Infectiousness / susceptibility to infections

Always ill: susceptibility to infections

An infection susceptibility is usually referred to when more than four times (or 12 times in children) a year there are infections with cold-like or flu symptoms such as cough, runny nose or sore throat. However, these are only in rare cases a "real" immune deficiency such. in case of antibody deficiency or HIV disease.

Instead, susceptibility is often caused by a lack of vitamins and minerals, environmental pollution, allergies, intolerances or stress. It is also possible, however, also various diseases such as diabetes or a thyroid dysfunction, which cause the body's defense is weakened and pathogens thus easier to get into the body. Accordingly, a doctor should be consulted for symptoms that occur more frequently or for more than two weeks, in order to exclude more serious illnesses or to be able to treat them early if necessary.

contents

• Always ill: susceptibility to infections
• definition
• Cause liver cirrhosis
• HIV infection / AIDS
• Infectiousness in children
• Infectivity of the thyroid gland
• Constant infections due to stress
• Infectiousness treatment
• Naturopathy at susceptibility to infection

definition

If it is cold and wet outside, a flu-like infection quickly develops with typical symptoms such as a runny nose, cough, hoarseness or sore throat. But sometimes the cold does not go away as usual after a few days, instead, it comes permanently to a runny nose, limb and headache, throat infections and fatigue and a feeling of general weakness. In this case, however, are serious warning signs of the body, indicating that something is wrong with the immune system and thus there is an increased susceptibility to infection.

However, adults are not susceptible to infestation unless they are more likely to be affected than many times a year by inflammatory conditions characterized by cold or flu-like symptoms such as fever, sore throat, headache or cough, lasting about one to two weeks. In many cases, sufferers also feel unwell and increasingly weakened, as well as stool changes such as Diarrhea or, in women, increased vaginal discharge. If there is a "true" immune deficiency (such as AIDS, leukemia, or a congenital or acquired antibody deficiency), the symptoms may also be very pronounced, for example, fever can develop into life-threatening high temperatures with possible serious consequences.

In general, with an increased susceptibility to infections, the respiratory tract most commonly affected, resulting in, for example, to a side-strand gangrene, inflammation of the pharyngeal mucosa (pharyngitis) or sinusitis (sinusitis). But it is possible, for example also a recurrent conjunctival or middle ear infection or an infection of the tonsils (tonsillitis). If it is treated late or even not at all, a slight infection can quickly develop into bronchitis and, in an emergency, to pneumonia.

Causes of constant infections
Often a susceptibility to infections is automatically equated with an immune deficiency, since constant cold symptoms such as coughing, sore throat and a constantly running nose quickly leave the impression of a weakened defense. However, in the diagnosis of the blood is often neither a lack of antibodies nor white blood cells, but instead often has an increased immune activity, which may be caused by, for example, hay fever, allergic asthma or atopic dermatitis.

In addition to a number of other causes for a functional disorder of the immune system into consideration. These include, besides stress, e.g. Medicines such as anti-inflammatory drugs (anti-inflammatory drugs), cortisone, certain anticancer drugs or antibiotics, which on the one hand cell-damaging (cytotoxic) and on the other weaken or destroy the intestinal flora, which normally acts as a "natural shield" against disease germs.

Often, this impairment of the protective function is also due to nutritional errors that sometimes already manifest in childhood (too much sugar, fat, etc.) and thereby damage the intestinal immune system. Other possible causes include stimulants such as alcohol and nicotine or increased exposure to pollutants such as wood preservatives or pesticides (pesticides), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) or so-called "plasticizers", including wall paints, paints, adhesives, cosmetics and floor coverings can be found.

Age also plays an important role in cases of increased susceptibility to infection, because the immune system only gradually develops in the first years of life, and children are generally more likely to have infections. The same applies to older people, whose immune system usually weakens with age. One reason for this is the gradual decrease in blood stem cells, especially the cells needed to maintain the defense against pathogens.

In addition, in addition to the "real immunodeficiencies" such. Aids, leukemia or a congenital or acquired antibody deficiency some other diseases in connection with an increased susceptibility to infection in question. These include, for example, thyroid dysfunction and the so-called "diabetes mellitus" diabetes mellitus, in which in many cases the immune cells are no longer "strong enough" to fight invading pathogens. The specific symptoms of diabetes, however, depend on what stage the disease is in, but also severe thirst, fatigue, cravings for sweets, blurred vision, frequent urination and itchy skin rash are typical.

Cause liver cirrhosis

Even with a so-called "cirrhosis" usually develops a susceptibility to infection. The term is usually used to denote the end stage of chronic liver disease, which is characterized by structural changes in the organ ("shrinking liver"). Cirrhosis of the liver can be many causes, but in more than half of the cases, alcohol abuse is the trigger that leads to alcoholic fatty liver. In addition, however, a non-alcoholic fatty liver, e.g. By strong obesity or obesity or diabetes mellitus lead to cirrhosis, as well as the trigger is often in a chronic viral hepatitis (usually hepatitis C). Rarely, hereditary metabolic diseases can lead to the tissue and vascular structure of the liver is destroyed. These include the copper utilization disorder Wilson's disease, which leads to an increased accumulation of copper in the body. If there is no appropriate treatment, it can lead to massive damage such as liver failure, kidney problems or even mental changes (depression, psychosis, etc.).

The so-called "iron storage disease" (hemochromatosis) can lead in rare cases to cirrhosis and thus to an increased susceptibility to infections. This, mostly genetic disease, is characterized by an increased uptake of iron in the upper small intestine, which over time causes damage to various organs such as, e.g. Liver, pancreas, heart, spleen or thyroid gland comes. In addition, the abnormal condition of the liver can also be caused by the autosomal recessive inherited metabolic disease cystic fibrosis.

Depending on the cause, the symptoms can occur in a very different form and intensity with a shrinking liver, in about a quarter of those affected even show no signs of disease (latent liver cirrhosis). In the other cases, the onset of the disease often leads to more general symptoms of illness such as tiredness, fatigue, loss of appetite and nausea. In addition, there are characteristic changes in the skin ("liver membrane"), such as yellow eyes and skin (jaundice), facial veins or vascular spider on upper body or neck, itchy skin as well as conspicuously shiny and reddened lips ("lacquered lips") and torn corners of the mouth. In addition, other symptoms such as liver pain, fever, bruises or water in the legs (edema) are possible, as well as hormonal disorders in the form of an irregular or absent monthly bleeding or a testicular shrinkage and potency problems.

In addition, complications such as ascites, varices of the esophagus (esophageal varices) or hepatocellular carcinoma, which can lead to further specific complaints, often occur when the disease is very advanced.

HIV infection / AIDS

Another possible cause of infection susceptibility is an HIV infection, which after several years of progression into the immunodeficiency syndrome AIDS ("Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome") can pass. The human immunodeficiency (HI) virus is mainly transmitted by unprotected sexual intercourse, but possible ways are also infected blood, not disinfected medical devices or the use of contaminated syringes in the case of drug dependence. If it comes to an infection, the person is usually referred to as "HIV-positive", and it may take months before the first signs of an acute HIV disease occur.

Left untreated, the infection, from infection to the onset of AIDS, usually occurs in four stages, in which different symptoms can occur. How long the individual phases last can vary from case to case. It usually comes three to six weeks after the infection to flu-like symptoms such as fever, sore throat, headache, fatigue, itchy rash and lymphadenopathy. However, as the symptoms are often weak and disappear relatively quickly, many sufferers do not notice them or mistakenly interpret them as a harmless cold or gastrointestinal flu. Instead, at this stage, the body's immune system begins to fight the HIV virus and forms for this purpose certain antibodies that can be detected in an HIV test from about three months after infection.

After this acute episode follows the so-called "latency phase" during which most sufferers have no symptoms and feel healthy. This phase lasts an average of ten years, during which the virus continues to multiply and the number of immune cells in the blood (T-helper cells) continuously decreases. Accordingly, the immune system is more and more damaged and there is a particularly high risk of infection. This is followed by a third stage of HIV infection in most infected persons, because the body's own defense is so severely limited by the action of the virus that the person concerned has an increased susceptibility to infections with bacteria, viruses or fungi as well as certain diseases. but they are not life threatening. Here, too, the symptoms can be very different from patient to patient, typically include repeated attacks of fever without apparent cause, persistent diarrhea and fungal infections of the oropharynx and female genitalia.

This phase can also take years and usually goes into the so-called "full screen AIDS". In this final stage of HIV infection, the immune system is finally so damaged that it stops working. Typically, this now mainly leads to diseases that could not occur in a healthy defense ("opportunistic infections"), such as Pneumonia caused by the parasite Pneumocystis carinii, repeated salmonella infections, tuberculosis, hepatitis or inflammation of the brain by toxoplasmosis (toxoplasmosis). In addition, there are a number of other potential malignancies that can occur in this terminal stage of HIV infection, such as: malignant tumors of lymphoid tissue (lymphoma) or cervix cancer.

Accordingly, an early diagnosis is immensely important in the case of HIV or AIDS. Since the success of the treatment depends largely on the time of onset, should therefore be suspected of an infection case, an HIV test immediately. Although HIV infection and AIDS are not yet curable, it is now possible to prevent the spread of the virus and delay the onset of AIDS, which can significantly improve the quality of life of those affected.

Infectiousness in children

While it is spoken in adults of a susceptibility to infection in more than four inflammatory diseases per year, applies to babies or children another rule of thumb. The background is the development of the specific defense system, which begins about three months after birth and is fully completed in adulthood. Accordingly, in order to build up their specific defenses, children first have to endure infections that the adults are already immune to, with each disease or vaccine increasing their own so-called "immunological memory." Responsible for this are the "memory cells" (also called "memory cells"), which are cells of the immune system, which are formed when a previously healthy organism is infested by a pathogen for the first time ("primary infection").

If it comes to a renewed contact with this pathogen, these memory cells are activated, which in an intact immune system prevents re-infection. Accordingly, immunological memory is also responsible for ensuring that vaccines remain effective over many years, as well as ensuring that allergies may persist throughout life.

Since the immune system is thus constantly being trained in childhood, it is quite natural and normal that it often comes to illness in this phase of life, especially children up to the age of four are particularly often affected by respiratory infections. Accordingly, up to ten respiratory infections per year are still considered "normal" during this period. Up to pre-school age can occur due to the high risk of infection in the crèche or kindergarten even up to 12 diseases without causing any cause for concern, in schoolchildren, this limit is up to 8 infections annually.

However, if symptoms such as sore throat, runny nose, bronchitis or other signs of a cold occur more frequently or if they last for an extraordinarily long time, infants are said to be susceptible to infections, which must be clarified and treated by a pediatrician.

Infectivity of the thyroid gland

Often an increased susceptibility to infection is caused by a hypothyroidism, which is characterized by an insufficient supply of the organism with thyroid hormones. Such a deficiency supply can be innate or acquired in the course of life, in addition, the subfunction may be both weak and pronounced (latent or manifest hypothyroidism). Accordingly, the symptoms of hypothyroidism may be quite different, but in addition to the susceptibility to infections are typical chronic fatigue, lack of drive, difficulty concentrating and visual changes such as straw hair, cool, dry, pale yellowish skin, brittle nails or significant weight gain. There are also signs of loss of appetite, slow heart rate, cycle disturbances, constipation or increased sensitivity to cold.

The causes of hyperthyroidism are also manifold. In the case of congenital hypothyroidism, for example, it may be that the endocrine gland is not adequately or completely absent or has a genetic iodine use disorder. In most cases, hypofunction is acquired throughout life, with the most common cause of thyroiditis ( Thyroiditis), which occurs mainly as a result of a so-called "Hashimoto's thyroiditis". This is one of the most common autoimmune diseases in humans, affecting primarily women over the age of 40, whose exact causes have yet to be clarified.

However, it is characteristic that the body mistakenly regards one's own thyroid gland as a foreign tissue and thereby begins to form antibodies against it. As a result, there is a chronic inflammation, through which the thyroid tissue is destroyed, which in turn gradually after some time, a hypothyroidism develops.

In addition, an acquired hypofunction may also have other causes that lead to a loss or destruction of functional thyroid tissue. Here are, for example, measures for the treatment of hyperthyroidism such as radiation of the thyroid gland, drugs (antithyroid drugs) or radioiodine therapy into consideration, which may unintentionally lead to hypofunction. In addition, it may also happen that not the function of the thyroid itself is disturbed, but the sub-function, for example. is caused by disorders of the pituitary gland (pituitary gland) (secondary hypothyroidism). Similarly, the hypothalamus may be affected (tertiary hypothyroidism) by the so-called thyrotropin releasing hormones (TRH) are no longer formed sufficiently.

Constant infections due to stress

AAs well as chronic mental and physical stress, it can affect the functions of the immune defense and thus lead to susceptibility to infections. Among other things, this is due to the fact that the body releases the hormones cortisol and adrenaline during emotional and mental stress, whereupon the heart pumps faster and with greater pressure to ensure efficiency and energy. This is therefore, to a certain extent, a completely natural and normal process. However, if there is a permanent burden and thus a permanent release of these so-called "stress hormones", chronic hypertension can develop, which in turn can cause arteriosclerosis and, in an emergency, even a heart attack. In addition, cortisol in too high a dose inhibits the immune system. Although this is on the one hand positive to protect the body against inflammatory reactions, on the other hand it can also cause an increased susceptibility to infections, which is often further aggravated by lack of physical exercise or stress-related sleep disorders.

Accordingly, it is immensely important for the mental and physical health, to ensure a proper balance between relaxation and relaxation and to reduce negative stress as much as possible or to learn a healthy way of dealing with it. There are a variety of effective methods and techniques for stress relief, such as yoga, autogenic training or breathing exercises. If the stress can not be overcome in this way, in some cases a suitable life coaching or psychotherapy is also suitable in which deeper conflicts and problems can be dealt with and solved.

Infectiousness treatment

Important in the treatment of increased susceptibility to infection is especially an optimal and nutrient-rich diet, with stronger deficiencies in parallel parallel targeted intake of nutrients or in some cases even at the beginning of an infusion. If allergy to the "dysregulation" of the immune system is a possibility, it must first be considered, for example, be properly identified via a skin test on the forearm or on the back (prick test), in order to avoid the triggering allergens if possible (allergen avoidance).

In addition to the here come a variety of allergy medications (eg antihistamines, cortisone) in question, however, can only combat the symptoms and may also cause adverse reactions such as fatigue, blurred vision and nausea (in antihistamines) or high blood pressure, bone loss and weight gain (cortisone ) being able to lead. In contrast, the so-called "hyposensitization" is used as the causative therapy in which the allergen is supplied with the corresponding allergen in successively increasing doses in order to get it used in this way. Even with a possible drug intolerance or increased exposure to pollutants, it is important to first identify the specific cause in order to avoid harmful effects in the future and to be able to develop new or alternative treatment options together with the attending physician.

If the susceptibility to infection is caused by a disease, treatment should first be the focus of attention. Accordingly, in hypothyroidism, for example, drugs are used to replace the missing thyroid hormones thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3). In order to compensate for the deficiency and thus alleviate or combat the symptoms, taking the tablets must be continuous in most cases a lifetime. If there is also an iodine deficiency, this is compensated by additional iodine. Supplements are made with synthetically produced thyroxine, which corresponds to the natural thyroid hormone T4, while the hormone T3 is produced in the body itself from T4 to the required extent.

If it is a congenital hypothyroidism, the balance of the missing hormones must begin as soon as possible to prevent developmental or consequential damage to the child. Accordingly, in Germany, every newborn baby is routinely screened for hypothyroidism for early detection in the first few days of life (neonatal screening)..

If there is a disorder, therapy can be started immediately and it can be ensured that the affected children can develop their physical and mental development as normal. Although iodine deficiency is rarely responsible for hypofunction, it is still advisable to always ensure adequate iodine intake. This is especially suitable for sea fish such as plaice, salmon or cod, because this is particularly iodine-containing and should therefore just in people with increased iodine needs (pregnant women, breastfeeding women) two to three times a week on the menu is. Those who only rarely or never eat fish and otherwise eat rather low in salt, can alternatively also take iodine supplements if required, in order to ensure adequate supply of the trace element. About the individual dosage and the duration of ingestion should always be discussed in advance with a doctor.

Naturopathy at susceptibility to infection

If a serious illness could be ruled out as the cause of the increased susceptibility to infection, natural medicine also offers a multitude of treatment options, which can be used either in parallel or in part as an alternative to conventional therapeutic measures. In any case, an advisory discussion with a naturopath or naturopathic doctor should always be carried out in advance in order to make the best possible use of the possibilities and to avoid health risks.

In many cases, for example, a so-called "self-blood therapy" has proven to be helpful, in which blood is first taken from the body and then returned to various forms of preparation. Often, a Darmsanierungbzw. Detoxification makes sense to strengthen the immune system and thereby provide more resistance to pathogens. In this case, the intestine in the first step, e.g. freed of any harmful ballast by means of an inlet, which is usually done in the form of a cure over a period of about two to four weeks.

Subsequently, the actual "rehabilitation" of the intestine takes place, whereby there are also numerous possibilities, which should be selected individually depending on the initial situation of the person concerned and symptoms together with a naturopath. Examples include the administration of lactic acid-producing germs such as lactobacilli and bifidobacteria, or the intake of psyllium husks, which bind toxins and help the body regenerate.

In addition, a susceptibility to infection can often be significantly reduced already by the high-dose use of missing vital substances (orthomolecular medicine). An enhancement of this effect is also often achieved by the use of further individually tailored alternative medical treatment methods. Among other homeopathy and acupuncture are considered, but also various medicinal plants such as elder or horseradish, which can contribute to strengthening the defense against infection. In addition, to alleviate acute symptoms, a variety of home remedies for cough, e.g. Quark wrap, Heublumensäckchen or a soothing bath with eucalyptus or spruce needles on. Other home remedies for cold may also help in the acute case to soothe the dripping nose and thus provide more well-being and breathing freely. (No)

Nausweis: Maria Lanznaster