From Wikipedia,
the free encyclopedia.
-
For Prophylaxis
, a
particular school of thought
in
chess pioneered by Aron
Nimzowitsch, please refer to
the article on
Prophylaxis (chess)
Prophylaxis refers to
any medical or
public health procedure whose
purpose is to prevent, rather than
treat or cure, disease. Roughly,
prophylactic measures are divided
between primary prophylaxis
(to prevent the development of a
disease) and secondary
prophylaxis (where the disease has
already developed and the patient
is protected against worsening of
this process).
Vaccines are prophylactic:
they are used before illness
develop, either being administered
to large numbers of people in
order to prevent infection, or in
some cases (such as the
smallpox vaccine) to people
who have been exposed to a disease
but have not yet become ill.
Antibiotics are sometimes used
prophylactically: for example,
during the
2001 anthrax attacks scare in
the United States, patients who
were believed to be exposed were
given
ciprofloxacin. Similarly, the
use of antibiotic ointments on
burns and other wounds is
prophylactic.
Condoms are sometimes referred
to as "prophylactics" because of
their use to prevent the
transmission of
syphilis and other
sexually transmitted diseases.
Low molecular weight heparin
is used as a prophylaxis in
hospital patients, as they are
at risk for several forms of
thrombosis due to their
immobilisation.
Professional cleaning of the
teeth is dental prophylaxis.
