English (Compulsory) For Class IX - Unit 5 - Healthy Life Style - Lesson with Urdu translation

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Health Problems Caused by Mosquitoes

Lesson with Urdu translation

مچھروں کی باعٹ پیدا ہونے والے صحت کے مسائل

Malaria, dengue, and chikungunya, all three diseases are spread by mosquitoes. The symptoms of all these diseases are so similar that it can be quite difficult to identify them for sure without laboratory testing. But it is important to find out what the exact disease is for it to be properly treated. Let us try and understand something about the causes, signs and symptoms, similarities and differences, and the prevention of these diseases.

Malaria Causes
Malaria is caused by Plasmodium, a single-celled parasite, often transmitted by infected mosquitoes. It is injected into a person's circulatory system through the saliva of the mosquito.
The parasite infects the red blood cells until they burst. Then, the newly developed Plasmodium from the burst red blood cells spreads and infects more red blood cells throughout the body, thus killing all the cells. This can lead to severe liver infection. Sometimes the infected red blood cells become "stickier" than usual and clot easily, which can lead to stoppage of blood flow to the brain causing cerebral malaria.
Signs and symptoms
Malaria is recognized through high fever. The temperature may reach as high as 40 °C (104 °F). Fever is often accompanied by chills, and may also include sweating. Patients may also suffer from constipation, kidney dysfunction and disorientation.

Dengue Causes
There are four types of dengue viruses, all of which are spread by mosquitoes. An infected mosquito spreads the virus through its saliva when it bites. Dengue can also be transmitted from one human to another. For example, infected blood used in a blood transfusion can cause dengue. It can also be caused by organ donation and can even be transmitted from the mother to tie child.
Once the virus enters the body it circulates around the body, attacking white blood cells and other antibodies, thus affecting the immune system. The virus further replicates within the cell until the cell bursts and dies. The death of the white blood cells results in leakage of other fluids from the cells, leading to low protein, fluid in the lungs and in the stomach area, low blood pressure, shock, and eventually death.
Signs and symptoms
High fever is followed by severe body pain. Pain behind the eyes and decreased urine output is also common. Dengue-related eye pain often increases with bright light. Patients may also feel respiratory difficulties and intense headache. As the fever decreases, skin rashes may start to appear.
Another symptom is excessive bleeding, as the virus attacks the capillaries, the smallest blood vessels in the body. When the capillaries burst, blood escapes from the blood stream. In severe cases, bleeding is common in the nose and gums. The loss of blood can lead to decreased blood pressure, and may, eventually, lead to internal bleeding, shock, and death.

Chikungunya Causes
This virus is also transmitted through mosquitoes. These mosquitoes live and breed near stagnant or polluted water and infect humans with their bite. Although the disease is not contagious, it can spread from an infected person to others if the mosquito feeds on the infected person first and then bites other people.
The chikungunya virus infects the muscle cells of the body. It stays there and reproduces until the cell dies. It then finds a new host cell to infect.
Signs and symptoms
Chikungunya usually attacks the muscles, joints, skin, connective tissues, and even the central nervous system. It is usually accompanied by fever and skin rash. The skin rashes are almost identical to the dengue rashes. The patients may also suffer from headache, nausea and vomiting. Because the virus destroys cells in the muscles and joints, patients experience muscle weakness and joint pain, which can be severe. Partial loss of taste is also reported by many chikungunya patients.
The disease is rarely fatal and the virus remains in the system for 5-7 days. Once one recovers from this infection, one is immune to it for the rest of one's life.

Similarities and Differences in the Signs and Symptoms of the Three Diseases
The chikungunya virus is transmitted by the same mosquitoes that spread the dengue virus. Both chikungunya and dengue have almost identical symptoms and disease processes; so much so that one can be mistaken for the other. Both display joint pain; however, joint pain and inflammation caused by chikungunya are more intense and pronounced. On the other hand, low platelet count, high bleeding risk, and pain behind the eyes are the main symptoms of dengue.
The main symptoms of malaria are chills/shivering, followed by fever/sweating. These symptoms usually occur every two days.

Prevention
Since there are no vaccines or medical ways to prevent these diseases, here are a few useful suggestions for protecting oneself from these diseases:

• Wear clothes that will keep you fully covered.
• Use net coverings.
• Live in hygienic surroundings.
• Ensure that there is no stagnant water, whether clean or dirty, in your locality, not even in uncovered buckets, pots, cans or other things.
• Apply good quality mosquito repellent lotion or and any one of the natural repellent products.
• Take extra precaution from dawn to dusk.
• Seek medical help as soon as possible.

All these diseases, that is, malaria, dengue and chikungunya affect a person's health. They affect the quality of one's work because it takes some time to recover from the weakness caused by them. Since they are all preventable and curable, it is important that we take all possible steps to protect ourselves and our family from these diseases. Moreover, we should seek immediate medical help if we observe symptoms of these diseases because the earlier they are treated the quicker is the recovery.