Ignorance in Disease Transmission

HIGH LEVEL OF IGNORANCE IN DISEASE TRANSMISSION

On a close look, the vast amount of ill-health scattered all over is due to our social negligence. But, no matter how ill-fated the air-craft might be, there is still room for a soul to be saved.

In a nut shell, ignorance is the lack of knowledge about something. On the other hand, disease transmission is the transfer of certain illness(es) from one place or person to different places or persons. In other words, any person/thing can transmit disease(s) provided that he/it is not medically safe.

In most tropical countries, several cases of disease transmission could be attributable to the idiocy of various medical/health ideologies possessed by millions of ignoramuses. Most members of the aforementioned countries, mainly found in Africa, parade themselves as if whenever death comes it should be regarded as the due time. They find it very difficult to believe, even when you persuade them, that they have a role to play to ensure that they embrace a durable, tangible and sound life-span. For instance, you can see a member of such group consuming his/her meal after leaving the toilet without properly washing his/her hands with soap or detergent. Such person would only wash his hand, not even both hands, with the water meant for the meal. The most pathetic part of it is that, he/she would still use same water in the bowl to rinse his/her hand after the meal. Even when a knowledgeable one is privileged to be by his side and happens to remind him that he is yet to wash his hands with soap/detergent, the ignoramus would respond to such advice with an ignominious utterance. He may end up saying that, he had already washed his hand, adding that, after all he didn’t fall into the toilet or was not mixed with the faeces.

In the same vein, someone may be in the practice of drinking any water he/she comes across or is privileged to have without considering the purity of the water. Most members of this group are occupied with the ideology that every source of water is naturally pure. They may even tell you that those insane beings on the street drink flood and eat other rubbish but still live longer than the people free from insanity. Similar attitude is obtainable from one who smokes or drinks alcohol. What ignorance coupled with insanity!

Due to the kinds of ignorance stipulated above, and others too numerous to mention, one who has been tested in a medical laboratory may be told that he/she has staphylococcus areus and he (the patient) would end up telling the lab technician that such result cannot be possible since he/she is still a chaste/virgin. Such set of people has been beclouded with the popular name ‘Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs)”. This means that, they are yet to know that every disease/infection has a fundamental source and must be contracted from such source before it could be transmitted or spreaded through the air, water, blood transfusion, sex, et cetera, as the case may be.

I put it up to you that, the primary sources of most diseases are dirty toilet, alcohol, cigarette/cigar, Indian helm, cocaine, dust and impure water. This simply means that most common diseases/infections can be gotten from dust, water, drinking, smoking or toilet. For instance, the major source of the aforementioned staphylococcus is impure water, likewise most other STDs. Other diseases like diarrhea, dysentery and typhoid can also be contracted from unsafe water. On the other hand, the major source of candidiasis (an STD) is the sharing of a dirty toilet. Therefore, for a disease; nasal influenza (catarrh) which is a well-known airborne disease for instance, to be transmitted from one person to another through the air, it must be contracted/gotten from a certain source such as dust or other unwanted particles.

The born of contention is that, the major source of most diseases/infections is dirt, and we must be conscious of that fact. Thus, not only after using the toilet that one is bound to wash his/her hands with soap/detergent. After undergoing a certain activity or journey, courtesy demands that you wash your hands with soap or detergent. If possible, you take your bath immediately. We must continue to keep ourselves, belongings, immediate environment, and everything about us clean.

Above all, most cancerous diseases are gotten from smoking, intake of hard drugs or drinking. The chemical content of such intake is highly detrimental to both human and animal health.

The various existing Non-Governmental Organizations and the concerned government agencies should from time to time organize seminars and workshops with the aim of sensitizing the minds of the public on the danger that awaits an individual and a society at large that is infected/affected by a certain disease. They should also elaborate their mindsets on the possible sources of most common diseases. The media houses or personnel are not left out in this crusade.

But on our own individual effort, we ought to understand some facts or ask ourselves some certain questions as regards disease transmission. For instance, even if the percentage of transmitting STDs through sex is 99.9% while the other means or avenues such as blood transfusion and sharing of sharp objects share 0.1%, why should one be so myopic to acknowledge the fact that 0.10% could be extremely enormous if carefulness is not adhered to? Think about it!



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COMR. FRED NWAOZOR

Social analyst & activist