If you look at the five major public action rules for preventing infectious diseases
First, wash your hands with running water using soap or hand wash for at least 30 seconds
and cover your mouth and nose with tissue paper or sleeves when coughing or sneezing
and wear a mask if the cough and sneezing persists
In addition, you should cook food well enough and boil water to drink,
and those who are eligible for vaccination, such as children and the elderly, should get vaccinated
In addition, before traveling abroad, you should check the status of infectious diseases through the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency's website
and after traveling abroad, if you have symptoms of suspected infectious diseases such as fever, cough, and rash
you should see the doctor and inform them of your overseas trip
Other than these, as a rule to prevent infectious diseases in your daily life
you should wash your hands frequently and with soap in clean running water
When you have to wash your hands are when you come back home after going out, when you visit a place where many people gather
before cooking or eating, after using the bathroom, and after coughing or sneezing
In addition, drinking water must be boiled or bottled
safe water and disinfected water must be used when cooking, washing hands, dishes or brushing teeth
and food ingredients such as vegetables must be washed in running clean water and heated enough to eat
In particular, the storage of cooked food should be avoided in summer and food that has come into contact with contaminated water
has a strange smell, or has changed color, shape, etc. should not be consumed
In addition, cutting boards and knives should be used separately for each types of food
washed thoroughly after use, and dried well
People with symptoms of diarrhea or wounds on their hands should not cook
and especially if they have symptoms of diarrhea, they should visit a medical institution for medical treatment
If you cough or sneeze, follow cough etiquette such as using tissue paper, handkerchiefs, sleeves of clothes, and cover your mouth
and if you continue to cough, it is recommended to wear a mask
In addition, you should avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth as much as possible with your hands
and keep the interior of your houses clean and ventilated frequently
In addition, when you have fever or respiratory infection symptoms, it is recommended to avoid close contact with people
and refrain from going out to places where many people gather as much as possible
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with washing your hands well alone, diarrhea diseases decrease by 30%
and respiratory diseases such as colds and influenza decrease by 20%
The correct way to wash your hands is to rub your hands palm-to-palm first
rub the back of your hand with the other hand's palm
then rub your palms with each of your hands' fingers crossed
Then, hold and rub your fingers together,
rub your thumb with the other palm, twisting it
place your finger on the other palm, rubbing it as if you are scratching your palm, to clean underneath your fingernails
Next, if you have symptoms of infectious diseases such as diarrhea, fever, and respiratory infection symptoms
you should visit a medical institution immediately, especially those under the age of 5, over 65, pregnant women,
and chronic diseases, as they have higher risk of being infected
In addition, overseas travelers must faithfully fill out the health status questionnaire and report it to the quarantine officer
if they have symptoms such as fever, respiratory infection symptoms, diarrhea, and vomiting when returning from abroad
Now, let's take a look at the symptoms of major infectious diseases
First of all, COVID-19 causes various respiratory infections from mild to severe
such as fever, boredom, cough, shortness of breath, pneumonia, and acute respiratory distress syndrome,
and in rare cases, sputum, sore throat, headache, diarrhea, hemoptysis, and nausea
Next, tuberculosis has symptoms such as coughing, hemoptysis, helplessness, loss of appetite, weight loss, fever
and difficulty breathing
In the early stages of pulmonary tuberculosis, there is a dry cough without phlegm, and as it progresses gradually
a cough mixed with phlegm begins
However, cough is the most common symptom of most respiratory diseases such as colds
bronchitis, and smoking, as well as tuberculosis
so coughs that last for more than two weeks must be suspected of tuberculosis
Hemoptysis means blood coming out of the lungs
and red blood can come out of pulmonary tuberculosis patients when pus inside granuloma
is mixed with sputum
Usually, in movies and novels, patients cough up a large amount of blood
which is only seen in patients with significant progression of tuberculosis or lung cancer
and in fact
most tuberculosis patients have a small amount of blood mixed into their sputum
And, tuberculosis bacteria multiply very slowly, consuming our body's nutrients
and destroying tissues and organs
That's why many patients with tuberculosis have symptoms of energy loss, loss of appetite
and weight loss
In addition, tuberculosis, unlike common cold body aches, does not show high fever ranging from 39 to 40℃
Instead, in the afternoon, a slight fever occurs to the extent that you feel unwell
and then a cold sweat occurs and the fever drops, and this happens repeatedly
and a typical tuberculosis patient sweats a lot when sleeping,
to the extent that it could cause the pillow to get wet
The lungs are organs that absorb oxygen in the air and emit carbon dioxide
However, if pulmonary tuberculosis is not initially treated, granulomas and cavities form all over the lungs
causing lung tissue to fail and pulmonary function to gradually worsen
which can eventually lead to shortness of breath with even a small movement
Next, hand, foot, and mouth disease begins with fever, sore throat, and loss of appetite
and on the first to second days after fever, blistering papules occur on the palms, fingers, and soles of the feet
In addition, stomatal lesions appear on the mucous membrane of the cheek, gums, or tongue, and sometimes on the hip
but often only rashes and not blisters appear
In addition, although most of them have symptoms of cold , newborns within two weeks of age
who do not have a complete immune system rarely might die when infected
The Ebola virus shows symptoms such as high fever, headache, muscle pain, gastrointestinal pain,
fatigue, diarrhea, sore throat, hiccups, rashes, hyperaemia in the eyes, and bloody vomiting within days of infection
In addition, chest pain, shock, death, blindness, and bleeding can occur within a week after infection
with a high mortality rate of 22 to 90%
The incubation period of influenza is 1 to 4 days, and it spreads from person to person
through respiratory droplets secreted when coughing or sneezing
from 1 day before the onset of symptoms to 5 days after the onset of the disease
In addition, it shows whole-body symptoms such as sudden fever of 38℃ or higher, headache, muscle pain, fatigue,
and respiratory symptoms such as pharynx pain, cough, and sputum,
and rarely abdominal pain, vomiting, and convulsions
Next, typhoid usually has an incubation period of 1 to 3 weeks, but it depends on the number of bacteria,
and fever, headache, boredom, loss of appetite, relative bradycardia, splenomegary, roseola,
and dry cough are the main symptoms and signs
It has a characteristic form of fever that gradually rises
to become a remittent fever and then goes away
and if not treated, the progression of the disease lasts about three to four weeks
and is generally more constipation than diarrhea
In addition, the reduction of white blood cells, especially eosinophils, is characteristic and often mild
but atypical severe symptoms also occur
and if not treated, ulcers may occur in the ileum's Peyer's patch
resulting in intermittent melena or perforation
In severe cases, symptoms of the central nervous system also occur, and persistent fever, expressionless face,
mild hearing loss, and mumps can also occur
Surgical complications include intestinal perforation, intestinal obstruction, arthritis, osteomyelitis, acute cholecystitis, and empyema
and the mortality rate is less than 10%, but early treatment with antibiotics can reduce it to less than 1%
Measles has symptoms such as high fever, cough, runny nose, conjunctivitis, and Koplik spots on the oral mucosa followed by
characteristic erythematous papular rash, diarrhea, otitis media, bronchitis, bronchiolitis,
croup, and bronchial pneumonia
Yellow fever usually causes symptoms such as fever, muscle pain, chills, headaches, loss of appetite, and vomiting
and the symptoms usually disappears after three to four days
but about 15% of patients enter the toxic phase
Patients in toxic phase develop fever again, rapidly developing symptoms such as jaundice, abdominal pain, and vomiting
as well as bleeding in the eyes, nose, mouth, and gastrointestinal tract,
and acute renal failure
Now, let's look at the rules and countermeasures for preventing COVID-19
On February 11, 2020, the WHO named the novel coronavirus infection disease
that occurred in Wuhan, China in 2019 COVID-19
and on February 12, 2020, Korea named it Corona virus infectious disease-19, COVID-19
The main symptoms of COVID-19 include fever above 37.5℃, cough, shortness of breath, chills,
muscle pain, headache, sore throat, loss of smell and taste,
and other symptoms such as fatigue, loss of appetite, phlegm, symptoms in digestive system, confusion, dizziness, runny nose or stuffy nose,
hemoptysis, chest pain, and conjunctivitis
The incubation period is 1 to 14 days, with an average of 5 to 7 days
The transmission route mainly includes droplet infections that are transmitted from person to person
through saliva droplets produced when an infected person exhales or speaks, sneezes or coughs
and contact infections that come into contact with hands or media with respiratory droplets
of infected people and are infected by touching eyes, nose or mouth
The fatality rate of COVID-19 is 2.16% globally as of January 2021
and in Korea it is 1.81%
In addition, risk factors that can cause the disease to progress to severe disease include being older than 65 years,
chronic respiratory diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes,
high blood pressure, chronic kidney and liver diseases, and underlying diseases such as immunosuppressants,
cancer, obesity, organ transplants, and smoking
Next, let's take a look at the 10 general public action rules for COVID-19
First, make sure to wear a mask in indoor facilities and dense outdoor areas
and wash your hands meticulously and frequently with soap for more than 30 seconds under running water
In addition, refrain from visiting places where there is no ventilation and many people gather close
keep a 2m social distance between people and people
and do not touch eyes, nose, or mouth with unwashed hands
In addition, when coughing or sneezing, cover your mouth and nose with clothes sleeves or tissue paper
and ventilate regularly every day and clean and sanitize frequently touched surfaces
Avoid contact with people with fever and respiratory symptoms
check your own clinical manifestation of COVID-19 like fever and respiratory symptoms every day,
and refrain from non-essential travels