What is cholera and its causes?
Cholera is a disease that is associated with severe painless watery diarrhea caused by the bacteria Vibrio cholerae, which can be transmitted through contaminated water (contaminated water) and food (especially contaminated raw food). This usually occurs in countries with a low socioeconomic status or after an outbreak after natural disasters, such as after a war, after a natural disaster (flood, tsunami, famine, etc.) or contaminated with polluted wastewater. Cholera can be endemic or pandemic, or both. Cholera causes severe dehydration or a large loss of body fluid from diarrhea or vomiting, or from the fact that it can lead to the collapse of the patient and even death within a few hours if attention or treatment is ignored.
WHO has determined that V. cholerae O1-bacteria are the main source of cholera disease. Gram-negative bacterium V. Cholerae multiplies in the small intestine and produces the A and B enterotoxin subunits. Subunit A activates intracellular adenylkalase, which leads to a large loss of water and electrolytes into the intestinal lumen, whereas subunit B is bound to enterocytes. This increases the flow of fluid from the blood into the large and then into the small intestine. Cholera bacteria can be killed by chlorine in our saliva of human acid, as well as in our stomach.
Signs and symptoms
The main symptoms of cholera are diarrhea (the patient has more than 10 chairs within 24 hours) and constant vomiting. Other symptoms may occur as follows:
- Dysentery is a collection of intestinal diseases characterized by inflammation of the intestinal wall and caused by various viral or parasites or bacterial infections in the intestine.
- Fever and muscle pain
- Low immune system
- Irritability of mind
- lethargy
- Insomnia
- Slow pulse on the wrist
- Pallor of face
- Stomach pressure
- Calf cramp
prophylaxis
The best way to prevent cholera is to practice good sanitation, especially when cooking, for example, washing your hands before eating or eating food, drinking boiling water that kills most germs and bacteria, cooking food instead of eating raw food and add chlorine to unsafe water sources.
treatment
Replacing water containing salt and sugar to replace liquid fluids is a quick remedy for treating cholera disease. This remedy may be accompanied by oral tetracycline, a type of antibiotic for reducing diarrhea and infectious activity, which is quite effective. Nevertheless, the patient encourages not to take antidiarrheal medicine, but rather consumes high carbohydrates, a diet low in fat and protein to rejuvenate the energy in our body.
