what do we need to prevent and treat illness
Answers
Answer:
Infectious disease may be an unavoidable fact of life, but there are many strategies available to help us protect ourselves from infection and to treat a disease once it has developed.
Some are simple steps that individuals can take; others are national or global methods of detection, prevention, and treatment. All are critical to keeping communities, nations, and global populations healthy and secure.
Vaccines
A vaccine is a biological preparation that improves immunity to a particular disease. A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe or its toxins. The agent stimulates the body’s immune system to recognize it as foreign, destroy it, and ”remember” it,
Antibiotics and Antivirals
Antibiotics are powerful medicines that fight bacterial infections. They either kill bacteria or stop them from reproducing, allowing the body’s natural defenses to eliminate the pathogens. Used properly, antibiotics can save lives. But growing antibiotic resistance is curbing the effectiveness of these drugs. Taking an antibiotic as directed, even after symptoms disappear, is key to curing an infection and preventing the development of resistant bacteria.
Antibiotics don’t work against viral infections such as colds or the flu. In those cases, antiviral drugs, which fight infection either by inhibiting a virus’s ability to reproduce or by strengthening the body’s immune response to the infection, are used. There are several different classes of drugs in the antiviral family, and each is used for specific kinds of viral infections. (Unlike antibacterial drugs, which may cover a wide spectrum of pathogens, antiviral medications are used to treat a narrower range of organisms.) Antiviral drugs are now available to treat a number of viruses, including influenza, HIV, herpes, and hepatitis B. Like bacteria, viruses mutate over time and develop resistance to antiviral drugs.
New Treatments
Modern medicine needs new kinds of antibiotics and antivirals to treat drug-resistant infections. But the pipeline of new drugs is drying up. For example, nearly 40 years elapsed between introduction of the two newest molecular classes of antibiotics: fluoroquinolones (such as Cipro) in 1962 and the oxazolidinones (such as Zyvox) in 2000.
Major pharmaceutical companies have limited interest in dedicating resources to the antibiotics market because these short-course drugs are not as profitable as drugs that treat chronic conditions and lifestyle-related ailments, such as high blood pressure or high cholesterol. Antibiotic research and development is also expensive, risky, and time consuming. Return on that investment can be unpredictable, considering that resistance to antibiotics develops over time, eventually making them less effective.
New antiviral drugs are also in short supply. These medicines have been much more difficult to develop than antibacterial drugs because antivirals can damage host cells where the viruses reside. Today, there are more antiviral drugs for HIV than for any other viral disease, transforming an infection that was once considered a death sentence into a manageable chronic condition. But novel drugs are needed to combat other epidemic viral infections, such as influenza and hepatitis B and C.
Microbe Awareness
Daily habits provide some of the strongest defenses against infectious diseases. Among the sensible actions you can take:
Keep immunizations up to date.
Wash your hands often.
Prepare and handle food carefully.
Use antibiotics only for infections caused by bacteria. Viral infections cannot be treated with antibiotics. Your doctor may prescribe an antiviral medication if your condition warrants it.
Be careful around all wild animals and unfamiliar domestic animals. After any animal bite, cleanse the wound with soap and water and consult a clinician for further evaluation.
Protect yourself by using safe sex practices. You and your partner should be tested for sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV, if there has been any risk of exposure. Consistently and correctly use condoms when having sex with a partner of unknown status. Avoid sex with an injecting drug user.
Stay alert to disease threats when traveling or visiting underdeveloped countries. Seek advice from a reliable source, such as the WHO or the CDC, if you are going to areas of moderate-to-high disease risk.
Acquire healthy habits such as eating well, getting enough sleep, exercising, and avoiding tobacco and illegal drug use.
Answer:
In order to prevent and treat illnesses we need appropriate healthcare facilities such as health centres, hospitals, laboratories for testing, ambulance services, blood banks, etc., that can provide the required care and services that patients need.