What is the cause of Salk’s disease and how is it transmitted to sufferers? How can we avoid contracting this disease? What are the effective medical suggestions for this disease?
The carrier of Salk disease
The carrier of the Salk disease is a very small insect called a mosquito that spends days in dark, warm and humid shelters such as cracks in walls, basements, behind fixed objects in the home such as closets, photo frames and inside stables, around garbage piles, animal manure, places Abandoned, lives in rodents’ nests and caves.
At night, the ground mosquito lays its eggs in garbage, rodents’ nests, and wet pits, and its babies grow in the larval stage in this place.
The cause of Salk’s disease
The cause of the disease is a protozoan (parasite) called Leishmania, which exists in skin wounds caused by this disease in humans, rodents, and dogs.
The great tendency of the ground mosquito to feed on blood from the seeker’s wounds causes the parasite to enter the mosquito’s body.
Another way of transmitting the disease is the contact of normal wounds with the secretions of the patient.
Symptoms of Salk’s disease
In the beginning, this disease is in the form of a small bump (papule), which gradually enlarges and becomes an ulcer. It is possible that the wounds will heal on their own within a few weeks to a few months and sometimes a year or more.
In some people, the recurrence of the disease after healing appears as a wound or a small bump in the place of a previously healed wound.
If one or more skin sores appear in areas where there is an endemic disease and in areas where mosquitoes are seen, the possibility of the disease should be considered.
Salk’s disease process
After a person is bitten by an infected mosquito and 2 to 8 months pass (incubation period of the disease), a red bump appears on the skin at the site of the mosquito bite, which is slightly itchy, but painless.
After a few weeks, this bump hardens and the surrounding area becomes inflamed and red, and after two to three months, a one-millimeter-deep indentation is formed on the bump, and a liquid is gradually released from the lesion. They gradually become scabs.
Over time, the color of the scab turns brown and finally it becomes a soldier’s wound. This wound has an irregular and prominent border.
If the scab is removed from the wound, the wound will have a transparent and red surface with a sunken bottom.
This wound does not hurt, but sometimes it is a little itchy.
If the wound is not infected with bacteria or fungi, it starts to heal from the center and gradually the inflammation of the wound decreases and the scab dries up and after 6 to 12 months the lesion heals and is replaced by Burns and boils or scars are observed.
Types of Salk’s disease
Two types of seekers are commonly known:
1- Dry or urban type: In this type, the skin lesion has a dry appearance and the number of wounds is few and painless.
2- Wet wound or rural type: the wound has a wet appearance and is painful. The number of wounds is large and wide and is mostly seen in hands and feet.
Reservoir of disease
The source of salak is urban or dry, dogs are also infected with this parasite and are the main reservoir of the disease, just like humans.
In the case of the rural or wet type, the reservoir of the disease is mainly rodents, the most important of which in Iran is the rat Rhombomis opimus.
Diagnosis methods of Salk’s disease
If one or more skin sores appear in the areas where there is an endemic disease and in the areas where the mosquito is seen, the possibility of the disease should be considered.
Definitive diagnosis is based on the observation of Leishmania parasites in the resulting lesions, after sample preparation and staining, as well as the use of a special culture medium.
Primary care in Salk’s disease
1- See a doctor or the nearest health center.
2- Daily washing with water and salt (a bottle of boiled water with two tablespoons of table salt) causes spontaneous recovery within a period of three to six months.
The wound of the seeker should be covered with sterile gauze or appropriate clothing to prevent the spread of contamination and transmission of the disease to others
Treatment of Salk’s disease
Salk’s disease usually heals spontaneously after a period of 4 to 12 months, but various chemical drugs, including glucantim in the form of 5 ml ampoules and 1 to 2 ml injection inside the lesion, once a week, for 7 It shortens the period of illness up to 10 weeks.
Prevention of Salk disease
– Installing a metal net in front of the door and windows
– Using a mosquito net with very small holes that mosquitoes cannot pass through.
– Impregnation of mosquito net with insecticide by the health center
– Correct collection and disposal of waste from the living environment
– Preventing the accumulation of waste in the environment
– Improvement of open channels, correct disposal of sewage and construction debris
– Using insect repellent ointment when working outdoors at night and when resting and sleeping in contaminated areas
– Improving and cleaning the living environment
– Repairing the holes and gaps in the walls and roofs of houses and places where livestock and poultry are kept
– Preventing the accumulation of any food residue inside and outside the house
– Separation of domestic animal enclosures from the residential environment and improvement and repair of gaps in the walls and roof of the animal habitat and regular discharge of animal excrement outside the habitat.
– Regular and correct use of household insecticides to fight ground mosquitoes in closed places
– Exterminating stray dogs and fighting rodents
– Fighting rodents using methods such as trapping and rat poisons
– Demolition and leveling of dilapidated and abandoned places and filling wet pits
– Garbage collection in closed bins or garbage bags
– Covering the wound of the seeker with sterile gauze or suitable clothing to cover the wound to prevent the spread of contamination and transmission of the disease to others.
– Spraying: due to the environmental side effects of the poison and its low effect in controlling the disease, only in urban or dry type, this method can be used in special circumstances along with other improvement and prevention measures.
Spraying usually causes mosquitoes to migrate to nearby areas and find resistant types of vectors, and the best way to eliminate the growth and reproduction of ground mosquitoes is to improve the environment.
Khanj Health
