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Some infectious diseases can be transmitted by direct contact because the pathogen cannot
survive outside the human body (HIV). Others are transmitted indirectly, through food, water,
faeces, or animals.
Control methods attempt to break the transmission cycles by removing conditions that favour the
spread of the pathogen.
- This is only possible once the cause and the method of transmission of the disease are
understood.
- Vaccination is a major control method as it makes us immune so that pathogens do not live
and reproduce inside us and do not spread to others.
Disease
Pathogen
Cholera
Malaria
Global
distribution
Method of
transmission
/ incubation
period
Clinical
features
food-borne,
water-borne
(2 hours - 5
days)
Diarrhoea,
wall of the
loss of water small
and salts,
intestine
dehydration,
weakness
Microscopical
analysis of
faeces
Plasmodium
falciparum,
P. vivax, P.
ovale, P.
malariae
(protoctist)
Insect vector:
the female
Anopheles
mosquito
(a week - a
year)
fever,
liver, red
anaemia,
blood cells,
nausea,
brain
headaches,
muscle pain,
shivering,
sweating,
enlarged
spleen
Microscopical
examination
of blood, dip
stick test for
malaria
antigens in
blood
Tropical and
subtropical
regions
Site of
action
Method of
diagnosis
Disease
Pathogen
Global
distribution
Method of
transmission
/ incubation
period
Clinical
features
Site of
action
Method of
diagnosis
HIV/AIDS
Human
immunodeficie
ncy virus
(virus)
worldwide,
especially in
SubSaharan
Africa and
South-East
Asia
In semen and
vaginal fluids
during sexual
intercourse,
infected blood,
contaminated
hypodermic
syringes,
mother to
fetus through
placenta, at
birth, mother
to baby in
breast milk
(few weeks;
AIDS: up to 10
years)
HIV: flu-like
symptoms
and then
symptomles
s
AIDS:
Opportunisti
c infections
like
pneumonia,
TB, cancers,
weight loss,
diarrhoea,
fever,
sweating
dementia
Helper T
lymphocytes,
macrophage,
brain cells
Testing the
blood, saliva,
or urine for
antibodies
produced
against HIV
Tuberculos Mycobacterium
is
tuberculosis,
M. bovis
(bacterium)
worldwide
airborne
droplets (M.
tuberculosis),
undercooked
meat and
unpasteurised
milk (M. bovis)
(few weeks several years)
Racking
cough,
coughing
blood, chest
pain,
shortness of
breath,
fever,
sweating,
weight loss
(look
emaciated)
Primary
infection in
lungs,
secondary
infection in
lymph nodes,
bone and gut
Microscopical
examination
of sputum
(mucus and
pus) for
bacteria,
chest X-ray
Measles
mainly in
Africa,
South-East
Asia, India,
Pakistan
Bangladesh
, and some
other
countries in
the Middle
East.
(8-14 days)
Fever, rash,
conjunctivitis
, a runny
nose, a
cough, white
sports inside
the cheeks.
Upper
respiratory
tract (nasal
cavity and
trachea)
Testing the
blood for
antibodies
produced
against
measles.
Morbillivirus