Principles of Prevention

While treating an infection or a disease, three limitations are generally faced. These three limitations are as follows:

• Someone had a disease which completely damaged his body functions to an extent that it can’t be recovered.
• A person suffering from some ailment might be bedridden for some time because it takes time to cure any disease.
• A person suffering from some disease might spread the infection to other people as well.

Therefore, it is necessary to prevent certain diseases beforehand.

How Can Disease Be Prevented?

There are two ways of preventing a particular disease.

General Ways

• Hygienic conditions should be maintained in the surroundings we live in. There should be limited exposure to airborne microbes by providing not so crowded living conditions.
• Safe drinking water should be provided to prevent water-borne diseases.
• Provide a clean environment which prevents the breeding of mosquitoes. This prevents the spread of vector-borne diseases.

Specific Ways

The immune system normally fights off microbes. The cells of the immune system are specialized in killing infectious microbes. That is why we don’t always fall sick on coming in contact with an infectious person. As soon as an antigen enters the body, these cells come into play.

Immunization

It is the process by which a person is made resistant to a particular disease by the administration of a vaccine. A vaccine stimulates the immune system of a body to prevent certain diseases. This process has proved beneficial in preventing several infectious diseases and has decreased the mortality rate to a great extent. There are vaccines against tetanus, smallpox, measles etc. There are public health programmes for childhood immunizations to prevent any infections throughout our lives.

For effective prevention of diseases, everyone should practice public hygiene and immunization.

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