Download Chapter 24 Notes

Communicable Diseases
Communicable Diseases:
 Disease that is spread from one living thing to another or
through the environment.
Causes of Communicable Diseases:
 Viruses
 Bacteria
 Fungi
o Mold
o Athlete’s Foot
o Yeasts
 Protozoan
 Rickettsia
How Communicable Diseases are Transmitted:
 Direct Contact
o Includes touching, biting, kissing, and sexual contact.
o Sneezing and Coughing
o Transmit an infection to an unborn child through the
placenta.
 Indirect Contact
o Contaminated objects
o Vectors
 Flies
 Mosquitoes
 Ticks
o Water and food
 Airborne Transmission
o Coughing
o Sneezing
Strategies for Preventing Communicable Disease:
 Washing Hands
 Handling Food Properly
 Eat balanced diet
 Avoid sharing eating utensils, makeup, combs, brushes,
and other personal items.
 Prepare and store food properly
 Take care of yourself when you are ill.
 Use insect repellents
 Practice Abstinence
 Learn to manage stress
Preventing Communicable Diseases:
 Physical and Chemical Barriers
o Skin
o Tears and Saliva
o Mucous Membranes
o Cilia
o Gastric Juice
Vaccines to Aid the Body’s Defenses:
 Live-virus vaccines
 Killed-virus vaccines
 Toxoids
 New and second-generation vaccines
Common Communicable Diseases:
 Common Cold
 Influenza
 Pneumonia
 Strep Throat
 Tuberculosis
Hepatitis:
 Hepatitis A: Virus is most commonly spread through
contact with feces of an infected person.
 Hepatitis B: Found in most bodily fluids of an infected
person, especially blood.
o Sexual Contact
o Shared needles by drug users
o Causes severe liver damage, including liver failure and
cirrhosis.
 Hepatitis C: Most common chronic bloodborne infection
in the United States
o Transmitted by direct contact with infected blood
through contaminated needles shared by drug users.
o Can lead to chronic liver diseases, liver cancer, and
liver failure