Tropical Medicine and Infectious Diseases

COVID-19 infection may lead to intestinal infection and be present in faeces. However, to date only one study has cultured the COVID-19 virus from a single stool specimen. There have been no reports of faecal−oral transmission of the COVID-19 virus to date. it has make drug researchers realise the debilitating effect a virus can have on people’s health and the entire world economy. The epidemiology of NTDs is complex and often related to environmental conditions. Many NTDs are vector-borne, have animal reservoirs and are associated with complex life cycles: all these factors make their public-health control challenging. In fact, the Covid-19 outbreak has given a renewed push to focusing research on infectious diseases, mostly backed by governments and not-for-profit organisations. One such, ACT Accelerator for Covid-19 therapeutics.

• Novel diagnostics and drugs
• Biosafety and biosecurity
• Nursing and patients care

Biomedical sciences are a set of applied sciences applying portions of natural science or formal science, to knowledge, interventions, or technology that are of use in healthcare or public health. Such disciplines as medical microbiology, clinical virology, clinical epidemiology, genetic epidemiology, and biomedical engineering are medical sciences.

These are the diseases which are abundant in tropical region and mainly affecting the world’s poorest population and mostly in the developing countries. As they affect poor people, they remain unnoticed, thus are called as Neglected.  These diseases do not include the major 3 Infections like AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. There are 13 diseases included under this category some of which are dengue, rabies, Chagas diseases, Buruli ulcer.

Clinical Tropical Medicine includes various drugs clinical trials and various Bioethics issues. One major topic is travel medicine which deals with the health issues of various international travelers. An estimated of about 80 million people travel from developed to developing countries. Specific diseases affecting international travelers are Yellow Fever, Meningitis and Malaria. The focus under this is the vaccination and the 6 I’s, which are Insects, Ingestions, Indiscretion, Injuries, Immersions, insurance.

Many pathogens can live outside the animal’s body until conditions that occurs which are favorable for entering and infecting them by causing Infectious diseases. Pathogens enter the body in various ways like by penetrating the skin or an eye, being eaten with food, or by being breathed into the lungs. After their entry into a host, pathogens actively multiply and produce disease by interfering with the functions of specific organs or tissues of the host. Many organisms like bacteria and viruses which cause tropical diseases among the world’s poorest region also infect livestock and other animals. These diseases worsen the impact of NTDs on people but on the other hand provide opportunities for developing new approaches to tackle human diseases. The main diseases concerned among Animal are African trypanosomiasis and Chagas Diseases.

Infectious diseases are disorders caused by organisms like bacterium, viruses, fungi or parasites. Several organisms sleep in and on our bodies. They are unremarkably harmless or may be useful, however below sure conditions, some organisms might cause illness. Some infectious diseases are passed from person to person. Some are transmitted by bites from insects or animals. And others are non-inheritable by ingesting contaminated food or water or being exposed to organisms within the surroundings. Signs and symptoms vary looking on the organism inflicting the infection; however usually embody fever and fatigue. Delicate infections might reply to rest and residential remedies, whereas some serious infections might need hospitalization. Several infectious diseases, like contagious disease and varicella, is prevented by vaccines. Frequent and thorough hand-washing additionally helps defend you from most infectious diseases.

Types of Infectious Diseases:

Infectious diseases can be bacterial, viral, parasitic or fungal. There is also a group of rare diseases called infectious spongiform encephalopathy (TSE).

• Viral Infections: A virus is a piece of information (DNA or RNA) inside a protective shell (capsid). These viruses are smaller than cells and cannot reproduce on their own. They get into your brain and use the cellular machinery to make copies of themselves.
• Bacterial Diseases:  Bacteria are single-celled organisms whose instructions are written into short DNA sequences. Bacteria are everywhere, including on our bodies and skin. Most of these bacteria are harmless and even beneficial, but some bacteria release toxins that can make you sick.
• Fungal Disease: Like bacteria, there are many fungi. They are in and on your body. You can get sick when you have too many yeast infections or when fungal infections enter your body through your mouth, nose, or skin cracks.
• Parasitic Diseases: Parasites use the body of other organisms to survive and reproduce. Parasites include worms (worms) and some single organisms (protozoa).
• Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy (TSE/prion disease): TSE is caused by prions, a defect that causes other proteins in your body (usually those in your brain) to become defective. Your body can't use or get rid of these proteins, so they build up and make you sick. Prions are a rare form of infection.

According to a recent report major infectious disease kill over 19 million people a year. Some major diseases, such as cholera, malaria and tuberculosis are making a deadly comeback in many parts of the world, despite being preventable or treatable. At the same time, many new and highly infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS and the notorious Ebola haemorrhagic fever emerging to pose additional threats. Fears are growing over a possible food-chain link between bovine spongiform encephalopathy and a variant of the incurable Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, due to an infectious agent that attacks the human brain.

On average, approximately 1 in 25 people globally have at least one of these Sexually transmitted diseases, according to the latest research, with some experiencing multiple infections  at the same time. STDs spread predominantly through unprotected sexual contact, including vaginal, anal and oral sex. Some most common STD’s are chlamydia, gonorrhoea, and syphilis. STDs are preventable through safe sexual practices, including correct and consistent condom use and sexual health education.

This include various research and trial measure and application in the field of genetics so that they can help in the treatment for tropical diseases, some of the application that can be considered useful are r-DNA technology. Treatment of various diseases that are hereditary and other diseases at genetic level. Multi system diseases affects skin joints and gastro-intestinal tract; coronial-artery diseases, rheumatoid arthritis, pulmonary hypertension.

A Nosocomial infection is an infection that is acquired in hospitals, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, outpatient clinics, or other health care facilities and is potentially caused by organisms that are resistant to antibiotics. Health care specialists can spread infection, in addition to contaminated equipment, bed linens, or air droplets. Nosocomial infections can be controlled by practicing infection control programs, keep check on antimicrobial use and its resistance, adopting antibiotic control policy. People with mental health issues may have a decreased resistance to infection because of age, underlying medical conditions, or substance abuse. When people are living closely together, they are more likely to become sick with infections that are spread from person to person.

Entomology is the scientific study of insects and their relationship to humans, the environment, and other organisms. Entomology includes the study of terrestrial animals in other arthropod groups or other phyla, such as arachnids, myriads, earthworms, land snails, and slugs. Entomologists make great contributions to such diverse fields as agriculture, chemistry, biology, human/animal health, molecular science, criminology, and forensics.

Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution and determinants of health and disease conditions in defined populations. Epidemiology came out with developed methodologies which can be used in clinical research, public health studies, basic research in the biological sciences etc.

Parasitology is the study of relationship between parasites and their hosts, and the relationship between them. As a biological discipline, the scope of parasitology is not determined by the organism or environment in question but by their way of life. This means it forms a synthesis of other disciplines, and draws on techniques from fields such as cell biology, bioinformatics, biochemistry, molecular biology, immunology, genetics, evolution and ecology.

Microbiology is the study of microorganisms, those being unicellular, multicellular, or cellular. such as bacteria, viruses, Archaea, fungi and protozoa. This discipline includes fundamental research on the biochemistry, physiology, cell biology, ecology, evolution and clinical aspects of microorganisms, including the host response to these agents.

The immune system has developed a variety of approaches in controlling viral and bacterial infections, which range from direct killing of pathogen to elaborating cytokines that inhibit replication. It describes how body copes with bacterial, viral and parasitic infections.

Tropical diseases, including the neglected tropical diseases, comprise a group of infectious diseases primarily affecting the poorest segments of society in the tropics and subtropics. These infections remain a major cause of morbidity and mortality in developing countries. Compelling and timely surveillance and responses tailored to specific settings consider the capacity of a health system to give reliable and prudent data to public health policy, sensible action in infectious disease control and eradication, and proficient sustainable advancement.