If with bacteria, mankind has long learned to fight with antibiotics, then the viruses are more complicated. Viral infection, as a rule, is resistant to the action of any drugs. It can be prevented by strengthening immunity, or helping the body create antibodies by the action of immunostimulating and restorative drugs.
What is the prevention of viral infections?
Usually, the phrase "acute viral infection" is associated with influenza, acute respiratory infections, ARVI and other respiratory diseases. Meanwhile, the range of viral diseases is much broader and includes:
- measles;
- rotaviruses ;
- herpes;
- viral pneumonia;
- rabies;
- HIV and many other dangerous diseases.
The main feature of viral infections is that they spread to the entire body, infecting the cells of most organs, rather than concentrating point-like bacteria. Because of this, to date, there is no effective antiviral drug that would work after the infection occurred.
All that we can in the fight against the virus is to help the body develop immunity. This is why vaccination is very effective for prevention. The inoculation of microdoses of cells infected with the virus does not cause a serious illness, but makes us resistant to this type of infection in the future. The main difficulty is that for today there are about 300 different types of only respiratory viruses. Naturally, such an amount of vaccination does not make sense. Doctors usually recommend to protect themselves from the most common strains.
Viruses are transmitted from person to person, less often - from the beast to man. Therefore, in order to avoid infection, you should limit contact with the patient. The most common type of illness is acute respiratory viral infection (ARVI). In order not to try to grasp the immensity, we will continue to talk about this type of diseases. Here are the main signs of a viral infection of this type:
- dry cough, runny nose, sore throat;
- The absence of temperature on the first day and its increase in the future;
- weakness, chills, muscle aches with 2-3 days of illness;
- the appearance of a deep cough and the withdrawal of phlegm in 3-5 days of illness.
Features of treatment of a viral infection
You should understand that antibiotics are practically useless in case of a viral infection. They will not help the body to overcome the disease and are used only if the virus caused complications and a concomitant bacterial infection. It can be angina, bronchitis and other diseases that develop against a background of untreated colds. By the way, did you know that for today doctors call the cause of the common cold a virus in 90% of cases?
In order to overcome ARI , it is necessary to create an environment for the body to put all resources into production of antibodies. This means that the patient needs bed rest and moderate nutrition. Energy that is not expended on physical activity and food digestion
Also, it is not recommended to bring down the temperature with medical preparations if it did not reach a threatening level of 38.5 degrees. Many viruses have a protein structure and simply can not withstand even a slight increase in body temperature.
Doctors strongly recommend that the patient drink as much as possible, since the toxins of the virus cells must be eliminated from the body. It is best if it is warm water with the addition of lemon juice. Studies have shown that increasing the amount of vitamin C in the body helps to cope with the virus by 30-50% faster.