Bacterial infections

For bacterial infections include a huge group of diseases are caused by micro-organisms - bacteria. This is a small single-celled organisms have a strong cell wall for protection from aggressive environmental factors. Bacteria isolated in a separate kingdom - prokaryotes, as they have no nucleus, and their genetic material is located in the cytoplasm of cells. These microorganisms are the most numerous and ancient of all living beings live almost everywhere (water, air, soil, and other organisms).

Some historical facts

For the first time see a microcosm full of living creatures, in the XVII century. Dutch craftsmen managed to Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, who carried away the first glass grinding built microscope in the world. Considering the water from the pool, he saw that it is full of microorganisms, and gave them the name "microscope". Contact microorganisms with diseases that are transmitted from one person to another, discovered the French scientist Louis Pasteur in the XIX century. Prior to this was the idea that the patient has a certain contagious contagion - "miasma". Continue with the improvement of microscopic techniques in the late XIX century. beginning of XX century. Scientists were able to discover the causative agents of many infectious diseases (tuberculosis, typhoid fever, dysentery, cholera, plague). Although pathogens are known, but effectively fight bacteria mankind could only since the opening of the British bacteriologist Alexander Fleming penicillin antibiotic.

Bacterial and viral infection: what is the difference?

Many of the bacteria that normally are harmless to humans and live on his skin, mucous membranes in the intestines, in the case of general weakening of the body or disturbance immunity can act as pathogens.

In contrast to bacteria, viruses are parasites which are not able to reproduce outside the cell. They enter the cell and cause it to make copies of the virus. Upon infection, the cell activates special protection mechanisms against viruses. Infected cells begin to produce interferon, which comes into contact with the neighboring healthy cells and translates them into an antiviral state, but also stimulates the immune system to fight viruses

Some viruses can be present in the body throughout life. They go into a latent state and are activated only under certain conditions. Such viruses include herpes viruses, papilloma viruses and HIV. The latent virus can not be destroyed either by the immune system or medications.

How to treat a bacterial infection?

For those people who have any bacterial infection, you need to treat it by taking treating bacterial infections with antibiotics . If your immune system can’t fight such infections, you will develop an unwanted bacterial disease, so the only effective method is to use antibiotics. People are quite lucky because these medications are easy to reach so that it’s possible to treat almost all infection types and bacterial diseases. Before the penicillin discovery, patients had no access to them, and that’s why some of them died.

Treatment of bacterial infections, as well as any other disease is complex and includes:

Causal treatment - treatment aimed at destroying the causes of the disease - bacteria. For this arsenal used antibiotics. At the moment, there are several groups of antibiotics, but the most important is their division of bactericidal antibiotics (kill bacteria) and bacteriostatic (inhibit the growth and multiplication of bacterial cells). It is very important to know, especially in the case of meningococcal infection appointment of bactericidal antibiotics will lead to mass destruction of meningococcal and exit of endotoxins in the blood.

Pathogenetic therapy - aimed at the elimination from the organism of bacterial toxins that accumulate in the course of infection (detoxification). Also it carried out a treatment aimed at restoring damaged organs.

Symptomatic therapy - is needed to ease the human condition with a bacterial infection and reduce the severity of symptoms.

At the present time, due to the antibiotic fails to cure the majority of bacterial infections, but it is worth remembering that the wrong use of antibiotics can lead to the development of bacterial resistance (insensitivity), and even depending on the antibiotics.

Bacterial infections for women

Bacterial infection can occur either alone or attached to a viral infection, since virus suppresses the immune system. The main difference from the bacterial infection is a viral long incubation period, which ranges from 2 to 14 days. In contrast to viral infection, in this case it is necessary to pay attention not only to the anticipated time of contact with a carrier of infection, but also take into account whether recently stresses hypothermia. Since some bacteria are able to for years to dwell in the human body can not manifesting itself and be activated in case of a general weakening of the body.

Prodromal period is often absent in bacterial infections, such as infection may begin as a complication of acute respiratory viral infections. And if viral infections often begin with the general state of deterioration, the bacterial infections tend to have a clear local manifestation (tonsillitis, otitis, sinusitis). The temperature often rises above 38 degrees. Bacterial infections are treated with antibiotics. To prevent possible complications of the disease is important time to begin treatment. The use of antibiotics without proper readings can lead to the formation of resistant bacteria. Therefore, to correctly choose and prescribe antibiotics should only doctor.

The most common bacterial infections occur sinusitis, otitis media, pneumonia or meningitis (although pneumonia and meningitis may also have a viral nature). The most known bacterial infections are whooping cough, diphtheria, tetanus, tuberculosis, the majority of intestinal infections, syphilis, gonorrhea, etc.