Bacterial diseases and preventing disease

• Salmonella


  A type of bacteria that causes food poisoning
• Salmonella food poisoning


  • Infected people can suffer from fever, stomach cramps, vomiting and diarrhoea
  • Caused by the toxins that the bacteria produce
• How people get Salmonella food poisoning


  Eating food that's been contaminated with Salmonella bacteria, e.g. eating chicken that caught the disease whilst it was alive, or eating food that has been contaminated by being prepared in unhygienic conditions
• Vaccination against Salmonella


  Given to most poultry (e.g. chickens and turkeys) in the UK to control the spread of the disease
• Gonorrhoea


  A sexually transmitted disease (STD) caused by bacteria
• Symptoms of gonorrhoea

  • Pain when urinating
  • Thick yellow or green discharge from the vagina or the penis
• Gonorrhoea was originally treated with penicillin


  But this has become trickier now because strains of the bacteria have become resistant to it
• Preventing the spread of gonorrhoea


  1. People can be treated with antibiotics

  2. Use barrier methods of contraception, such as condoms
• Being hygienic - Using simple hygiene measures can prevent the spread of disease
• Destroying vectors - By getting rid of the organisms that spread disease, you can prevent the disease from being passed on
• Isolating infected individuals - If you isolate someone who has a communicable disease, it prevents them from passing it on to anyone else
• Vaccination - Vaccinating people and animals against communicable diseases means that they can't develop the infection and then pass it on to someone else