Communicable Diseases

Keywords

Communicable disease, viral, bacterial, fungal, protist, COVID-19, Herpes, Influenza, Measles, Rabies, Zika, Chlamidya, Gastroenteritis, Listeria, Salmonella, nail infections, Mycetoma, Ringworm, Malaria.

Introduction

What is a communicable disease? It's a pathogen that can be transmitted from one human to another. There, explained it.

Oh, you want more details? OK then.

Pathogens

A pathogen has a simple life cycle. It infects a host (usually a human, but this works in the animal world too), replicates itself, and spreads to another host (again, another human or animal) and repeats the process.

Diseases can be lived with, or they can also be fatal. Just look at what has been going on in the world recently with COVID. And just think, the pandemic as we know it, is from the 19^th iteration of COVID, so we have already gone through 18 other attempts at the virus.

Now, there are four main types of pathogen:

• Viral
• Bacterial
• Fungal
• Protist

Let's take a closer look:

Viral

A viral pathogen is not a living organism. It does not complete the 7 basic needs to be considered alive - movement, respiration, sensitivity, nutrition, excretion, reproduction, and growth. While it does some of these, it isn't considered a living organism.

When a virus leaves a host, it can sit in the air for long periods of time, lying dormant, before infecting another host. Depending on the virus, it can perform reproduction as quick as 12 hours, or over sevral days.

Commonly known viruses include: COVID-19, Herpes, Influenza, Measles, Rabies, and Zika.

Viral pathogens cannot be treated with antibiotics, as they are immune to them. So, if you go to the doctor and they say they can't be prescribed for you, then this will be the reason why.

Bacterial

Now, we know nowadays that not all bacteria are bad for us. Some will do us good, like the ones in your intestines that help to break down your food. But when a bacterium is bad, it can reproduce and spread just like a virus.

Common bacterial diseases include: Chlamydia, Gastroenteritis, Listeria, and Salmonella.

Interesting fact: some famous bacterial pathogens such as Salmonella and E. Coli are facultative anaerobes, meaning they prefer to 'breathe' oxygen, but can switch to fermentation in its absence.

Fungal

Fungal pathogens are transmitted mostly through touch, rather than through the air, although spores from the fungi can also travel through the air. They are exactly what they are called - a mushroom like pathogen that likes moisture.

Common fungal diseases include: Athlete's foot, Fungal nail infections, Mycetoma, and Ringworm.

Protist

Simply put, they are a group of microorganisms that have features like animals, plants and fungi. They consist of eukaryotic cells, so are not like a bacterial pathogen.

The most common protist disease known is Malaria. It is commonplace in countries in South Africa, due to the mosquitos there carrying the disease.

Personal Hygiene

You may think you're being very clean all day long, and that's fine, as you more than likely are. But if you do contract a virus in these manners, it's always best to follow these guidelines:

• Clean your hands: make sure you're doing it more often, so to stop spread infection.
• Use hand sanitiser: once you've washed your hands, or at any point, use a hand sanitiser to eradicate those pathogens.
• Isolate yourself from others: if possible, isolate so you don't spread the infection further.
• Wear a mask: in some cases, it helps to wear a mask.
• Keep your clothes clean: regular cleaning helps. If, like me, you decide you'll wear a jumper for more than one day (as it's not technically got dirty), then perhaps you should wash them more often. Pathogens can and will stick to them.