Communicable Disease (Vector Borne)

Leptospirosis (Weil’s disease)
  • An infectious disease that affects humans and animals, is considered the most common zoonosis in the world
Causative Agent:

Leptospira interrogans

Sign/Symptoms:
  • High fever
  • Chills
  • Vomiting
  • Red eyes
  • Diarrhea
  • Severe headache
  • muscle aches
  • may include jaundice (yellow skin and eyes)
  • abdominal pain
Treatment:

PET – > Penicillins, Erythromycin, Tetracycline

Malaria
  • Malaria (from Medieval Italian: mala aria – “bad air”; formerly called ague or marsh fever) is an infectious disease that is widespread in many tropical and subtropical regions.
Causative Agent:

Anopheles female mosquito

Signs & Symptoms:
  • Chills to convulsion
  • Hepatomegaly
  • Anemia
  • Sweats profusely
  • Elevated temperature
Treatment:
  • Chemoprophylaxis – chloroquine taken at weekly interval, starting from 1-2 weeks before entering the endemic area.
  • Anti-malarial drugs – sulfadoxine, quinine sulfate, tetracycline, quinidine
  • Insecticide treatment of mosquito nets, house spraying, stream seeding and clearing, sustainable preventive and vector control meas
Preventive Measures: (CLEAN)
  • Chemically treated mosquito nets
  • Larvae eating fish
  • Environmental clean up
  • Anti mosquito soap/lotion
  • Neem trees/eucalyptus tree
Filariasis
  • name for a group of tropical diseases caused by various thread-like parasitic round worms (nematodes) and their larvae
  • larvae transmit the disease to humans through a mosquito bite
  • can progress to include gross enlargement of the limbs and genitalia in a condition called elephantiasis
Sign/Symptoms:

Asymptomatic Stage

  • Characterized by the presence of microfilariae in the peripheral blood
  • No clinical signs and symptoms of the disease
  • Some remain asymptomatic for years and in some instances for life

Acute Stage

  • Lymphadenitis (inflammation of lymph nodes)
  • Lymphangitis (inflammation of lymph vessels)
  • In some cases the male genitalia is affected leading to orchitis (redness, painful and tender scrotum)

Chronic Stage

  • Hydrocoele (swelling of the scrotum)
  • Lyphedema (temporary swelling of the upper and lower extremities
  • Elephantiasis (enlargement and thickening of the skin of the lower and / or upper extremities, scrotum, breast)
Management:
  • Diethylcarbamazine citrate or Hetrazan
  • Ivermectin,
  • Albendazolethe
  • No treatment can reverse elephantiasis
Schistosomiasis
  • parasitic disease caused by a larvae
Causative Agent:

Schistosoma intercalatum, Schistosoma japonicum, Schistosoma mansoni

Signs & Symptoms: (BALLIPS)
  • Bulging abdomen
  • Abdominal pain
  • Loose bowel movement
  • Low grade fever
  • Inflammation of liver & spleen
  • Pallor
  • Seizure
Preventive measures
  • health education regarding mode of transmission and methods of protection; proper disposal of feces and urine; improvement of irrigation and agriculture practices
  • Control of patient, contacts and the immediate environment
Treatment:
  • Diethylcarbamazepine citrate (DEC) or Praziquantel (drug of choice)
Dengue
  • DENGUE is a mosquito-borne infection which in recent years has become a major international public health concern..
  • It is found in tropical and sub-tropical regions around the world, predominantly in urban and semi-urban areas.
Sign/Symptoms: (VLINOSPARD)
  • Vomiting
  • Low platelet
  • Nausea
  • Onset of fever
  • Severe headache
  • Pain of the muscle and joint
  • Abdominal pain
  • Rashes
  • Diarrhea
Treatment:
  • The mainstay of treatment is supportive therapy.
    • Intravenous fluids
    • A platelet transfusion

Reference:
Ms Ma. Adelaida Morong, Far Eastern University- Institute of Nursing
In-House Nursing Review