DENGUE DANGER

Dr.S.Subramanian

Director, Smrthi Healthcare

This is an illness caused by virus. The carrier is a particular type of mosquitoe.female mosquito (Aedes aegypti). The mosquito becomes infected when it takes the blood of a person infected with the virus. After about one week, the mosquito can then transmit the virus while biting a healthy person.

How do you contain the spread of Dengue?

Dengue cannot be spread directly from person to person. However, a person infected and suffering from dengue fever can infect other mosquitoes. Your participation is very important. Avoid clear water stagnation, avoid rubbish and mosquitoes breeding grounds. I WOULD STRONGLY URGE PEOPLE TO PARTICIPATE IN IMPLEMENTING HYGIENE rather than merely talk about lack of it.

In fact, the community participation is the key to dengue prevention. As every household participates and reduces mosquitoes density, the transmission rate will decrease.

Use physical barriers for mosquitoes like using mosquito nets, wearing covered clothing etc.

Minimize the use of repellants as they might trigger allergies.

How do you handle once you get the illness?

Get in touch with your Dr, who would order test from designated labs.  Your Dr would prescribe medications to treat the fever and handle you symptomatically. Do not self -check platelets counts yourself. Your Dr would advise as and when needed.

There is no vaccine or specific medication for dengue fever.

Patients should rest and drink plenty of fluids. Paracetamol can be taken to bring down fever and reduce joint pains. However, aspirin or ibuprofen should not be taken since they can increase the risk of bleeding.

We are armed with better knowledge now and can tackle dengue better now. But you need to have proper medical care.

So remember we can do a lot to reduce DENGUE DANGER

DO NOT PANIC. BE PRACTICAL.

FLU - WHAT DO I DO?

First, DO NOT PANIC.
If you or anyone in your home, has fever, seek medical help. 
In case your doctor suspects anything, your doctor might order lab tests and there are specific labs assigned to do the tests.

In case you are diagnosed with Flu:

Follow your doctor's advice.
Usually the treatment required is medicine to control fever, plenty of liquids and rest at home. 
For those with severe symptoms, anti-viral medicines are available and will be started by your doctor as needed, along with hospitalization and care of pneumonia if needed.

BUT MOST important thing is to seek medical advice.

How do you prevent flu?

Simple - Get your seasonal flu vaccine shot. The cost and trouble of getting a vaccine is worth more than the trouble of getting sick, hospitalization, loss of working hours and stress. 
You need to remember that YOU NEED THE FLU VACCINE ANNUALLY. Flu vaccine gets effective only after two weeks of getting the vaccine. So please be pro-active, choose a convenient time and get yourself and your family vaccinated. 

Wash Your Hands Thoroughly And Frequently. Use soap and water, or if they're unavailable, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer. 

Contain Your Coughs And Sneezes. Cover your mouth and nose when you sneeze or cough. To avoid contaminating your hands, cough or sneeze into a tissue or the inner crook of your elbow. 

Flu virus spreads via air. Practice proper hygiene and develop immunity to fight the virus.

But if you are younger than 5 or older than 65, immunocompromised or pregnant etc. stay safe by avoiding contact.

Bottom-line - Do not panic, practice hygiene, stay healthy, get your vaccine. 

Mrs.Chitra

Health Communicator

WE CAN I CAN - WORLD CANCER DAY 2018

       ”WE CAN I CAN” is the message for the WORLD CANCER DAY today.

       Healthy lifestyle plays a crucial role in cancer prevention. The other crucial component is screening for cancer. Remember that screening for cancer plays a crucial role in cancer care.Screening tests can help find cancer at an early stage before symptoms appear when it may be easier to treat or cure. By the time symptoms appear, the cancer may have grown and spread. This can make the cancer harder to treat or cure.

 

FEVER - WHEN SHOULD YOU WORRY?

 

Too often, fever is perceived as bad. Yes it is bad if it is causing discomfort to your child. Did you know that fever is only an indication of something wrong inside? In fact fever is body’s mechanism of fighting the pathogens. So rather than treating fever per se, look for the causes behind it and treat it. If your child has fever between 100F -101 F and is still active, do not worry. Do not kill the body’s inherent capacity to fight by quelling fever with tablets. If the temperature goes above 101 F you may consider bringing it down. Also if your child is feeling uncomfortable with even mild grade fever, you may bring it down with medication. In the next post, let us see as to how we can manage fever at home.

 

 

NEW YEAR AND NEW YOU!!

Here are few tips to make your New Year’s Resolutions work:

1.      First rate your motivation to undertake the resolution. How desperate are you in seeking it? Take some time to work this out. This decides the probability of your success in keeping up with your resolution.

2.      Then switch on your imagination and imagine yourself doing what you have resolved to do. This will motivate you.

3.      Get your best buddy to do a reality check on your plan. You both brainstorm together the barriers to the intended plan. How you are going to break through them etc.

4.      Your strategy comes next. Break your long-term goals into smaller simple short term goals. For instance, if losing weight is the goal, then make it a yearlong plan. Break into smaller components one at a time. First start off with getting active. Do it for a month. Then add the next component maybe a small diet change to it. Keeping making he changes gradually and give good time to get used to each change. Be assured that by the year end, there would have been a noticeable change.

5.      Let your short –term plans be dynamic. Periodically review, assess and re-orient them to match with the demands of reality.

Remember that failures are OK. It is the attempts that matter. In fact failure gives you a reality check on what matters most for you. As Churchill put it, "Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm."  So keep up the enthusiasm and ENJOY what you are doing. Share your success stories with us.