The rains have arrived and so have the Achoo (excuse me!) ... variety of illnesses it brings along. Sneezes and sniffles barge their way into your daily schedule alongside a runny nose, sore throat and fever. Indeed the monsoon has arrived and how!
With the whole country reeling under the weight of the ‘wettest’ monsoon, as compared to the past 5 years; illnesses such as malaria and typhoid are beginning to rear their ugly heads again. While the age old adage of ‘Prevention is better than cure’ stands true, one actually needs to know more about the diseases in question to prevent them!
Monsoon Illnesses
Ever wondered why, that as soon as the rains start, so does the domino effect of people falling sick? Chances are that if the person who sits beside you in the office, has a cold or cough, you’ll catch it within a day or two! Similarly you are at a higher risk of contracting Malaria, if there are 2-5 people down with the disease, in your immediate neighborhood. But wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could just prevent yourself from falling victim to these illnesses...
So how exactly do you protect yourself from these diseases?
As we have mentioned above, the best way to protect oneself from monsoon diseases is by knowing what causes them! Following is a list of 6 common monsoon diseases that afflict the whole of India,
- Common Cold (Aacchoo....)
Work always seems such a joy when ‘blessed’ with a runny nose or a sore throat, during the monsoons! With our eyes watering, difficulty in breathing due to blocked nasal passages and a constant irritation in the throat ... preparing reports and making presentations is nothing but a ‘smooth-as-butter’ process.
Are we being sarcastic here? Of course, we are!
Causes: Common Cold is a very common illness affecting people during monsoons. It is caused due to a plenty of reasons such as being in wet clothes all day long or in an air-conditioned environment such as your office. You can even catch cold virally if you are caught in a downpour, as the cold virus can stay active in the tiny rain droplets!
Other methods of catching the common cold are by coming in contact with surfaces that are contaminated by the cold virus.
Precautions to be taken to avoid the common cold: The most effective precaution that one can take against common cold is to regularly wash their hands during monsoons, as hands come in touch with a variety of surfaces which could be contaminated. Another useful precaution would be to make use of hand sanitizers, again to help keep your hands clean.
Since the cold virus loves people with a weak immune system, you could start consuming more immunity boosting foods during the monsoon. Foods such as garlic, ginger, turmeric, tomatoes, pumpkins and flaxseeds are good immunity boosting foods.
With the city of Mumbai alone recording 13,818 cases of Malaria since the past month, it’s no wonder to see the rest of the country too, in the grasp of the dreaded disease!
Causes: A mosquito transmitted disease; Malaria has seen a renewed resurgence in the country. This illness is caused by a bite from the female mosquitoes belonging to the Anopheles sub-type of the mosquito family. The symptoms of Malaria are fever, cold chills, shivering, head ache and muscle ache.
Precautions to be taken to avoid Malaria: The best way to prevent Malaria is to avoid getting bitten by the mosquitoes. In order to do so, you can make use of insect repellant sprays, especially around dusk, as this is when mosquitoes become the most active. You could also cover your beds with mosquito nets to prevent the entry of the mosquito, also ensure that you have no pools of stagnant water around your house as these are breeding grounds for mosquitoes. Do make sure that your area is well fumigated during the monsoons.
Come rains and the incidences of water borne diseases shoots up.
Causes: Since drinking water gets contaminated with pollutants, feces, germs, chemicals and other such impurities, falling sick is a given during monsoons! Drinking contaminated water leads to water borne illnesses such as gastro enteritis, cholera and typhoid.
Precautions to be taken to avoid Water Borne Illnesses: To avoid water borne illnesses, it is a must that you boil or filter water before drinking. Also avoid eating out. especially road-side food during monsoons as the lack of hygiene and the dirty water used in the cooking can make you an easy target for gastro enteritis or cholera.
Also since our digestive systems become weak during the monsoons, it is best advised to consume a moderate diet and foods that can be digested easily.
Caused due to a bacterium, the Leptospira spp. that is mainly found in rats and other animals, Leptospirosis affects both humans and animals!
Causes: This disease is found to spread in humans, either through consumption of contaminated water or when the contaminated water comes into contact with any open wounds present on the individual’s body.
Symptoms of Leptospirosis are severe chills, constant headaches and muscle ache.
Precautions to be taken to avoid Leptospirosis: Since our feet are the one part of the body that are most exposed to the dirty and contaminated rain water on the streets, it is best if we wear open soled sandals which do not allow water to stay accumulate at our feet.
In case you have open wounds and have to wade through water logged streets, its best to clean the wounds with an antiseptic cream or solution to ward off any infections.
While the above mentioned information should more or less help you to avoid contracting any of the monsoon diseases, it is best if you put prevention before cure and take the necessary precautions to ensure a happy and healthy monsoon.
