With the spreading of HFMD everywhere in Malaysia, parents all over the states are taking extra preventive measures to make sure that their little ones won’t be a victim of all the excruciating pain of afflicted by the virus. But then again, that virus only come into view recently, and sure parents ought be aware of the safety preventions of the virus coxsackievirus A16, but what parents should keep an eye for the common airborne disease.
It is easy to be infected by airborne disease, for one it is, well, spreaded through the air. Anyone can get it any time, and usually, it’s at the most unexpected time and the most unpredictable places. Parents should be more vigilant in preventing the most common airborne disease, not only for their children, it’s for their own health as well. Get to know the common airborne diseases.
Symptoms
Airborne disease can usually be identified if that certain individuals shows one or more of these symptoms:
- inflammation of your nose, throat, sinuses, or lungs
- coughing
- sneezing
- congestion
- runny nose
- sore throat
- swollen glands
- headache
- body aches
- loss of appetite
- fever
- fatigue
Cold
The common cold, it is so common that some of our children would fake a cold just not go to school. Although, that isn’t always the case, children do are more prone to get this common cold compared to adults who only roughly infected by the common airborne disease around two or three times a year. Many viruses would have caused the common cold for anyone, but normally it is the rhinovirus who will claim the name.
Influenza
The flu or its long and scientific-ish name, influenza. Flus spread so easily, sometimes it goes undetected. Well, no one can really see how this common airborne disease is spreaded through a naked eye. That’s why it is easily affected one people after another who don’t have the right protection – mask, and perfect hand hygiene. Flus are usually contagious around five to seven days, longer, if you have weak immune system.
Chickenpox
Chickenpox is never a fun thing to be inflicted by when we’re growing up, neither it is for the our children. This very common airborne disease is caused by a virus called varicella-zoster, wicked name for a wicked disease. You won’t even able to tell you have the disease until after rashes starts to develop on your skin. Luckily for you, chickenpox only happens once in our lifetime then the virus goes bye bye. If it came back, oh honey, now you got the shingles to deal with.
The symptoms of chickenpox are usually seen with the emergence of itchy rash that starts from the chest, to the face and back before spreading throughout the rest of the body. After a few days or so, fluid-filled blisters will form which then burst and scab over the course of a week.
Mumps
Another type of common airborne disease is the mumps. Worst part is, you won’t even know you have the virus, until after you got sick with this ailment. Good thing is, with plenty of rest and perhaps a quarantine in the comfort of your own home, you’ll be up and running within a few weeks. Although, it is good to keep in mind that this disease can worsen if not treated properly with complications such as hearing loss, hearing loss, testicular inflammation and others.
Symptoms of mumps doesn’t appear until after a couple of weeks of exposure to the virus and the symptoms also resembles flu such as:
- Fatigue
- Aching body
- Headache
- Loss of appetite
- Low-grade fever
Measles
Make sure to keep a mask in hand when you’re going out in crowded places as this common airborne disease is highly contagious. Good news, you can still reduce the risk of being inflicted with measles by getting vaccines. But that’s not always the case as you can still affected by the rubeola virus. Most people only get this disease only once in their lifetime but that doesn’t stop it from being the leading cause of death in children with 134,200 deaths in 2015.
The symptoms of measles are usually started with rashes that will appear in a couple of weeks after that certain individual has been exposed to it. Its symptoms are similar with chickenpox with rash starts from the face and neck which then spreads all over the body within a few days and will fade in a week. However, measles could turn serious with symptoms like:
- ear infections
- diarrhea
- dehydration
- severe respiratory infection
- blindness
- swelling of the brain, or encephalitis
Whooping cough (Pertussis)
Whooping cough is a common airborne disease caused by a respiratory tract infection in your airways making it harder and harder to breath with all the coughing going on. This airborne disease is caused by the Bordetella parapertussis virus and it has a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in children, mostly less than 2 years of age. It was reportedly to result in 16 million cases of whooping cough worldwide.
Whooping cough as the name intended shoes its symptoms of a severe hacking or ‘whooping’ cough which then usually followed with a forceful intake of air. The symptoms sometimes resembles a common cold like runny nose, nasal congestion, red and watery eyes, as well as fever and cough.
Tuberculosis (TB)
Tuberculosis or better known as TB is a common airborne disease that heavily affected those with weak immune system with symptoms appearing within days of contact with the bacteria that has caused TB. However, there are some cases of people infected by the airborne disease yet they show no signs of becoming ill nor infecting to those around them. For some, it might take a while until the bacterium starts to activate and affect the human host.
The symptoms of TB may vary depending on which organs or body system are affected by it. Other symptoms also include:
- A bad cough that lasts 3 weeks or longer
- Pain in the chest
- Coughing up blood or sputum (mucus from deep inside the lungs)
- Feeling weak or fatigue
- Weight loss
- No appetite
- Chills
- Fever
- Sweating at night
Diphtheria
Diphtheria is an airborne disease that are usually identified as a serious bacterial infection that disrupts the mucous membrane of the throat and nose. Aside from affecting the respiratory system, diphtheria can also affected the heart, kidneys and also the nerves. It spreads easily from one individual to another individual yet the risk can be reduced by the usage of vaccines. There were reportedly about 7,321 cases back in 2014
The symptoms of diphtheria is often shown after a couple of days by:
- thick and gray coating on the throat and tonsils
- a fever
- chills
- swollen glands in the neck
- a loud, barking cough
- a sore throat
- bluish skin
- drooling
- a general feeling of uneasiness or discomfort
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