Whether it is bronchitis, foot, skin, liver or complete body, a superinfection always means: longer duration of illness and delayed healing process, and therefore a greater risk to your health, as well as the use of more and stronger therapeutic measures. To prevent bronchitis from spreading, you should strengthen your immune system:
- Drink plenty of fluids, preferably more than two liters a day.
- Get plenty of sleep to recharge your batteries.
- Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables – so you take healthy vitamins and minerals.
- Try to avoid eating sweets, alcohol and smoking during a cold – these are all factors that further strain the immune system.
- In addition, you can get various products in the pharmacy to strengthen your defenses.
Take good care of wounds
For skin lesions on a diabetic foot or atopic dermatitis, good wound care is essential to prevent bacterial superinfection:
- Discuss wound and skin care with your doctor and ask him or her to show you how to bathe the wounds daily, for example, or dress them with fresh bandages. If the healing process is delayed, have a swab taken from the wound early to rule out superinfection.
To counteract a viral superinfection in hepatitis or HIV, it is important to know the transmission routes of hepatitis D and HI viruses:
- Hepatitis D and HI viruses are transmitted through body fluids; in addition to blood, semen and vaginal secretions, among others, are also infectious – avoid contact with virus-carrying body fluids: Unprotected sexual contact and sharing injection equipment among drug addicts are still the biggest risk factors for infection with hepatitis B, D or HIV.
- While there is no HIV vaccine yet, you can get vaccinated against hepatitis B – the vaccination then also provides protection against hepatitis D.
How is a superinfection treated?
In the case of bronchitis that has spread, the recommendations on how you can prevent a superinfection become strict therapeutic measures: Drink plenty of fluids, keep warm, rest, eat a light diet rich in vitamins, and add an antibiotic – this is how you help your immune system cope with the double disease. In addition, herbal preparations can support the healing process:
- For colds, teas made from elderberry, jujube, sage, sloe, soapwort or star anise have proven particularly effective. Thus, on the one hand, you take liquid, on the other hand, the active ingredients are expectorant, diaphoretic and anti-inflammatory and even stimulate the immune system. You can find ready-mixed teas in a well-stocked pharmacy or drugstore.
- Also rubs and inhalations with essential oils of eucalyptus, fennel, anise, peppermint or thyme moisten the mucous membrane, are beneficial and help to cough up.
Antibiotic treatment and wound care
Since superinfection greatly endangers the diabetic foot, in addition to antibiotic treatment, special attention is paid to careful wound care, which is usually performed in the hospital. If bacteria or fungi are found in a smear examination of a neurodermitic skin lesion, antibiotic or antifungal treatment is given. In addition, the main focus is also on intensive skin care with baths, individual cream and ointment treatment and everything that is good for neurodermitic skin.
The hepatitis and especially the HIV therapy depend on the severity of the disease. Hepatitis B can be cured within six months without the administration of antiviral drugs, but up to 10 percent of cases become chronic. Antiviral treatment is then indicated, as the disease otherwise leads to liver cirrhosis, i.e. the destruction of functional liver tissue.
Grafted hepatitis D accelerates this course, so that intensified antiviral therapy becomes necessary. HIV therapy is based on how severely the HI viruses impair the immune system. Superinfection with two types of HIV also means intensification of therapy.
