Communicable Disease 3 - Bacteria

• Bacteria


  Single-celled organisms about 100 times smaller than our own cells
• Most bacteria don't have anything to do with humans, and the ones that do actually help us
• There are trillions of bacteria in your intestines right now helping you break down your dinner
• Bacteria


  Can replicate rapidly within our bodies due to the good food supply
• Bacteria produce toxins


  Which make us feel ill by damaging our cells and tissues
• In the UK, most chickens have to be vaccinated against salmonella so it's relatively rare
• Symptoms of salmonella


  Fever, stomach cramps, vomiting, and diarrhea
• Salmonella generally passes by itself within a week, and people just need to stay well hydrated and have a sick bowl close by
• Gonorrhea


  A sexually transmitted disease (STD) passed on through sexual contact, such as unprotected sex
• Symptoms of gonorrhea


  Pain when urinating and a thick yellow-green discharge from the vagina or penis
• Prevention of gonorrhea is by avoiding unsafe sex and using barrier methods of contraception like condoms
• Treatment of gonorrhea used to be with common antibiotics like penicillin, but now many strains are resistant to penicillin, so rarer and more expensive antibiotics are used
• The concentration of live bacteria in the body continued to increase after starting the

  course of antibiotics. This was because only a few bacteria killed so love bacteria continued to reproduce