Communicable Disease 4 - Protists and Fungi

• Fungi


  Eukaryotic organisms, can be unicellular or multicellular
• Fungi


  • Yeast
  • Mushrooms
• Multicellular fungi


  • Have long thread-like structures called hyphae which come out of the main body and spread through the soil
• Hyphae spreading


  1. Can spread over plants or even penetrate human skin and cause disease

  2. Can produce spores which spread easily and grow into new fungi
• Fungal disease


  • Rose black spot
• Rose black spot


  Causes purple or black spots to form on the leaves of plants, especially roses
• Rose black spot fungus spreading

  Reduces the plant's ability to photosynthesize, so they don't grow so well
• Treating rose black spot 


  1. Chop off all infected leaves and destroy them

  2. Spray the plant with fungicides
• Protists


  Eukaryotic organisms, can be single-celled or multi-celled
• Parasitic protists


  Live on or inside other organisms and survive at that other organism's expense
• Vectors


  Other organisms like insects that transport protists between different host organisms
• Protist disease


  • Malaria
• Malaria transmission


  1. Mosquito feeds on infected animal and sucks up malaria parasites

  2. Mosquito then transfers parasites to healthy person when it feeds on them
• Malaria symptoms


  Recurrent episodes of bad fevers and headaches, can be fatal
• Preventing protist diseases


  1. Reduce number of vectors (e.g. destroy mosquito breeding sites, use insecticides)

  2. Stop vectors from feeding on humans (e.g. use mosquito nets, repellents)