal, and insects can be carriers.

Non-vector-borne blood infections are transmitted directly from person to person during contact.

Infectious processes in the blood can be bacterial and viral. Blood viral infections occur when a pathogen of the corresponding type enters the human body. It may be human immunodeficiency virus or viral hepatitis. Bloodborne bacterial infections occur when a bacterium, such as the causative agent of malaria, enters the body.

Ways of transmission of blood infections

Among the blood are:

• transmissible;
• natural;
• artificial.

A transmissible blood infection, that is, occurring when infected through the blood, occurs through the bite of certain insects.

The natural route of transmission of this pathology occurs from mother to fetus, during breastfeeding, and during sexual intercourse.

A disease such as malaria can only occur if the development cycle in the body of a female mosquito of the genus Anopheles goes through.

Rodents such as rats play a huge role in the outbreak of plague. A tick-borne encephalitis can be transmitted by ticks that carry this infection.

Therefore, as preventive measures for blood infections, the leading role belongs to such measures as disinfection (the fight against pathogenic organisms), disinsection (the fight against insects that spread pathogenic microorganisms), deratization (the fight against wild rodents).

Signs of a blood infection in humans

When the causative agent of an infectious process enters the human body, its increased reproduction occurs. This affects both a person’s well-being and his appearance, and on laboratory and clinical indicators.

Everything through the blood has its own manifestations, but there are also those that are common to all these pathologies. Symptoms of blood infections in humans are:

• rapid pulse;
• increased body temperature;
• pain in the head;
• weakness;
• lethargy;
• decreased appetite;
• the skin becomes pale;
• Diarrhea or vomiting may occur.

Diagnosis for blood infections

If an infection is suspected in the patient's blood, he is prescribed a clinical analysis of this biological fluid. If there is an infectious focus, the analysis results will indicate an increase in the number of leukocytes, sticks, and an increase in ESR. If malaria is suspected, a thick drop is taken.

Be sure to examine the urine for general analysis. With advanced processes, kidney function is impaired, which will also affect laboratory parameters.

If infectious blood processes are suspected, biochemical blood tests are mandatory. At the same time, the blood is tested for HIV and syphilis (these tests are mandatory for any hospitalization and preventive medical examination).

If bacterial infections are suspected, bacteriological cultures are performed.

Treatment for such an infection

Most blood infections are life-threatening states. Therefore, all patients suspected of having this disease are hospitalized. Each infectious disease has its own specific treatment. But almost all require antibiotic therapy, large quantity vitamins and microelements that help the body cope with the disease.

It is also prescribed in the form of intravenous drip infusions of glucose, Ringer's solution, and saline.

Prevention of such diseases

To protect yourself from blood-borne infections, you need to follow the rules of personal hygiene. After visiting the toilet, be sure to wash your hands with soap. Wash fruits and vegetables thoroughly before eating warm water. Ensure cleanliness of bedding and personal hygiene. It is important to ensure constant cleanliness of a person’s body, clothes, and shoes. This is necessary to prevent infection from entering the home.

Prevention of blood infections is also carried out at the state level, with the help of certain programs for draining swamps, inspections, and so on. To get rid of lice in children's institutions and various organizations, medical checks are periodically carried out. After relaxing in the forest, it is important to examine yourself and your children to avoid getting ticks under the skin. Helps against pathogenic microbes on the skin constant washing hands It is important to fight lice, destroy mosquitoes and various rodents. On the windows in summer time You should hang a mosquito net.

Also, to prevent viral blood infections, you need to avoid promiscuous sexual intercourse. During medical procedures, only sterile instruments and gloves should be used.

In case of blood infections, pathogens circulate in a closed circle of the circulatory system and therefore do not have a free exit from the patient’s body.

Plague - a particularly dangerous infectious disease caused by the plague bacillus (bacterium from the genus J. pestis) is a vector-borne zoonotic disease. The stick dies when exposed to conventional disinfectants.

The incubation period of the plague is 2-3 days, rarely up to 6 days. Forms of the disease: bubonic (inguinal lymph nodes are affected), pulmonary, intestinal. When a person is infected in natural foci, bubonic or septicemic plague develops, which can be complicated by secondary pneumonic plague. With airborne transmission of the pathogen from patients with secondary pneumonic plague, primary pneumonic plague develops.

The possibility of spreading the plague pathogen is associated with the following features:

A) short incubation period of the disease;

B) rapid development, often sudden development of a severe clinical picture of the disease and high mortality;

C) the difficulty of differential diagnosis in the first days of the disease;

D) the possibility of creating persistent foci of infection as a result of the presence of infected fleas and rodents in them.

For outbreaks of plague, the most dangerous form of plague is the pneumonic form of plague, but multiple simultaneous occurrences of the bubonic form of plague are possible. These epidemics begin with a previous epizootic (spread of plague) among rodents.

The entrance gates for plague are the skin, mucous membranes of the eyes, respiratory tract, and gastrointestinal tract. The disease begins acutely: chills, severe headache, heat, with the bubonic form - pain in the groin or under the armpit, with the pulmonary form - severe shortness of breath, chest pain, bloody sputum. Sleep is disturbed, aches in the muscles and joints, tachycardia and increasing shortness of breath appear. At the height of the disease, signs of toxic damage to the central nervous system and cardiovascular system. The pulmonary form is the most dangerous for the patient and others, often ending in death. The intestinal form occurs when eating meat from sick animals.

Patients and persons in contact with it are subject to immediate isolation. A quarantine is established in the outbreak. Disinfection, disinfestation, and deratization are widely carried out. Great importance Among the activities carried out are vaccinations. Contact people are given antibiotic therapy.

On the territory of Russia there are the following natural foci of plague: 1) Northwestern Caspian region (the main source is the ground squirrel); 2) Volga-Ural (gerbil); 3) Trans-Ural (gerbil); 4) Transcaucasian (gerbil); 5) Gorno-Altai (gophers and marmots); 5) Transbaikal (tarbagany); 6) Tuvan.

Typhus. The causative agent is rickettsia. The source of infection is a sick person, the transmitter is cootie. The incubation period is 7-20 days. Symptoms: chills, headache, loss of consciousness, delirium, from the 5th day - a rash on the side surfaces of the body.

The patient must be hospitalized. The outbreak is disinfected and disinfested, people who have been in contact with the sick are sanitized, and they are monitored. Vaccinations are being carried out.

Malaria. The causative agent is Plasmodium malaria, the carrier is a mosquito. It is not directly transmitted from patient to patient, but only through a mosquito. The incubation period is 1-3 weeks, sometimes 7-12 months.

Symptoms are sudden attacks of chills, fever, sweating, pain in the joints, muscles, and in the spleen area. The attacks last 6-10 hours and occur again with a certain frequency, depending on the form - three-day, four-day, tropical. The patient must be hospitalized. To prevent the disease - identifying and treating patients, as well as mosquito control. All those who were ill in the past year are given anti-relapse treatment in the spring, and then chemoprophylaxis throughout the entire period of mosquito activity.

Tick-borne encephalitis. The causative agent is a filter virus. The reservoir and carriers are ticks, as well as chipmunks, mice, moles, hedgehogs, and some birds. The virus is transmitted through tick bites. The incubation period is 10-14 days. The disease is seasonal - in spring, summer - due to the activity of ticks during this period.

Symptoms - severe headache, high temperature - 39-40 0, nausea, vomiting, convulsions, unconsciousness. There may be paralysis of the limbs. Mortality rate – 25%. After recovery, strong immunity remains. Prevention – vaccinations, protection against ticks, use of anti-tick products. When working in the forest, inspections and mutual inspections are required every 1.5-2 hours.

AIDS– an infectious viral disease transmitted through blood (transfusion of infected blood, injections, in dental offices, most often through sexual intercourse). There are patients who die quite quickly, and infected people who are carriers of the virus. The disease causes the body to lose its immunity and protective properties, and therefore indolent infections develop - sore throat, pneumonia, sudden weight loss, and in some patients sarcoma develops. There are no specific means of treatment and prevention yet. Risk groups are being checked for treatment of HIV infection, preventing the possibility of infection, checking donors, disposable syringes, etc.

Instructions

AIDS is an acquired immunodeficiency syndrome that develops as a result of the action of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) on the immune system. Cell damage occurs immune system, central nervous system, red and white blood. Syphilis is a chronic systemic disease caused by bacteria of the species Treponema pallidum (treponema pallidum). It is characterized by damage to the skin, mucous membranes, internal organs, bones, and nervous system with a sequential change in the stages of the disease. Viral hepatitis- inflammation of the liver tissue caused by viruses related to different types and differing in biochemical characteristics: hepatitis A virus, hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus. Brucellosis is an acute or chronic disease characterized by damage to the nervous system, bones and joints. Leprosy is a chronic disease affecting the skin, peripheral nervous system, eyes, hands and feet.

Echinococcosis is a disease caused by Echinococcus. Accompanied by damage to the liver, lungs, brain, muscles, kidneys. Toxoplasmosis is a disease caused by Toxoplasma. Symptoms: fever, enlarged liver, spleen, headache, vomiting. Filariasis is a helminthic disease affecting the subcutaneous tissue, serous membranes, eyes, and lymph nodes. Leishmaniasis is a disease that occurs with ulcers of the skin and mucous membranes, with severe damage to internal organs.

Depending on the method of contact with contaminated blood, there is a high, low and very low risk of disease. If the skin is pierced with a sharp object that has contaminated blood, or if a person is bitten by a sick person whose saliva contains blood, there is a high risk of infection. Getting blood into the eyes, mouth, nose, or onto a cut, abrasion, or scrape indicates a low risk of disease. Blood coming into contact with healthy, intact skin is considered a very low risk of infection.

Preventive measures aimed at reducing the possibility of infection with blood-borne diseases are: sanitary and educational education among the population, prevention, proper sterilization of medical instruments, prickly and cutting objects, wide application disposable syringes and needles, application individual funds protection by medical personnel in contact with infected people, careful monitoring of donor blood.

Some infectious diseases can be transmitted through blood or body fluids that can be mixed with blood, such as saliva. The causative agents of such diseases are called blood-borne viruses.

The risk of this type of infection largely depends on the type of disease and the nature of contact with infected blood.

What infectious diseases can be transmitted through blood?

Basic infectious diseases which can be transmitted through blood:

Of these diseases, the likelihood of infection through blood is highest for hepatitis B, and the lowest for HIV.

In addition to blood, these viruses are also found in other body fluids such as semen, vaginal secretions and breast milk. Other body fluids such as urine, saliva and sweat pose little risk of infection unless they contain blood.

At the same time, the blood content is not always visible to the eye, and there is a possibility that a person is infected with one of these diseases and does not know it.

Routes of transmission

The risk of bloodborne infection also depends on how you came into contact with contaminated blood. This is called the route of transmission. The risks associated with different modes of transmission are described below.

High risk of infection

The highest risk of infection is when contact with infected blood occurs through a cut or puncture. For example, in the following cases:

• if you have pricked your skin with a used needle or other sharp object that has contaminated blood;
• if you were bitten until you bled by a person whose saliva contained blood.

Low risk of infection

The risk of infection through blood is lower if the blood gets into the eyes, mouth, nose, or on a cut or abrasion on the skin.

For example, if someone spits in your face, the saliva may contain blood and get into your eyes, mouth, or nose. Infected saliva can also get into a cut, scrape or scrape.

There is also a risk of infection if contaminated blood comes into contact with a broken skin caused by a medical condition such as eczema.

Very low risk of infection

The risk of infection is very low if infected blood comes into contact with healthy skin without any damage to it.