Dengue: Symptoms, causes and treatment

The alarming rise in cases of dengue across cities in the country has become a cause of worry.

source:yahoo

What is dengue?
Dengue is a disease caused by a family of viruses that are transmitted by mosquitoes. Dengue cannot be spread directly from person to person, i.e., is not contagious. A person can only become infected by the bite of a mosquito that is infected with the dengue virus. It is important to note that these mosquitoes bite during the daytime as well as nighttime.

Symptoms
Dengue usually begins with chills, headache, pain while moving the eyes, and backache. Persistent high fever is characteristic of dengue. Other symptoms to watch out for are exhaustion, backache, joint pains, nausea, vomiting, low blood pressure and rash.

Treatment
Because dengue is caused by a virus, there is no specific treatment for it; treatment of dengue is typically concerned only with the relief of symptoms. People who show the symptoms mentioned above should immediately consult a physician. It is important to drink plenty of fluids, stay hydrated, and get as much rest as possible.

Dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF)
DHF is a more severe form of dengue and can be fatal if untreated. It tends to affect children under the age of ten, and causes abdominal pain, hemorrhage (bleeding), and circulatory collapse (shock).

Prevention
There is no vaccine to prevent dengue. Prevention of dengue requires eradication of the mosquitoes that carry this virus. This means high standards of hygiene and sanitation. Avoid areas littered with garbage. All containers of stationary water (like drums or buckets) should be covered or discarded, including flower vases and pets' feeding bowls. If your area is infested with mosquitoes, wear long sleeves, use mosquito repellants and fumigate if necessary.

GLOBAL HANDWASHING DAY 15 October 2012

SOURCE: YAHOO

Dos and don’ts of hand washing

80% of all infectious diseases are transmitted by touch. Hand washing is one of the easiest and best ways to prevent infection. Let’s learn how to do it right.

Infections can come from anywhere. Washing your hands from time to time might not keep you away from all of them, but it can definitely help avoid a few. Hand washing is simple, requires just water and soap or in absence of that, a sanitizer.

Why you should wash your hands

People interact with each other, shake hands, go to various places, use various objects and even use common washrooms. It is important to remain germ-free after doing all this. Touching your nose, mouth or eyes with unclean hands can also infect you. Frequent hand washing does not make you germ-free but reduces the transfer of bacteria, viruses and other microbes to a certain limit.

When you should wash your hands

Wash your hands before:
·         Cooking or eating food
·         Wearing or taking off contact lenses
·         Cleaning wounds and giving medicine
·         Treating a sick person
·         Playing with a new born baby
Wash your hands after:
·         Having food
·         Coming home from anywhere
·         Using pesticides or other agents like mosquito or cockroach killers
·         Using the toilet
·         Touching and playing with animals
·         Cleaning wounds or treating a sick person
·         Blowing your nose, sneezing or coughing into your hand
·         Using chemicals in the garden, throwing garbage or any other such household chores that includes some dirty work and requires you to use your hands

How to wash your hands

You wash your hands everyday and might think it is a silly to read a “how-to” on it but it is always better to refresh your ideas and remind yourself on how to do things right.
Generally, handwash/soap and water are used to wash hands. The simple steps are as follows:
·         Wet your hands
·         Apply soap or hand wash
·         Form lather
·         Rub both the hands. Try to clean in between fingers, under the nails and the back of your hands along with wrists. Rub for some 20 seconds
·         Pat dry with a clean or disposable towel or use air dryer.

When to use a sanitizer

Alcohol based sanitizer can be used when water and soap are not available. It is important that your sanitizer contain at least 60% alcohol.

How to use a sanitizer

·         Take a small quantity of sanitizer in your hands and rub it to wet your hands completely.
·         Rub it till your hands are dry.

Kids and hand washing

Good habits must be cultivated from childhood. Kids must be encouraged to wash hands regularly. The best way to teach them is by being a good example. Tell them to sing a line of their favourite song as they wash their hands to stop them from rushing the process
It is okay for the kids to use sanitizers. They are not harmful. Teach them how to use it properly. Warn them strictly to rub till the alcohol dries. Store the container out of their reach or they will be tempted to use it time and again either for the smell or for the cold feeling it gives for few moments before getting dried.

Wash your way to health

Though soap may not kill every virus it comes across, it definitely decreases the viral count and brings it below the infectious threshold. It is neither time consuming, nor does it take any major effort. Wash your hands often to fall sick less often.

 

Natural indicators

Try this out. Click on the pic to see its enlarged view.

AMAZING FACTS

Did you know that there are 206 bones in the adult human body and there are 300 in children (as they grow some of the bones fuse together).


The most dangerous animal in the world is the common housefly. Because of their habits of visiting animal waste, they transmit more diseases than any other animal.


The largest meteorite crater in the world is in Winslow, Arizona. It is 4,150 feet across and 150 feet deep.

The deepest part of the ocean is 35,813 feet (10,916 meters) deep and occurs in the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean. At that depth the pressure is 18,000 pounds (9172 kilograms) per square inch.

The hottest planet in the solar system is Venus, with an estimated surface temperature of 864 F (462 C).

Boron nitride (BN) is the second hardest substance known to man

SCIENCE FACTS

The length between your elbow and hand (forearm) equals the length of your foot.

If you fully stretch your arms out, the fingertip to fingertip length is almost exactly your body height.

The lightest organ in the human body is the lung.

The biggest egg in the world is the ostrich egg. It could take as many as 30 chicken eggs to equal its volume, and up to 2 hours to hard boil.

The deepest location on Earth is Mariana Trench, about 11km deep in the North Pacific ocean.

The Dead Sea is so dense with salt, you can easily float on it without drowning.

The little Alaskan Wood Frog is capable of reviving itself back to normal life after staying completely frozen for months, during which its heart, brain and other organs stop functioning.

The lightning bolt is 3 times hotter than the sun.

How can insect walk on water?

Insects can walk on water by spreading their weight very carefully as they move. We can see little dents occur in the surface where the ends of their legs touch it. This means that the surface water has been "stretched " but not broken by the weight of the insect.
We can see water act as though it has a skin. If the insect pushes on the water with less force than the attraction of the water molecules , it can walk across the surface . However, ifit is too heavy or clumsy, it will break the surface and sink!. This is known as SURFACE TENSION

Change in the value of 'g'

The value of g decreases with increase in the height above the earth. this means that the weight of a given mass , ie the pull of the earth on a certain mass, decreases as it attains height above the earth's atmosphere. As an object leaves the earth and travels towards the moon it reaches the point where the small pull the earth exert on it exactly equal to the pull by the moon. This point, where the rwo gravitational forces are equal and opposite , is called NEUTRAL or NULL POINT

Issac Newton

* Sir Issac Newton was one of the greatest scientists. As a boy , he ofetn made mechanical devices such as a model of windmills and water clocks.

* with his theory of gravity, he discovered that the universe is held together .

* Newton discovered and entirely new branch of science called Calculus.

* He also doscovered that sunlight is a mixture of all colours.

* His greatest acgievement was his laws of motion.

* He also invented a kind if telescope that is now standard for astronomers.