LALITULU
1. What are the various public health measures, which you would suggest
as safeguard against infectious diseases?
Answers
Infectious diseases, in both the developing and the developed world, still pose considerable challenges to biomedical research. But science alone is clearly not sufficient to overcome the burden of disease in the world
Infectious disease is one aspect of worldwide public health in which molecular biologists could bring about real change and improve the overall quality of life for many people. There are identified targets—be they viruses, bacteria or other agents—that are sufficiently different from the human body for specific intervention. And, indeed, major achievements show that this is possible: the big killers of the past—including smallpox, cholera and typhoid fever—have been eliminated from the globe, or at least from the developed world, and families do not need to worry about a newborn child dying of whooping cough, measles, scarlet fever or meningitis. However, many other infectious diseases have not disappeared, either in individuals or globally. The reasons are manifold: for some diseases the science is not straightforward, but, more frustratingly, the means by which the advances taking place through molecular biology could be implemented are not in place for other diseases.
Answer:
Public health measures are preventive measures which are taken to check the spread of various infectious diseases. These measures should be taken to reduce the contact with infectious agents.
Some of these methods are:
(1) Maintenance of personal and public hygiene:It is one of the most important methods of preventing infectious diseases. This measure includes maintaining a clean body, consumption of healthy and nutritious food, drinking clean water, etc. Public hygienic includes proper disposal of waste material, excreta, periodic cleaning,and disinfection of water reservoirs.
(2) Isolation: To prevent the spread of air-borne diseases such as pneumonia, chicken pox, tuberculosis, etc., it is essential to keep the infected person in isolation to reduce the chances of spreading these diseases.
(3) Vaccination: Vaccination is the protection of the body from communicable diseases by administering some agent that mimics the microbe inside the body. It helps in providing passive immunizationto the body. Several vaccines are available against many diseases such as tetanus, polio, measles, mumps, etc.
(4) Vector Eradication: Various diseases such as malaria, filariasis, dengue, and chikungunya spread through vectors. Thus, these diseases can be prevented by providing a clean environment and by preventing the breeding of mosquitoes. This can be achieved by not allowing water to stagnate around residential areas. Also, measures like regular cleaning of coolers, use of mosquito nets and insecticides such as malathion in drains, ponds, etc. can be undertaken to ensure a healthy environment. Introducing fish such as Gambusia in ponds also controls the breeding of mosquito larvae in stagnant water.
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