Interrelation Between TB and Infections in Central Africa

Question 1

The graphs show the data related to TB and HIV infections in the population of central Africa from 1990 to 2008. As per the graphical representation, it has been explored that there is positive linkage between HIV and TB infections. After 1990, there was increasing numbers of populations, who are infected by TB and additionally; the numbers of HIV infected people is also increasing over the period of time. Hence, in the central Africa, there is increasing numbers of populations, affected by TB and HIV (Shivakoti et al., 2017). There is positive relationship between the TB and HIV and as per the hypothesis it is proved that “The increase in HIV infection in central Africa has led to an increase in TB infection” (Tornheim and Dooley, 2017). However, TB infection falls after 2000 onwards but HIV continues to rise after 2004. The person affected by HIV, but having immunity power, will be stay safe and can avoid the chance of infected with TB, where always covering mouth, hand washing and taking the medicines are effective for the person to avoid TB.

People living with HIV are more likely than others to become sick with Tuberculosis or TB. The major reason is that TB is an opportunistic infection (OI), which is infection that occurs more often or is more serve among the people with weekend immune system as compared to the people with healthy immune system (Tornheim and Dooley, 2017). On the other hand, the people with HIV become weaker as their immunity power is being affected and weaken. Hence, the people infected with HIV leading towards infectious diseases of TB (Tornheim and Dooley, 2017). Hence, there is positive linkage between HIV and TB due to poor immunity power of the individuals. Most of the people suffering from HIV are getting infected with TB. The risk factors of infecting with TB are high when the person’s immunity system is weak due to HIV (Tornheim and Dooley, 2017). Hence, it can be state that, the person infected with HIV, have high chance of getting infected by TB. As per the graph, in the central Africa, there is increasing population, infected by HIV and their immune system has been broken and weakens which further raise the risk factors of getting infected with TB (Shivakoti et al., 2017).

Question 2

The transmission cycle of malaria can be broken through different prevention methods to protect the individuals in the society (Nolan, 2021). The major three ways of breaking the transmission cycle of the disease malaria are such as,

Spray an insecticide or repellent on clothing, as mosquitoes may bite through thin clothing as well as spray pyrethrin or a similar insecticide in the bedroom before going to bed are effective to mitigate the issue of spreading malaria among the societies (Nkhoma et al., 2020). Spraying the insecticide is hereby one of the best way to avoid the situation and the people can stay in safe place by maintaining hygienic condition.

Wearing long-sleeved clothing and long pants if you are outdoors at night is also good option for preventing the spread of malaria in the social communities (Nkhoma et al., 2020). Hence, Bite prevention is an effective way to avoid mosquito bites by using insect repellent, covering your arms and legs, and using a mosquito net.

Raising awareness by developing heath care campaigning in the society, about the disease of malaria and its consequences is effective. The message of using a mosquito net over the bed if the bedroom is not air-conditioned or screened and for additional protection, treat the mosquito net with the insecticide permethrin are necessary to be shared with the people to raise concern among the social communities (Nolan, 2021).

The biological measure is medication which is effective to prevent the diseases of malaria and break the transmission process across the social communities.

Biological control of malaria

For controlling the issue of malaria, effective bio control agents include predatory fish that feed on mosquito larvae such as mosquito fish (Gambusia affinis) and some cyprinids (carps and minnows) and killifish (Nkhoma et al., 2020). Each consumes 200-300 mosquito larvae per day and it is considered as effective biological control of malaria. Additionally, the most common malaria control involves the use of insecticides mainly DDT that destroy mosquitoes but it is also harmful for many other aquatic animals, organisms-insects, and people (Nkhoma et al., 2020).

Question 3

As per the graphical representation, there is strong linkage between the mean decrease in the numbers of bacteria on hands and the length of time that the individual wash hands per minutes (Berardi et al., 2020). The graph shows the expression of washing hands through normal soap and water and the alcohol based products. It has been claimed that, using alcohol based products are beneficial for washing hands and reducing bacteria (Berardi et al., 2020). The other benefits of using alcohol based products for washing hands are such as less washing time required, act faster, less irritation on hands effective solution to mitigate germs and good products for infectious diseases prevention. As per the graph, there are high bacteria on hands, when the individuals are washing their time less time and in this case, bacteria is high in case of water or soap based hand wash as compared to the alcohol based products (Berardi et al., 2020). The graph also indicates that, the alcohol based hand wash kill bacteria fast as compared to the water and soap wash. The two most widely utilized methods for determining bacterial numbers are the standard, or viable, plate count method and spectrophotometric (turbidimetric) analysis, which is beneficial to identify he numbers of bacteria with and without hand wash. As per the estimation, around 1,500 bacteria is living on each square centimeter of skin on our hands and with washing hands, it reduces bacterial counts by about 90%, hence hand wash with alcohol based products is mandatory to stay safe.

Question 4

The immune response refers to the practice that the body recognizes and defends itself against viruses, bacteria and substances that appear foreign and harmful for the body. Exaggerated response is related to enlarge or increase especially beyond the normal (Ong et al., 2020). There is increasing immune response in the body against the foreign viruses, bacteria and substances, for example, allergy is exaggerated immune reactions. Exaggerated immune response refers to the situation when Effective host immune responses are required for optimum viral control (Ong et al., 2020). Allergy is normally harmless and it can appear in many forms and cause different symptoms, such as respiratory symptoms such as asthma or fever, itching, sneezing, skin rashes, or generalized reaction such as anaphylaxis. The harmful and dangerous effects of the foreign bacteria can be mitigated through the exaggerated immune response where the individual’s body is able to fight against the bacteria and virus and prevent the spread of the foreign bacteria in the body. The immune system becomes strong to fight against bacteria and overcome the harmful situation (Ong et al., 2020).

Reference List

Berardi, A., Perinelli, D.R., Merchant, H.A., Bisharat, L., Basheti, I.A., Bonacucina, G., Cespi, M. and Palmieri, G.F., 2020. Hand sanitisers amid CoViD-19: A critical review of alcohol-based products on the market and formulation approaches to respond to increasing demand. International journal of pharmaceutics, p.119431.

Nkhoma, S.C., Trevino, S.G., Gorena, K.M., Nair, S., Khoswe, S., Jett, C., Garcia, R., Daniel, B., Dia, A., Terlouw, D.J. and Ward, S.A., 2020. Co-transmission of related malaria parasite lineages shapes within-host parasite diversity. Cell host & microbe, 27(1), pp.93-103

Nolan, T., 2021. Control of malaria-transmitting mosquitoes using gene drives. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 376(1818), p.20190803.

Ong, E.Z., Chan, Y.F.Z., Leong, W.Y., Lee, N.M.Y., Kalimuddin, S., Mohideen, S.M.H., Chan, K.S., Tan, A.T., Bertoletti, A., Ooi, E.E. and Low, J.G.H., 2020. A dynamic immune response shapes COVID-19 progression. Cell host & microbe, 27(6), pp.879-882.

Shivakoti, R., Sharma, D., Mamoon, G. and Pham, K., 2017. Association of HIV infection with extrapulmonary tuberculosis: a systematic review. Infection, 45(1), pp.11-21.

Tornheim, J.A. and Dooley, K.E., 2017. Tuberculosis associated with HIV infection. Tuberculosis and Nontuberculous Mycobacterial Infections, pp.577-594

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