>
Last weekend I worked in my garden now that spring is here. Of course nothing unusual about that, but what was unusual was that I picked mild temperature (99) and some body-ache the next day. This being the Easter weekend, thankfully I had plenty of time to sleep all day off, again very unusual for me to sleep during the day like that. I ended up seeing the doctor and getting some antibiotics…can’t really afford staying away from work for very long!

This little tryst with a microorganism (bacteria) got me thinking, one day of sickness and I already feel behind on some of my pending tasks, how about millions others who die every year because of bacterial infections. Despite it being such a big killer and more so of infants (0 to 5 years), people know very little about this dreaded microorganism. So this week I did some research and tried to understand all the microorganisms which threaten humans- bacteria, virus, fungus, parasites and protozoa. I read about the progress we have made in the last 200 years and the challenges which still lie ahead. The developing countries are worse off, per one stat 50% child mortality could be avoided just by proper vaccination, the defense is there but people are too poor to be able to afford it.

I chose engineering line as my career, but sometime I think the work in medicine may have been more fulfilling. There are still many things unknown in this world. The bacterias mutate, the virus mutates, and the medicine which worked earlier is no longer effective. No doubt we have made important progress, like we have mapped some key bacterial gnomes, we have vaccination, we have antibiotics but the task is still far from over. It takes too long to come up with a vaccination once new strains of virus or bacteria are identified. We could definitely do better. Now I can’t be a doctor , too late for me, but I am going to try my best to do my part in disseminating the available information.

I will work on spreading awareness about these dangerous microorganisms and the precautions we can take to avoid their wrath. In the medical community it is said that Prevention is better than Prescription or Procedure(surgery). Till such time we map the gnome of these deadly microorganisms completely and have an antidote, let us make all out effort to steer clear of them- prevent it from happening in the first place. Here are some of the suggestions I have read- wash your hand, use hand hand sanitizer, cover your mouth when you sneeze or cough, eat antioxidants, get good sleep, exercise, eat healthy diet, stay up to date on vaccinations, take annual flu shot etc. You can read some more from this link courtesy WebMd.

Here’s hoping you a very healthy life , let us take care of ourselves and enjoy the little pleasures of life! You have so many more milestones left in life, some small some big- like enjoying the morning sun on a beach, watching your near and dear ones grow, run a marathon…go get your vaccination, stick around