Microbes : Chronic Infections, Germs Prevention

by National Institute of Health

(Page 5 of 8)

Chronic Infections

Chronic infections usually develop from acute infections and can last for days to months to a lifetime. Sometimes people are unaware they are infected but still may be able to transmit the germ to others. For example, hepatitis C, which affects the liver, is a chronic viral infection. In fact, most people who have been infected with the hepatitis C virus don't know it until they have a blood test that shows antibodies to the virus. Recovery from this infection is rare - about 85 percent of infected persons become chronic carriers of the virus. In addition, serious signs of liver damage, like cirrhosis or cancer, may not appear until as long as 20 years after the infection began.

The Difference between Infection and Disease

A disease occurs when cells or molecules in your body stop working properly, causing symptoms of illness. Many things can cause a disease, including altered genes, chemicals, aging, and infections. An infection occurs when a microbe - such as a virus, bacterium, fungus, or parasite - enters your body and begins to reproduce. The invading microbe can directly damage cells, or the immune system can cause symptoms, such as fever, as it tries to rid your body of the invader. Some infections do not cause disease because the microbe is quickly killed or it remains dormant.

Latent Infections

Latent infections are "hidden" or "silent" and may or may not cause symptoms again after the first acute episode. Some infectious microbes, usually viruses, can "wake up" - become active again but not always causing symptoms - off and on for months or years. When these microbes are active in your body, you can transmit them to other people. Herpes simplex viruses, which cause genital herpes and cold sores, can remain latent in nerve cells for short or long periods of time, or forever.

Chickenpox is another example of a latent infection. Before the chickenpox vaccine became available in the 1990s, most children in the United States got chickenpox. After the first acute episode, usually when children are very young, the Varicella zoster virus goes into hiding in the body. In many people, it emerges many years later when they are older adults and causes a painful disease of the nerves called herpes zoster, or shingles.

Researchers are studying what turns these microbial antics off and on and are looking for ways to finally stop the process.

You Can Prevent Catching or Passing on Germs

Handwashing

Handwashing is one of the simplest, easiest, and most effective ways to prevent getting or passing on many germs. Amazingly, it is also one of the most overlooked. Health care experts recommend scrubbing your hands vigorously for at least 15 seconds with soap and water, about as long as it takes to recite the English alphabet. This will wash away cold viruses and staph and strep bacteria as well as many other disease-causing microbes. It is especially important to wash your hands before preparing or eating food, after coughing or sneezing, after using the bathroom, after changing a diaper.

Health care providers should be especially conscientious about washing their hands before and after examining any patient. Workers in child care and elder care settings, too, should be vigilant about handwashing around those in their care.

Medicines

There are medicines on the market that help prevent people from getting infected by germs. For example, you can prevent getting the flu (influenza) by taking an antiviral medicine. Vaccines, however, are the best defense against influenza viruses.

Under specific circumstances, health care providers may prescribe antibiotics to protect people from getting certain bacteria such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which causes TB. Health care experts usually advise people traveling to areas where malaria is present to take antiparasitic medicines to prevent possible infection.

Vaccines

In 1796, Edward Jenner laid the foundation for modern vaccines by discovering one of the basic principles of immunization. He had used a relatively harmless microbe, cowpox virus, to bring about an immune response that would help protect people from getting infected by the related but deadly smallpox virus. Dr. Jenner's discovery helped researchers find ways to ease human disease suffering worldwide. By the beginning of the 20th century, doctors were immunizing patients with vaccines for diphtheria, typhoid fever, and smallpox.

Today, safe and effective vaccines prevent childhood diseases, including measles, whooping cough, chickenpox, and the form of meningitis caused by Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib) virus.

Vaccines, however, are not only useful for young children. Adolescents and adults should get vaccinated regularly for tetanus and diphtheria. A vaccine to prevent meningococcal meningitis is now available and recommended for all adolescents. In addition, adults who never had diseases such as measles or chickenpox during childhood or who never received vaccines to prevent them should consider being immunized. Childhood diseases can be far more serious in adults.

More people travel all over the world today. So, finding out which immunizations are recommended for travel to your destination(s) is even more important than ever. Vaccines also can prevent yellow fever, polio, typhoid fever, hepatitis A, cholera, rabies, and other bacterial and viral diseases that are more prevalent abroad than in the United States.

In the fall of the year, many adults and children may benefit from getting the flu vaccine. Your health care provider also may recommend immunizations for pneumococcal pneumonia and hepatitis B if you are at risk of getting these diseases.

About the Author

NIH is the nation's medical research agency - making important medical discoveries that improve health and save lives. The National Institutes of Health (NIH), a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the primary Federal agency for conducting and supporting medical research.