Protists and Bacterial Diseases

• Protist


  A type of microorganism that is not a bacterium, virus, or fungus
• Malaria


  • Part of the malarial protist's life cycle takes place inside a mosquito
  • Mosquitoes pick up the malarial protist when they feed on an infected animal
  • Every time the mosquito feeds on another animal, it infects it by inserting the protist into the animal's blood vessels
  • Malaria causes repeating episodes of fever
  • Malaria can be fatal
  • People can be protected from mosquitoes using insecticides and mosquito nets
• Bacteria


  A type of microorganism
• Salmonella


  • Salmonella is a type of bacteria that causes food poisoning
  • Infected people can suffer from fever, stomach cramps, vomiting and diarrhoea
  • These symptoms are caused by the toxins that the bacteria produce
  • You can get Salmonella food poisoning by eating food that's been contaminated with Salmonella bacteria
• Gonorrhoea


  • Gonorrhoea is a sexually transmitted disease (STD)
  • STDs are passed on by sexual contact, e.g. having unprotected sex
  • Gonorrhoea is caused by bacteria
  • A person with gonorrhoea will get pain when they urinate and a thick yellow or green discharge from the vagina or the penis
  • Gonorrhoea was originally treated with an antibiotic called penicillin, but this has become trickier now because strains of the bacteria have become resistant to it
  • To prevent the spread of gonorrhoea, people can be treated with antibiotics and should use basic methods of contraception, such as condoms