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About fungi
Fungi, like any other organism, needs to have a means of obtaining nutrition.
They are known to live three distinctive ways: living on dead organisms
(saprophytes), living harmfully on live organisms (parasitic), and living
benignly on live organisms (mutualists) (Parilla). Fungi can be found in
numerous shapes and sizes so it is no surprise that people can get a fungal
infection often and frequently. The infections caused by fungal infection can
range to minor (like ringworms) to life threatening (like the infections caused
by Aspergillus) (Cilag). A popular misconception is that fungi itself can be
transmitted. Instead, it is actually the fungi produced spores which can be
transmitted between people (Cilag). These spores will develop and later
cause the actual fungi infection (Cilag). These spores will either wait for a
break in the skin or they will wait to be inhaled by a host (Cilag).
The problem that spores is that they are highly resistant and they inhabit the
harshest conditions. When fungi produce spores, many are released into the
air (Parilla). This causes problems because it increases the chances
someone can be infected by these spores and catch a fungal infection. There
are numerous ways these spores can spread fungal infections. Most of the
fungal infections will not present symptoms until later so it easy to infect
numerous people without knowing (Cilag).
For skin infection, someone can give you a fungal infection if you come in
contact with a person's infected skin flake (Cilag). Since skin flakes range
around a couple of millimeters, this can potentially put many people at risk.
Fungal infections such as athlete's foot are common in a variety of moist
localities, making them tough to avoid in showers, pools, or saunas (Cilag).
There is a 70% chance you could receive an athlete's foot infection during
some point in your life (Alai). Fungal infections are easily transmitted between
individuals, however; a person can spread a fungal infection in his own body
(Alai). A person who has a fungal infection in their fingernails can get athletes
foot if they were to scratch their feet (Alai). Fungal infections make a host a
threat to themselves.
Bacterial infections amongst humans can be spread in numerous different
ways. An infection can spread as easily as sneezing someone or as complex
as breathing in a bacteria infected flora of air. Other ways bacterial infections
can spread is through sexual contact, skin contact, blood transfusions,
fomites, Vertical transmission (mother to child) or sharing needles (Parilla).
We may come in contact with millions of bacteria but they are mostly are
rendered harmless because our immune systems can fight many infections
off. Although bacteria have many ways they can be transmitted between
humans, bacterial infections are easily preventable by just practicing good
hygiene.
Most viruses (enveloped) can barely survive outside of an organism host
(Parilla). Take the HIV virus for an example, it can barely last a minute in an
outside condition (Parilla). This simply cannot compare to the fungi which can
produce spores that can survive the most challenging conditions. It can be
transmitted in similar fashions that bacterial infections can infect people.
Usually viral infections occur through sexual contact or any transmission of
bodily fluids. A virus also needs a host cell as well or they will fail to survive
(Parilla).
In protists, transmission is more limited than viruses, bacteria, or fungi. The
most common ways protists can be transmitted is through handling cat feces,
handling contaminated dirt, drinking contaminated water, or eating meat that
has not been cooked properly (Parilla). Protista such as giardia can easily be
prevented by just boiling the water and using iodine tablets (Parilla). Protists
have many popular protozoan forms that cause diseases in Africa such as
Malaria and African sleeping sickness. These are spread from person to
person through mosquitoes (Parilla).