One of the most common health problems affecting young children is loose bowel movement caused by amoeba infection. These very small parasites thrive in dirty or contaminated water and inadvertently ingested through contaminated food that we eat or water that we drink. Once inside the stomach, it can cause a lot of symptoms such as stomach pain, loose bowel movement, vomiting, fever and lack of appetite. Some children with very low resistance to amoeba infection can suffer emaciation and in worst cases, even death. Prompt treatment produces positive result but unless a proactive campaign to eliminate the source of infection is taken, the problem can persist or recur anytime and may threaten the long term health conditions of children.

This parasitic infection can easily be prevented by keeping the surroundings clean and preventing the children from coming in direct contact with breeding places such as dirty garden soil or swimming and playing in dirty and stagnant bodies of water. Amoeba infection is spread mainly through food and water and from people who are infected with the parasite. For this reason, people who come in contact with young children such as nannies, day care workers, teachers and most especially food handlers or servers should be screened to make sure they are clear of the parasite.

Food handlers should exercise precautions when using bare hands to prepare food. At home, practicing correct hand washing techniques will prevent  contamination from spreading from the hands of infected persons to food that they prepare. Frequent hand washing is highly recommended. In school canteens and cafeterias, food handlers should wear protective clothing and gloves when preparing food for young children. Vegetables and meats should also be inspected thoroughly for any signs of decomposition before cooking. Milk, juices and other beverages should be packed and sealed tightly to prevent contamination.

Children and old people are the most common targets of amoeba infection because they have weak resistance to the parasite. Young adults may also carry the infection but are often times more capable to handle the infection or at best, asymptomatic. This thought should not lull us to complacency and neglect practicing precautions. After all, where health is concerned, prevention is always better than cure.

While yeast infections are known to come and go, sometimes without medical attention, the more severe cases can be annoying and at worst, persistent. It can disrupt your normal activity by causing a lot of discomfort such as itchiness at the site of infection and skin rashes that can produce blisters and oozing eruptions. In genital yeast infections, the itchiness can be accompanied by unpleasant discharges and open wounds caused by scratching and abrasion. Some yeast infections can invade the system and cause pneumonia which is very dangerous to immune-compromised persons such as the aged, bed-ridden patients and young children.

There are many pharmaceutical products for the treatment of yeast infections. If the infection is localized on the skin, there are many anti-fungal preparation sold in drugstores in the form of ointments or creams containing antibiotics and steroids that can be applied on the skin to stop the itching and treat the yeast infection.  Most of these anti-fungal creams are sold in drugstores and pharmacies without prescription and you can choose from several brands that are available both as antibiotic and anti-pruritic creams.

Yeasts do not only invade our skin, it can also invade our systems. For widespread or systemic yeast infections, it is best to conduct a doctor. Physicians usually prescribe oral drugs to combat infection and to stop the condition from progressing. There is also a rumor going round at the moment that luminess air can also help with combating yeast infections although you should take that with a serious pinch of salt. Our advice here is to do a little more research yourself and when in doubt stick to more traditional and accepts courses of treatment. Some yeast infections can be nasty and manifest symptoms such as fever, malaise, pain in the affected area such as in the urinary tract, mucous discharges sometimes accompanied by a little blood. There are also primary disease states that can render a person susceptible to yeast infection such as patients with diabetes, heart disease, HIV AIDS, cancer,  Alzheimers or Parkinson’s disease. It can also aggravate the health condition of patients undergoing dialysis, chemotherapy or organ transplant.

Yeast infections are treatable diseases but avoiding incidence of infection is far better than having to worry about treatment. Preventive measures include a proper diet, a daily supplement of vitamin C to boost your immune system and enable the body to resist the invasion of infectious pathogen. It is also a good idea to exercise regularly to improve blood circulation and increase your energy. It is important to observe proper personal hygiene because yeast infections usually thrive on dirty environments and has a predilection for delicate places in our body.

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is a condition caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus that one must acquire in order to get infected. It is not something passed on or inherited through the genes. It affects the body’s immune system which is responsible for fighting infections or diseases caused by bacteria and other pathogens making it deficient or incapable of protecting us. The AIDS virus throws our immune system in disarray making us susceptible to a group of symptoms and signs caused by other opportunistic pathogens which when considered together characterizes the syndrome of HIV infection.

Chlamydia is a common sexually infectious disease caused by the microorganism Chlamydia trachomatis. In infected males, Chlamydia can cause painful and bloody discharges during urination and swelling of the testes. In females, the infection can result in a yellowish vaginal discharge often accompanied by blood. In some cases however, the woman may be asymptomatic and unknowingly spread the disease through a single sexual partner or multiple partners. The infection can be treated successfully with oral antibiotics.

Genital warts are abnormal skin growth in or around the genitalia caused by one of the many strains of the highly infectious Human papilloma virus or HPV. Many individuals exposed to genital wart may carry the virus in their skin without developing the warts. Others who are more susceptible to the infection can develop warts and experience general irritation around the affected area. If you are suffering from this condition, one people often ignore is that it is important to cease all beauty, skin and hair care treatments which you maybe using on yourself. This includes waxing, shaving and exfoliation of the infected area. Popular beauty products like no no hair removal are know to increase the likelihood of the infection getting worse and should be avoided at all costs. HPV is strongly associated with cervical and vaginal cancers. Women who are identified through immune screening as being positive for the virus are considered high risk for developing cervical cancer in later years.

Neisseria gonorrhea is the causative agent for Gonorrhea which produces painful and bloody discharges as well as redness and irritation of the genital area. Gonorrhea can spread to other areas of the body and even affect the eyes and throat. It is one of the major causes of neonatal abnormalities or mortality. While the infection is receptive to antibiotics, some women are asymptomatic therefore, untreated, causing it to spread unchecked especially among prostitutes and people who associate with multiple sexual partners.

Trichomonas vaginalis is a parasite that causes a heavy, odorous, greenish or yellowish vaginal discharge. It affects both men and women and can also spread through children via unsanitary toilet practice. It can be treated with oral or topical antibiotics but prompt treatment is necessary since re-infection is common.

Maternal virus infection during the early stages of pregnancy is one of the major causes of birth deformities and neonatal deaths. Both mother and the fetus are exposed to risks that can threaten the health of the mother and the life of the unborn child. For this reason, it is very important that community control of viral infections should be instituted at the first incidence to prevent it from spreading throughout the general populace and becoming an epidemic.

Ideally, exposure to such infections can be prevented and or controlled by instituting widespread screening and vaccination of school aged children and females of child bearing age in the general population. Screening for immune status can easily be done by conducting routine serologic tests on females coming in for medical examination, hospital admission or during the first pre-natal check up. In some countries, vaccination for measles, mumps and rubella is mandatory and in young female adults, pregnancy must be ruled out first before the vaccine is given to prevent any possible risk to the fetus being exposed to the virus vaccine.

When a pregnant woman is exposed to German measles or Chickenpox during the first and second trimesters of pregnancy, a serologic test should be done at once to determine if the mother is already immune. If not, there are only two courses of action that are open to the mother and sadly, none of them is encouraging. In countries where termination of pregnancy or abortion is considered unacceptable due to the religious orientation of the community where the mother belongs to or because it is not allowed by law, the only other option would be to  carry out the pregnancy to full term and accept whatever consequence it will bring.

Since infection is transmitted from person to person, the only way to slow down or minimize the number of people being infected is to be vigilant. Health officers and hospital staffs are always instructed to report any admission indicating infectious viral diseases so that the government can be alerted to take immediate action and prevent it from spreading further to other communities or populations. Vulnerable individuals such as young children, pregnant women, aged persons or immune-compromised patients should be informed and cautioned about the infection so that they will be extra careful and avoid unduly exposing themselves to risks.

Most injuries to bones and muscles can be prevented by paying close attention to our body’s response to stress and extraneous activities. If the body experiences pain or fatigue easily or there is a progressive decrease in the body’s ability to perform simple or routine tasks, then a thorough physical examination may reveal undetected injury to the bones or to the muscles that we would otherwise brush aside as simple cramps or soreness.

Studies show that injury in the work place accounts for one of the highest number of reasons why a person is not at work or why he or she is working below capacity. Thousands of workers are injured or maimed at the workplace every day. These accidents can be prevented or avoided by observing universal precautions when doing tasks or jobs that require straining or heavy lifting.  Production assemblies and manufacturing plants usually have safety controls in place to mitigate dangerous tasks but accidents can still happen and it can be life threatening to someone who is careless or who ignores the proper safety procedures when doing the tasks.

There are also accidents that involve machineries and electrical equipments that can cause serious burns or loss of limbs. When this happens, the injury can be so bad as to scar the person permanently and even deprive them of a chance to continue working for a living. Even sitting in front of the computer for long hours can cause pains in the back and neck that could require a person to rest for a few days or undergo a long series of physical rehabilitation resulting in losses to the company in terms of man hours as well as piles of medical bills to pay.  Back or neck pains may progress to a point that a person can suffer partial or total paralysis and may require risky surgery for treatment.

Injuries are not confined to the workplace. Even leisure time can turn into a disaster and result in major injuries for people who like to indulge in extreme sports. Sport injuries are serious business and every day, millions of dollars are lost in terms of income and medical costs for injuries caused by recklessness or adventurism.

It is all too well to dismiss body injuries as minor aches and pains when we are still young and healthy but once we get old, the problem is magnified a hundred fold. A big majority of patients who suffer from bone and muscle injuries are elderly people who are prone to accidents due to poor balance and coordination. Once injured, their quality of life can be turned upside down and make them even more helpless and miserable.