How to prevent immune deficiency diseases
Introduction
Immune deficiency diseases represent a group of disorders whereby the immune system is defective, compromised or missing. The immune system helps the body to fight illnesses and other infections that might attack the body. It involves an interaction between various types of cells that work together to recognize and fight the foreign compounds like the bacteria, viruses and fungi that cause diseases. The immune system has the innate immunity which are present at birth and the adaptive immunity that develops with time in life. There are two main categories of immune deficiency diseases; the congenital immune diseases and the acquired immunodeficiency disorders. The congenital immune deficiency diseases are present at birth and mainly result from genetic defects while the acquired immunodeficiency disorders are as a result of infectious diseases that cause different complications and other fatal diseases.
Causes of immune deficiency diseases
Unbalanced lifestyle
- Having a poor diet makes the body's immune system to weaken hence it is not able to fight the immune deficiency diseases. People should eat a balanced diet that is nutritious and helps to strengthen the immune system.
- Poor hygiene habits like not washing the hands regularly and when required to increase the chance of attack of the infections that trigger the immune deficiency diseases.
- Having too much stress and not having enough sleep suppress the immune system making it prone to many infections that trigger the immune deficiency diseases.
Effects of medications
- Taking of the immunosuppressant medications suppress the immune system and leave the body open and vulnerable to many infections and diseases.
- Regular use of antibiotics weakens the immune system since it does not give it time to fight the harmful organisms that will help it gain more strength.
- Chemotherapy also reduces the immune system by decreasing the white blood cells that assist the body in fighting infections.
Treatment of Immune deficiency diseases
There is no cure of the immune deficiency diseases as of now. The treatment that is given to the patients aims at preventing infections from attacking, boosting the immune system and treating the underlying cause of the infections that attack them. The following are the treatments that are administered to the patients suffering from Immune deficiency diseases.
Treatments to manage the infections
- Antibiotics: most of the infections that attack the Immune deficiency diseases patients are treated with the recommended antibiotics and in the cases where the infections to not respond to standard antibiotics, the IV antibiotics are used. Some of the Immune deficiency diseases patients have to take the antibiotics for long periods to prevent the infections from attacking.
- Symptoms treatment: in some cases, some other medications are administered to treat the symptoms that are caused by the infections. These are things like the painkillers to relieve pain and fever.
Treatment to boost the immune system
- Immunoglobulin therapy: it is used to people who have an antibody deficiency and it consists of antibody proteins that are essential for the immune system to fight infections. This is administered often to maintain the required levels of immunoglobulins.
- Growth factors: it is applied when the immune deficiency diseases are as a result of certain white blood cells and is meant to increase the levels of the white blood cells.
How to prevent Immune deficiency diseases
- Avoid contracting infections: most diseases that are associated with the immune deficiency diseases are caused by infections of different types. It is therefore important to take the necessary precautions to avoid the infections from attacking.
- Avoid stress as it suppresses the immune system making it more prone to the infections that trigger the immune deficiency diseases.
- Always use protection during sex to prevent the HIV virus from attacking as it causes AIDS which is and immune deficiency disease.
- Avoid the things that you might be allergic to and can cause some serious illness.
