Named Illness

• Viruses


  Pathogens that cannot be killed by antibiotics
• Viruses are microorganisms that cause infectious disease
• Measles


  • Highly infectious disease
  • First symptom is fever
  • After 3 days, patient develops red skin rash
  • Virus spreads through coughing/sneezing droplets
  • Can cause complications and be fatal
  • Most children are vaccinated against it
• HIV


  • First symptom is flu-like illness
  • Virus attacks immune system cells
  • Immune system becomes severely damaged
  • Patient can contract other infections and develop cancer
  • Late stage is called AIDS
  • Antiretroviral drugs can stop virus multiplying and prevent AIDS
  • Transmitted through exchange of bodily fluids
• Antiretroviral drugs are not a cure for HIV/AIDS, patients must take them for life
• Communicable disease


  A disease that is passed from person to person by a pathogen
• Pathogen


  A microorganism that causes an infectious disease
• Unlike viruses, bacteria can be killed by antibiotics
• Salmonella food poisoning


  A bacterial disease caused by ingesting infected food
• Salmonella bacteria are sometimes found in poultry such as chicken, but in the UK all chicken are vaccinated against Salmonella
• Gonorrhea


  A sexually transmitted bacterial disease
• In the past, gonorrhea was easily treated using the antibiotic penicillin, but antibiotic resistant strains are now common
• Stopping the spread of gonorrhea

  1. Using a condom during sexual intercourse

  2. People with unprotected sex getting tested and treated with antibiotics
• Malaria is a very common disease in certain parts of the world and it causes over 400,000 deaths every year
• Malaria


  A communicable disease spread by a pathogen
• Malaria pathogen


  • An example of a protist
• Malaria is a very serious disease, people with malaria experience repeated bouts of fever and in some cases it can be fatal
• Life cycle of malaria

  1. Infected person is bitten by a mosquito

  2. Malaria pathogen passes into the mosquito

  3. Mosquito bites a different person and passes the malaria pathogen to them
• Mosquito


  A vector that carries a pathogen from one person to another person
• Preventing the spread of malaria

  1. Stop the vector (mosquito) from breeding

  2. Drain areas of still water where mosquitoes breed

  3. Spray areas of still water with insecticide

  4. Prevent mosquitoes from biting humans by using mosquito nets
• It is virtually impossible to kill all mosquitoes