Summer is the hottest season of the four seasons. This season comes after spring and before autumn. During the summer time the sun is too hot because of its light fall on the earth in the vertical position. In the USA, UK and Russia, June to August have summer seasons. In India March to May month has summer season. During summer time the average Temperatures around 32–40 °C (90–104 °F). Summer diseases are most common during summers.
On this earth there are four different types of seasons to keep the environment under normal conditions. Each and every season is very important for this environment and all living things including human beings. People like the winter, autumn and spring season, but many of them do not like the summer season, because of hot weather. Hot summer season will cause several health issues in the human body. Even domestic and wild animals are also facing some problems during this season. In this article we will see about the health issues facing human beings during the hot summer season.
Common Summer Diseases
During the season, people face some common summer diseases. People should know about these summer diseases and take some precautionary steps to protect their body.
- Heat stroke: Heat stroke is a dangerous disease, because around the world every year more than 5 millions of people lose their life. This is a common summer diseases and it is very hard to stop it due to so many reasons. Heat stroke is also called “hyperthermia” in the medical term. When a person experiences heavy heat in his/her body, he will face some symptoms such as headaches, dizziness and weakness and results in unconsciousness, organs failure and finally death.
- Dehydration: During summer time, people will easily lose their energy while traveling from one place to another place. Dehydration is one of the most common summer diseases. People may lose water and salt in the form of sweating, this will surely affect their body function.
- Jaundice: One of the common water-borne summer diseases is Jaundice. This disease is caused due to the intake of contaminated food and water. This disease is spreading because Hepatitis A is transmitted by both the fecal and oral route. If a person is not aware about this disease and not getting the right treatment on time, this disease can affect the liver organ function and lead to overproduction of bile. This disease expresses some symptoms in the body such as yellow discoloration of the skin, mucous membranes and the whites of the eyes, light-colored stools, dark yellow coloured urine and itchy skin.
- Skin rashes: During summer time most of the people especially children and youths will be facing skin related problems. The main reason for the skin related problem is sweating too much in this season. Wearing the same clothes multiple times and not bathing twice in a day will encourage the skin related problem, because the sweat settled down in the clothes and constant rubbing or wearing the sweat laden clothes for long duration will cause itchiness and further leads to rash. People facing skin related issues like skin reddening, dryness, irritation are the visible signs of skin rash.
- Chicken Pox: Chicken pox is also called varicella. This varicella among the most common summer diseases. According to the World Health Organization information “every year more than 140 million cases of chickenpox with 4.2 million severe complications requiring hospitalization”. The death rate is very less compared with heat stroke. Annually 4200 people lose their lives due to chickenpox. This chicken pox starts in the form of fluid-filled, red and small rashes accompanied by fever as high as 102 Fahrenheit. These fluid-filled blisters which crust or chip over leaving marks on the skin. When a person suffering from this disease causes too much itching on the skin surface. People who have a weak immune system get chicken pox disease. The common signs of chickenpox such as scabs, blisters, itchy skin, redness, fever in high grade, lack of appetite, and headache which usually lasts for more than a week or two.
- Food Poisoning: Most of the people are facing food poisoning health issues during the summer time because of the contaminated food or water. Summer season will provide a favorable environment for improving the bacterial production to food contamination. Food poisoning is spread by bacteria, viruses, toxins, and chemicals which post into the human body and finally cause the onset of stomach pain, nausea, diarrhea and vomiting. Consuming raw meat, food items sold in the open by roadside vendors without following the hygienic steps and contaminated water are the main carriers of disease-causing microbes.
- Mumps: Mumps is a viral infection that attacks the salivary glands and are quite common summer diseases. Mumps attack the parotid glands, salivary glands below and in front of the ears. The summer disease spreads from one person to another person through infected saliva and coughs or sneezes. Mostly this disease attacks the children but don’t worry about this disease, because this is easily preventable by a vaccine. Several health care experts and doctors recommend the MMR (Measles, Mumps and Rubella) vaccine to avoid or cure this disease. This disease will show some symptoms such as swelled salivary gland, muscle ache, fever, headache, loss of appetite and weakness.
Precaution steps for Overcome Summer Diseases
People should never take it easy about the summer diseases. People should be aware about summer diseases and take some precautionary steps to protect their body.
- Better to avoid the activities outside the home during peak sun hours.
- Drinking plenty of water or liquid intake so as to prevent dehydration. Everyday people should drink 3.5 liters of water.
- Always use sunscreen products to prevent skin damage.
- Better to avoid roadside food or contaminated water.
- Adding more fruits and vegetables in the daily food diet.
- Taking more water and fiber rich food items.
- Prefer light-colored, loose clothing and avoid wearing tight dresses.
- Always wear sunglasses while traveling outside during summer time.
Some people do not like to travel in the summertime, because of hot weather, but summer is the best season to enjoy vacations and spend time with family, friends, making memories by following the above mentioned precaution steps.
