Summer Health Hazard

The warm days are here again, and with summertime come many health hazards. Our carelessness and negligence may lead us to face serious health problems. Its time to be alert about the various summer diseases that may plague us.

Common summer health problems

With summer comes the rain and oftentimes floods too resulting in contamination of water and food that causes various diseases like typhoid, cholera and Hepatitis A and E.

Water borne diseases

Typhoid the fever lasts for about 3 weeks. Cholera is the infection of the small intestines that causes a large amount of watery diarrhea. Hepatitis A & E are viral infections that affect the liver.

Causes: Water contamination is high in summer as it is the time of heavy rainfall and natural disasters like flood. In such a situation, water and flood can easily get contaminated causing such diseases. Cholera is caused by drinking water contaminated with bacterium. Hepatitis A & E viruses are spread through food or water contaminated by faeces from an infected person. Developing country like Nepal with poor hygiene standard has a high risk of infection from Hepatitis A & E.

Symptoms: Typhoid fever has a close link with poor appetite, headache and body aches, fever, lethargy and diarrhea. It can be treated with antibiotics that kill salmonella bacteria.Cholera often follows painless diarrhea, vomiting of clear fluid. As the body looses more amount of water, dehydration becomes a problem. It can successfully be treated with rehydration therapy.Hepatitis A & E has some common symptoms like loss of appetite, fatigue, mild fever, vomiting and abdominal pain. As Hepatitis is related to the liver, it needs extra care. One must consult doctor as soon as possible.

Prevention: As water borne diseases are transmitted by micro-organisms present in human and animal waste present in contaminated water, hence, the hygiene and sanitation need to be paid attention too.

Practicing good hygiene and ensuring that the food and drinking water is safe and uncontaminated, helps us to prevent such diseases.

Do’s

·         Drink filtered/boiled water always.

·         Cut nails short.

·         Wash hands properly with soap and water before consuming food.

·         The expiry date of all food items must always be checked before use.

·         Drinking water sources and containers should be washed everyday.

·         Fresh and cooked food should be consumed.

Don’ts

·         Avoid consuming water, fruit juices, cut fruits, chat and other foods from roadside vendors.

·         Avoid oily, spicy foods.

·         Don’t eat half cooked/pre-cooked/refrigerated food.

·         Don’t expose food and beverages to flies.

....................................