METHODS OF TREATMENT

 METHODS OF TREATMENT

Drugs, surgeries, procedures, and vaccines are the main ways in which medical doctors and scientists treat diseases. Drug treatments include antibiotics, which are used to cure bacterial diseases, as well as anti-inflammatory medications and water pills.

Diagnosis - Your doctor may order lab work or imaging scans to help determine what's causing your symptoms.

Knowing what type of germ is causing your illness makes it easier for your doctor to choose the appropriate treatment.

Antibiotics are grouped into "families" of similar types. Bacteria are also put together in groups of similar types, such as streptococcus or E. coli.

Certain types of bacteria are especially susceptible to particular classes of antibiotics. If your doctor knows what type of bacteria you're infected with, treatment can be targeted more precisely.

Antibiotics are usually reserved for bacterial infections because they do not affect illnesses caused by viruses. But sometimes, it's difficult to tell which type of germ is at work. For example, pneumonia can be caused by a bacterium, a virus, a fungus, or a parasite.

The overuse of antibiotics has resulted in several types of bacteria developing resistance to one or more varieties of antibiotics, making these bacteria much more difficult to treat.

Antiviral drugs have been developed to treat some, but not all, viruses. Examples include the viruses that cause: HIV/AIDS – Herpes - Hepatitis B - Hepatitis C - Influenza

Antifungals - Topical antifungal medications can be used to treat skin or nail infections caused by fungi. Some fungal infections, such as those affecting the lungs or the mucous membranes, can be treated with an oral antifungal. More severe internal organ fungal infections, especially in people with weakened immune systems, may require intravenous antifungal medications.

Anti-parasites - Some diseases, including malaria, are caused by tiny parasites. While there are drugs to treat these diseases, some varieties of parasites have developed resistance to the drugs.

Some of the substances that have been studied for preventing or shortening the duration of infection include: - Cranberry – Echinacea – Garlic – Ginseng – Goldenseal - Vitamin C - Vitamin D and Zinc

Before trying to cure a disease, the first question a scientist would ask is, "What's causing the disease?" We would normally start by figuring out what part of the body is most affected by the disease and then figure out what changes in the diseased or sick tissue.

For example, cancer cells usually grow much faster than normal cells, and that can be caused by many different kinds of proteins that affect how a cell grows and divides. Scientists now have a panel of "likely suspects" in this case, and we test tumour samples for those protein suspects using a variety of means. Once the cause of the change in the diseased cell or tissue has been identified, the search for a cure can begin. Sometimes, the cause is the lack of a protein or the fact that an altered version of the protein is produced, like in sickle cell anaemia with haemoglobin. One way that scientists cure a disease, in this case, is to give back the good protein to the cells in the form of the DNA or gene for this protein. This so-called gene therapy is still pretty new, but scientists like myself think the future of this method of curing a disease has some great potential.

Other times, the cause of the disease is that the new protein acts differently than the normal one. It might be that the protein can interact with proteins or other molecules that it would not normally "hang out" with. Other times, the cause of the disease is that the new protein acts differently than the normal one. It might be that the protein can interact with proteins or other molecules that it would not normally "hang out" with.

Developing drugs that act on the "sick" protein and do not affect any other normal or good process in the human body can be a long process. Once these drugs are found and developed, they can often help scientists better understand and treat diseases in many people.

Infectious disease may be an unavoidable fact of life. Still, there are many strategies available to help us protect ourselves from infection and treat disease once it has developed.

Vaccines and Medicines - Medicines have existed in human society probably as long as the sickness itself. However, with the advent of the modern pharmaceutical industry, biochemical approaches to preventing and treating disease have acquired a new level of prominence in the evolving relationship between microbes and their human hosts.

Antibiotics are powerful medicines that fight bacterial infections. They either kill bacteria or stop them from reproducing, allowing the body's natural defences to eliminate the pathogens. Used properly, antibiotics can save lives. However, growing antibiotic resistance is curbing the effectiveness of these drugs. Taking an antibiotic as directed, even after symptoms disappear, is key to curing an infection and preventing the development of resistant bacteria. Antibiotics don't work against viral infections such as colds or the flu.

Antiviral drugs are now available to treat a number of viruses, including influenza, HIV, herpes, and hepatitis B. Like bacteria, viruses mutate over time and develop resistance to antiviral drugs

Modern medicine needs new kinds of antibiotics and antivirals to treat drug-resistant infections

New antiviral drugs are also in short supply. These medicines have been much more difficult to develop than antibacterial drugs because antivirals can damage host cells where the viruses reside.

which provides an integrated, systematic approach to the development and purchase of the vaccines, drugs, therapies, and diagnostic tools necessary for public health medical emergencies

Daily habits provide some of the strongest defences against infectious diseases. Among the sensible actions you can take is to keep immunizations up to date Wash your hands often and  with regular soap and rinsing with running water, followed by thorough drying, is considered the most important way to prevent disease transmission. Routine consumer use of

Use antibiotics only for infections caused by bacteria. Viral infections cannot be treated with antibiotics.

Acquire healthy habits such as eating well, getting enough sleep, exercising, and avoiding tobacco and illegal drug use. Foodborne diseases are largely preventable the goal requires vigilance in every step from the farm to the table.

Technological advances in disease surveillance and detection, such as regional syndromic surveillance, bioinformatics, and rapid diagnostic methods, have strengthened infectious disease control and prevention efforts.

By identifying viruses, bacteria, and parasites in animals where they naturally live and monitoring those organisms as they move from animals into people, it may be possible to prevent deadly new infections of animal origin from entering and racing through human populations.

Microorganisms are our friends and foes. Some of them are useful for us, while some of them are harmful. An antibiotic is a chemical substance that inhibits the growth of bacteria. It hinders the reproductive cycle of the bacteria inside the host's body.

Lactobacillus is a genus of bacteria that can convert sugars into lactic acid by employing fermentation.

A vaccine is a biological preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular disease. It has killed or weakened the suspension of microorganisms, which generates the immune response.