Dengue Antigen NS1 Test

Monsoon is the season that brings happiness to our life as it makes the environment cool after the hot and scorching sun rays during the summer. But, even after having the cool splash of monsoon rain, there are some flaws and negative effects from which you need to protect yourself.  There are certain health risks that are brought by monsoon from which people needs to be really careful. If you have kids and elderly people at home, they will be really susceptible and are affected with the health conditions like allergies, cough, cold etc.  Even when you are having your diet, it will be really important to be cautious about meal and choose the adequate type of meal that won’t make you sick.

The first water droplets of the monsoon make us relieved and joyous. This season can be a remedy of rashes we got due to prickly heat during the summer. But, we too need to be really careful during monsoon with regards to the food we intake and the activities we perform.  There are certain health risks we can suffer due to monsoon. Especially kids are very susceptible during monsoon. This is the season where waterborne bacteria can attack us and we can get reduction in our immunity level. Normally people suffer from indigestion, allergies and several types of infections. Let us find out some tips that will keep us healthy during monsoon.

Be healthy throughout the monsoon season in India needs particular care to be taken. The rainfall and water lying around makes it very simple for mosquitoes to type and rises the risk of mosquito conveyed infections, such as malaria and dengue high temperature with fever. Viral infections are also spread easily during the monsoon season.

Tips stay healthy in monsoon season

• If desired to eat road side food, the rainy season isn’t the time to indulge. water and raw vegetables is  are not hygienic during  the monsoon.

• Use a powerful insect repellent to hold mosquitoes away and prevent getting bitten. It’s furthermore good concept to take anti-malarial drug during this monsoon.

• Where likely, try to avoid walking through rainy water. It can lead to numerous fungal diseases of the feet and heels.

• Keep the items like Umbrella, rain coat etc when you are going out.

• Take moderately hot food and drinks in this monsoon.

• Keep away the children to play in the rain and rainy water.

• Also avoid walking where water is lying on the street, as traffic will propel by and spray it all over you.

• Dry your feet when they get wet.

• Avoid colds and coughs by keeping your body moderately hot and dry.

• Don’t go in air conditioned rooms with wet hair and damp apparels.

• If you suffer from asthma or diabetes, avoid residing any place with wet walls. It encourages the development of fungus and can be especially hurtful.

• Drink many of heating herbal teas, particularly those with antibacterial properties.

Choice of diet during monsoon

During the monsoon season, it is advised not to consume fast food and the snacks from the roadside stalls. This can give rise to stomach infection.  Most of the time people suffer from the problem of indigestion during the monsoon season as the airborne bacteria are very well active in the environment and can easily get inside your body with the food you eat.  Since during the monsoon season, humidity is really high in the environment, the ability of body to digest comes down. It will be better for people to avoid the oily food which are prepared in street. Only the healthy food prepared at home must be considered.

1. Fruits

It is really essential for you to consume adequate fruits during the monsoon season as this helps you restore energy.  But there is also choice of fruits as well.  Go for the items like pears, mangoes, apples and pomegranate. Even there are some fruits that helps bringing out pimples on your face. On order to remove pimples from your face, you need to avoid the fruits like muskmelon and water melon. Even consuming excessive mangoes can give rise to pimples.

2. Dry food

It is better not to go for the watery food during the monsoons such as juices available outside, lassi ad other watery fruits. Instead go for the dry category of food such as pea, flour, corn etc. As consumption of too much watery food during monsoon can give rise to swelling in your body. So, it’s better to avoid.

3. Increase your immunity

One of the major problems suffered by people during the monsoon season is reduction of immunity level in body. Today, there are ways in which you can easily increase your immunity level through home remedies. Whenever you are preparing soup, add a clove of garlic at the beginning ones the oil is hot. This will increase immunity level of an individual during monsoon.

4. Water

Since water borne diseases are quite common during the monsoon season, try not to drink water that is not purified. Even after filtration, it is better to drink the boiled water as this will kill all germs and bacteria that have formed in water.

5. Stay away from high blood pressure

If you have a problem of high blood pressure, it will be better to consume very little salt in meal or else this will give a boost to the problem of high blood pressure. Thus, it is important to avoid those food items that have good amount of salt.

6. Bitter vegetables

You should definitely have a dish of bitter vegetables in your meal such as neem, bitter gourd etc to avoid skin infections and allergies. If you don’t like to consume it in a boiled form, make a fried form to add taste in your tongue. This is a wonderful remedy to stay away from all types of skin infections.

7. Stay away from stagnation

During the monsoons, stagnant water will be very well available at your home and outside. It is really important to avoid stagnant water as this will give rise to diseases like malaria and dengue. You should always throw away the water inside the unused tank, flower pots as well as water coolers.  Since stagnant water is a place where the mosquito can breed, avoiding such stagnant water will be an important consideration when you are living in monsoons. Also don’t forget to place mosquito net or a repellent when you are asleep at night.

8. Medium low salt food

During monsoons when you are preparing meal for your family, it will be important for you to include low salt. During the monsoons people can get high blood pressure level due to salty food. Water retention is again another problem which can be checked with the help of low salt food.

9. Prefer dry fruit

Not all foods are good for all seasons. For example the watery fruits and juices are good during summer as we get dehydrated. But, during monsoons this can be a reason for trouble. The food such as watermelon, lassi, rice etc can create swelling in your body during monsoons. It is better consuming the food that is dry in nature.

10. Other forms of milk

During monsoons it is better to avoid milk. Rather, it will be good to consume other forms of milk in condense form such as yogurt, curd, sweet etc. If you want to drink milk, it is better to boil it in 100 degree Celsius and then drink it. This will help you stay away from the harmful germs that are likely to attack your body.

11. Avoid spicy food

During monsoon since the weather is not too hot or too cold, you will be inclined towards the spicy foods. But this will be absolutely a wrong step for you. You must avoid having spicy food during the monsoon season. It can lead to skin allergies and irritation.

Alopecia word meaning is loss of hair and areata meaans in patches.Hence Alopecia areata means loss of hair in patches.The bald patches occur very quickly, are round or oval in shape and have sharply defined margins.The affected scalp area either looks normal or has a glossy apperence.Alopecia areata(patchyhair loss) can occur anywhere on the skin but the scalp and beard area are the most common location.

Etiology:
Alopecia areata is considered to be an auto immune problem and that can be triggered by bacterial or viral infections,severe stress,trauma to the skin,vaccinations or  exposure to any substance that caan become an antigen to the body.oftenly it is found that Alopecia areata is assoisiated with other Auto immune conditions such as vitiligo (Leucoderma),Thyroid problem,Rheumatoid Arthritis,Pernicious Anemia and Diabetes mellitus. About 40-50% of patient with Alopecia areata also have history of atopic diseases such as skin allergies,Asthma.Genetic and familial dispostion also seems to play a role in alopecia areata.
 
Complications:

If left untreated Alopecia Areata may progress further up to Alopecia totalis i.e complete loss of hair in scalp and alopecia universalis i.e complete loss of hair in the scalp, eyebrows, beard and all over the body.
 
Treatment:
Conventional treatment of Alopecia areata include the use of corticosteroids, application of minoxidil solution 5 %, etc., but none of them prevent the formation of new patches and actually curing the disease of its root cause. Homeopathic medicines selected after a full individualization, symptoms and case analysis which includes physical and mental symptoms and constitution as well give good and long-lasting results. Homeopathic medicines commonly found useful in these conditions are phosphorus, Fluoric Acid, lycopodium, Selenium, etc.
 
Along with medications some Lifestyle modifications such as practicing de stressing activity such as doing yoga and pranayam daily for 10-15 minutes, avoiding nonveg items esp red meat such as pork, mutton, beef, use of green tea for hair regrowth is also helpful. If you wish to discuss about any specific problem, you can consult a Homeopath.

Epidemic diseases:-

Homeopathy have good treatments in dengue fever, viral fever and juandice with better results and only homeopathy can increase platelet count in dengue cases.

What is typhoid fever?
Typhoid fever or enteric fever is a digestive tract infection in which there is fever, headache, and abdominal pain or discomfort. It is very common in developing countries like india.

What are the causes and risk factors?
Typhoid fever is caused by a bacterium called salmonella typhi which is transmitted through contaminated water or food (feco-oral or urine-oral route).

Risk factors include:

• Travelling to areas where typhoid fever is a common disease.
• Being in a profession where contamination with bacteria is likely. Like those working in laboratories.
• Coming in close contact with a person suffering from typhoid.
• Drinking/ eating contaminated water or food.

How will you know if you have typhoid fever?
Signs and symptoms develop gradually over the period of 10-14 days after exposure to the bacteria.
Signs and symptoms include an irregular fever that can go up to 104.9 ˚f (40.5 ˚c), headache, pain in abdomen, tiredness, muscle pain, loss of appetite, nausea, constipation or diarrhoea, skin rash.

How is typhoid fever diagnosed?
Your doctor will do a physical examination and carry out some tests.
Physical findings in early stages include abdominal tenderness, enlarged spleen and liver, enlarged lymph nodes, and development of a rash (also known as rose spots because of their appearance).

Investigations include:

• Blood tests: typhidot test igm and igg antibodies, blood culture to test for salmonella typhi.
• Stool and urine analysis
• Bone marrow culture: it is the most sensitive test, but it is rarely required except in patients who have already received antibiotics and not getting any better.
• Widal antigen test: this test can be done, but there is a longer waiting phase of about 10 days till results can be seen, it is time-consuming and could give false positive results.

What is the treatment for typhoid fever?

• Antibiotics are the only effective treatment option for typhoid fever.
• Due to increased resistance to ciprofloxacin the new drugs of choice are azithromycin and ceftriaxone.
• In some cases, chloramphenicol, co-trimoxazole and amoxicillin may also be effective.
• Fluid intake should be increased to prevent dehydration.

What are the complications of typhoid fever?
If not treated and sometimes even after treatment, there can be serious complications due to typhoid like pneumonia, meningitis (inflammation of meninges of brain), infection in bones (osteomyelitis), intestinal perforation and intestinal haemorrhage.

A doctor needs to be consulted if a person starts developing the symptoms few days after travelling to a place where typhoid is prevalent.

How can typhoid fever be prevented?

• Typhoid fever can be prevented by improving sanitation facilities and drinking clean drinking water.
• Always wash your hands with soap and warm water after using restrooms, before eating or cooking food.
• Maintaining optimum personal hygiene is the key to preventing this disease.
• Travellers should not drink untreated water; avoid adding ice to their drinks and should not eat ice creams or milk products or street foods that are a rich source of the infection.
• Vaccines are available that give partial protection. Vaccines usually are reserved for those who may be exposed to the disease or are travelling to areas where typhoid fever is common.

My name is Dr Tarun Jhamb and I’m an MD Medince. I am practising for last fifteen years. I am connected to Lybrate. I’m also practising at Columbia Asia Hospital and we will discuss the health topic one of which is Dengue Fever. We know for the next three months, there is a possibility of Dengue Fever in the rainy season. Dengue is a mosquito borne viral fever and it just spreads from the bite of the mosquito and spreads person to person. Most of the times it is self-treatable and it’s a preventable disease but there are a few cases which have gone into complications which are known as Dengue Shock Syndrome or Dengue haemorrhaging Fever.

Common symptoms of the Dengue Fever is the high-grade fever, 104- 105 temperature with body ache, joint pain, muscle pain, rashes all over the body, and severe weakness. A person becomes very dilapidated within one or two days and feels very uncomfortable and he becomes sick. It is a treatable disease. Lots of liquids and electrolytes are required.

What are the dos and don’ts for this disease?

Do is, we have to take care of not getting stagnant water in coolers or in and around the home. We should take care of using the mosquito repellent, material or the jellies. We can use the net to avoid the mosquito bite. We should intake a lot of water and electrolyte supplements. We should take bed rest for few days. We need to see the doctor as soon as we see the symptoms of dengue fever.

Things we don’t have to do, do not use disprin or the voveran tablet during the fever because these are the blood thinners. Do not avoid or delay the treatment. As we see the symptoms like bleeding from anywhere on the sight and black stool, continuous vomiting and severe weakness and continuous fever which leads to fainting.

These are the serious symptoms which should be immediately taken care of and we should seek the help of the doctor. It is a preventable disease. We should take care of the blood testing where we find the dengue test at initial four to five days, likely to be positive and antibody test after four to five days, is likely to be positive. Platelets are falling after four to five days and remain for the next three to four days and then it automatically starts. Some people require hospitalization as well as the platelet transfusion. The upper limit of the platelet is up to ten to fifteen thousand where we can prevent or avoid the platelet transfusion. But if it is going down lower or there is any sign of bleeding up to forty thousand then we have to give the platelet transfusion request.

If you need any of my help, I am available at Lybrate. My home clinic is Naman Medicare at Gurgaon, Sector IV.

Thank you