PREVENTION OF INFECTION ::
It is better to prevent a disease than to cure it To do this one must know about the infectious diseases so that one can plan ways and means to prevent them
Only taking one s own care i.e personal hygiene is not everything Community hygiene is also of vital importance Man is a member of the society and is affected by his surroundings So one must learn about measures of public hygiene
1.Health Education ::
It is the basis of preventive medicine If public is educated on health problems then it co- operates in preventive measures against infectious diseases Much better public health can be achieved by distributing literature pasting posters showing magic lanterns and films staging plays etc to that effect and giving speeches about health education public must be explained as to how a disease occurs spreads and what they should actively do to eradicate it
2.Observation of Contacts ::
Those who are nursing the infectious patients are likely to harbour the microbes from the patient since they are in close contact They themeslves may or may not suffer from the disease but are capable of transfering the disease to others They are silent carriers of infectious diseases If contacts are checked up the disease can be nipped in the bud from the contacts
They should also be vaccinated to increase their resistance against that particular infection They should be checked up and if necessary such persons should be treated for the same so that they stop spreading the disease and since they are in early stage of the infection they can be easily cured e.g. X-Ray and sputum examination of patients who are in contact with patients of tuberculosis for germs of tuberculosis will help to diagnose the disease
3.Source of Infection ::
To control an epidemic one must search out the focus that is the main source of infection it is always from the focus that an infection spreads For Example whenever there is spread of lung tuberculosis the health authorities should do a mass radiography of all the persons who have been in contact with persons who have been patients of tuberculosis Mass radiography with mini - X-ray is done of all employees of a factory or institution and early cases can thus be traced Many of them may be having a focus from which they may be spreading the germs and yet they have no signs of the disease These can be separated out to prevent the spread
If diphtheria is found in a patient the contacts should be examined and their throat swabs should be taken If any person shows diphtheria germs in their throat though they may not have the disease then such contacts be kept separate till they do not carry the germs
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