There is currently no vaccine for yaws. Health education and improved personal hygiene are the most important tactics for prevention.
ellow fever can present with a wide range of symptoms and severity. Once contracted, the yellow fever virus incubates in the body for 3–6 days. Many people do not experience symptoms, but when these do occur, the most common are fever, muscle pain with prominent backache, headache, loss of appetite, and nausea or vomiting. In most cases, symptoms disappear after 3–4 days.
The incubation period (the time from exposure to symptoms) of Zika virus disease is estimated to be 3–14 days. The majority of people infected with Zika virus do not develop symptoms.
Symptoms are generally mild including fever, rash, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain, malaise, and headache, and usually last for 2–7 days.
Complications of Zika virus disease
Rabies is a viral zoonotic disease that causes progressive and fatal inflammation of the brain and spinal cord. Clinically, it has two forms:
No vaccine or specific treatment is currently available, although several MERS-CoV specific vaccines and treatments are in development. Treatment is supportive and based on the patient’s clinical condition.
As a general precaution, anyone visiting farms, markets, barns, or other places where dromedary camels and other animals are present should practice general hygiene measures, including regular hand washing before and after touching animals and avoiding contact with sick animals.
Monkeypox virus is an orthopoxvirus that causes a disease with symptoms similar, but less severe, to smallpox. While smallpox was eradicated in 1980, monkeypox continues to occur in countries of Central and West Africa.
Monkeypox is a zoonosis: a disease that is transmitted from animals to humans. Cases are often found close to tropical rainforests where there are animals that carry the virus. Evidence of monkeypox virus infection has been found in animals including squirrels, Gambian poached rats, dormice, different species of monkeys and others.
Mycetoma is characterized by a triad of painless subcutaneous mass, multiple sinuses and discharge containing grains. It usually spreads to involve the skin, deep structures and bone resulting in destruction, deformity and loss of function, which may be fatal. Mycetoma commonly involves the extremities, back and gluteal region.
The treatment depends on the causative organisms for the bacterial causes; it is a long term antibiotics combination whereas for the fungal type, treatment requires combined antifungals drugs and surgery. The treatment is unsatisfactory, has many side effects, is expensive and not available in most endemic areas.
To ensure every child survives and thrives to reach their full potential, we must focus on improving care around the time of birth and the first week of life.
Regular physical activity is proven to help prevent and manage noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes and several cancers. It also helps prevent hypertension, maintain healthy body weight and can improve mental health, quality of life and well-being.
Physical activity refers to all movement. Popular ways to be active include walking, cycling, wheeling, sports, active recreation and play, and can be done at any level of skill and for enjoyment by everybody.
Plague is an infectious disease caused by Yersinia pestis bacteria, usually found in small mammals and their fleas. The disease is transmitted between animals via their fleas and, as it is a zoonotic bacterium, it can also transmit from animals to humans.
Humans can be contaminated by the bite of infected fleas, through direct contact with infected materials, or by inhalation. Plague can be a very severe disease in people, particularly in its septicaemic and pneumonic forms, with a case-fatality ratio of 30% - 100% if left untreated.
Pneumonia may be treated with antibiotics, if it is bacterial. The antibiotic of choice is amoxicillin dispersible tablets. Most cases of pneumonia require oral antibiotics, which are often prescribed at a health centre. These cases can also be diagnosed and treated with inexpensive oral antibiotics at the community level by trained community health workers. Hospitalization is recommended only for severe cases of pneumonia.
Rest and plenty of hydration can also help people recover quicker.
People of all ages can reduce their risk of pneumonia by:
Poliomyelitis (polio) is a highly infectious viral disease that largely affects children under 5 years of age. The virus is transmitted by person-to-person spread mainly through the faecal-oral route or, less frequently, by a common vehicle (e.g. contaminated water or food) and multiplies in the intestine, from where it can invade the nervous system and cause paralysis.
All people, everywhere, deserve the right care, right in their community. This is the fundamental premise of primary health care.
Primary health care (PHC) addresses the majority of a person’s health needs throughout their lifetime. This includes physical, mental and social well-being and it is people-centred rather than disease-centred. PHC is a whole-of-society approach that includes health promotion, disease prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and palliative care.
A primary health care approach includes three components:
Quality of care is the degree to which health services for individuals and populations increase the likelihood of desired health outcomes. It is based on evidence-based professional knowledge and is critical for achieving universal health coverage. As countries commit to achieving Health for All, it is imperative to carefully consider the quality of care and health services. Quality health care can be defined in many ways but there is growing acknowledgement that quality health services should be: