Talking about one of the "killers" of the health of the elderly — — the infectious diseases of the elderly
"The most beautiful but sunset red, warm and calm. Sunset is a late blooming flower, sunset is old wine." Old age is also an important stage in life. However, with the growth of age, the physiological metabolic function and immune function of the tissues and organs of the elderly decline, and they are prone to various infectious diseases, which is also one of the main reasons that threaten the health of the elderly.
First, what are the characteristics of infectious diseases in the elderly?
1. Atypical clinical symptoms. When infection occurs in the elderly, various response abilities are significantly reduced, such as the temperature may not be high when sepsis occurs, and even the abdominal pain is not severe when appendicitis perforation, which is very easy to delay diagnosis and treatment.
2. Rapid onset and rapid progression. Due to the decline in the reserve capacity of the organs of the elderly, the condition can deteriorate rapidly when the infection is severe, and the function of the organs is not complete. More because of the onset of the disease, there is an underlying disease, will not show the situation of infection.
3. The fever is not obvious. The elderly have poor thermoregulation ability and often show infection without heat or temperature rise, which is not easy to cause attention from family and doctors, and often aggravate severe infection.
4. Water and electrolyte disorders are common. When the elderly are infected, due to the decreased sensitivity of the thirst center, they often do not like to drink water, resulting in water and electrolyte disorders, and metabolic acid-base balance disorders.
Second, what are the common infectious diseases of the elderly?
1. Pneumonia. The barrier function and macrophage phagocytosis function of respiratory tract in the elderly were weakened, which resulted in the decrease of respiratory tract resistance. At the same time, the muscle strength of the elderly is reduced, and it is easy to inhale the stomach contents and oropharyngeal secretions into the trachea. These factors increase the incidence of pneumonia in the elderly.
2. Urinary tract infection. The elderly are prone to cause urinary tract infection due to the decline of immune function, the imbalance of flora caused by long-term and massive use of broad-spectrum antibiotics, the decrease of urinary tract local resistance caused by catheter indwelling and various fistulas.
3. Abdominal infection. Acute and chronic cholecystitis and calculi are common diseases in the elderly. Some elderly patients with acute calculous cholecystitis cause gallbladder gangrene and perforation, and the disease progresses rapidly. However, some patients with complications of abdominal pain, abdominal distension, fever are not typical, clinical manifestations are vague, easy to misdiagnose missed diagnosis.
4. Other infectious diseases. Such as senile tuberculosis, almost early tuberculosis has not caused patients to pay attention to, and is often covered by other chronic respiratory tract diseases, tuberculin test strong positive lower than young people, high misdiagnosis rate. In addition, the elderly common infectious diseases are elderly vaginitis, elderly prostatitis, elderly skin infections and so on.
Third, how to prevent the occurrence of infectious diseases in the elderly?
1. Maintain a good lifestyle. For example, quit smoking, eat a balanced diet, strengthen nutrition, take proper physical exercise, and do not go to public places during the season when respiratory diseases are high. In the current context of the normal prevention and control of the novel coronavirus epidemic, develop good personal hygiene habits and lifestyle, insist on regularly opening Windows for ventilation, and do not go to places where people gather.
2. Vaccinate scientifically. Vaccination can slow the progression of chronic diseases in older adults by preventing infection and reducing the risk of adverse outcomes from complications. From the perspective of protecting the long-term health of the elderly, scientific vaccination is not only an effective means to prevent infectious diseases and control chronic diseases, but also an important measure to improve the health level of the elderly.
3. Psychological counseling for patients who often suffer from pneumonia and chronic respiratory diseases, due to repeated attacks or a longer course of disease, patients' sleep, diet and activities are affected, and patients are prone to negative, pessimistic or irritable emotions, which is not conducive to treatment and rehabilitation. Therefore, patients should be encouraged to maintain an optimistic attitude and actively cooperate with treatment to promote body rehabilitation.
4. Acupressure. Usually can often choose hand-foot Sanli, Yingxiang, sun, Baihui and other acupoints gently massage, to reduce or delay the onset of disease, progress has a certain help.
Author:
Beijing Jishuitan Hospital infection Department Xu Yanyan Sun Chengdong
(The opinions expressed are solely those of the author. Some pictures in this article are from the Internet, if there is infringement, please contact to delete)