Bacterial infections are a vast group of diseases caused by various types of bacteria - microorganisms, mostly unicellular ones, which are characterized by the absence of a cell wall surrounded by a membrane and the presence of a strong cell wall. Bacteria are subdivided on several grounds, including the shape of the cell, depending on which are isolated:
- cocci - have the form of a ball (staphylococci, streptococci, meningococci, etc.);
- sticks - have the form of straight or curved sticks (E. coli, shigella, tubercle bacillus, etc.);
- crimson bacteria - similar in shape to the spiral of the corkscrew (leptospira, pale treponema, etc.);
- flagellate bacteria - have on the cell flagellum (cholera vibrio);
- bacteria that change shape, - microorganisms without a cell wall, parasitizing inside cells (mycoplasmas).
The peculiarity of bacterial infections is that during the life activity and after the death of bacteria, toxins are released, causing inflammation, intoxication and tissue damage. Bacterial infections develop either due to the activation of their own microflora of the body with a decrease in immunity, or as a result of infection from a sick person or bacterial carrier.
Types of bacterial infections
All bacterial infections by the mechanism of transmission are divided into four types:
- Acute intestinal bacterial infections are mainly a fecal-oral route of transmission (salmonellosis, typhoid fever, dysentery, food poisoning, campylobacteriosis, etc.).
- Bacterial infections of the respiratory tract - aspiration route of transmission (sinusitis, tonsillitis, pneumonia, bronchitis, etc.).
- Bacterial skin infections are the contact route of transmission (erysipelas, impetigo, phlegmon, furunculosis, hydradenitis, etc.).
- Bloody bacterial infections are a transmissible transmission mechanism (tularemia, plague, typhus fever, trench fever, etc.).
Also, bacterial infections can be subdivided depending on the organs that are affected, and depending on the affected systems:
- urino-genital infections;
- infections of the nervous system;
- infection of the lymphatic system;
- infections of the musculoskeletal system, etc.
Symptoms and signs of bacterial infections
Local symptoms of infections caused by various bacteria and affecting various parts of the body and organs are very specific. However, we can distinguish a number of common manifestations, characteristic of most cases of bacterial infections:
- increased body temperature;
- chills;
- general weakness, malaise;
- lack of appetite;
- headache;
- nausea;
- vomiting;
- sweating.
In laboratory diagnosis, bacterial infection is usually characterized by the following symptoms:
- leukocytosis (increase in the number of leukocytes);
- neutrophilia (an increase in neutrophilic granulocytes);
- shift of the leukocyte formula to the left;
- increase in erythrocyte sedimentation rate;
- a significant increase in the concentration of C-reactive protein in the blood.
To identify the type of bacteria that caused the infectious process, the following studies can be conducted:
- bacteriological - when the selected material from the focus of inflammation is sown on special nutrient media, after which identification is made after the growth of colonies;
- microscopic - examination of the selected material under a microscope;
- serological - the determination of the presence of antibodies in the blood to certain types of microorganisms.
In the treatment of bacterial infections, antibacterial therapy , detoxification, and symptomatic therapy are used.