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What
is Cryptosporidiosis?
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Cryptosporidiosis
is a disease caused by the waterborne protozoan cryptosporidium.
Symptoms of the disease include vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal
cramps, and fever usually lasting one to two weeks. In immunosuppressed
patients, such as people with AIDS, the disease can be fatal.
Outbreaks are usually caused by drinking water that has been
contaminated with human sewage or animal waste. Cryptosporidium
sickened some 400,000 people and caused more than 60 deaths
in Milwaukee in 1993 when it contaminated the public water system.
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What
is Giardiasis?
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Giardiasis
is an infection of the small intestine by the protozoan Giardia
lamblia. Predominant symptoms are diarrhea and flatulence,
but about two thirds of infected individuals develop no symptoms.
In some cases the infection becomes chronic. Often no treatment
is necessary, but antimicrobials (metronidazole and quinacrine)
are sometimes prescribed. The organism is spread via
the fecal-oral route. Considered a tropical disease,
giardiasis is becoming more common in developed countries.
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What
is Cholera?
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Cholera
or Asiatic cholera is an acute infectious disease caused by
strains of the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The bacteria,
which are found in fecal-contaminated food and water
and in raw or undercooked seafood, produce a toxin
that affects the intestines, causing diarrhea, severe fluid
and electrolyte loss, and, if untreated, death. Treatment consists
of administration of glucose and electrolyte solutions; vaccines
are of limited effectiveness. The disease remains prevalent
in regions of the Third World where public sanitation is poor.
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What
is Typhoid Fever?
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Typhoid
Fever is an acute generalized infection caused by Salmonella
Typhosa. The main sources of infection are contaminated
water or milk and food handlers who are carriers. Symptoms
include high fever, rose-colored spots on the abdomen and chest,
and diarrhea or constipation. Complications, especially in untreated
patients, may be numerous. The disease is treated with the antibiotic
chloramphenicol; typhoid vaccination is a valuable preventive
measure.
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What
is Dysentery?
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Dysentery
is the inflammation of the intestines, characterized by frequent
passage of feces, usually with blood and mucus. Amoebic dysentery
is caused by infestation by the ameba Entamoeba histolytica.
Bacillary dysentery is most often caused by the Shigella
bacillus. Spread by fecal contamination of food
and water, both forms are common where sanitation is
poor. Treatment of bacillary dysentery is with a broad-spectrum
antibiotic; a combination of an antibiotic and an amoebicide
is necessary for successful treatment of amoebic dysentery.
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What
is Diphtheria?
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Diphtheria
is an acute, contagious disease caused by the Corynebacterium
diphtheriae. It is spread through respiratory droplets
of infected individuals. The bacteria, lodging in the mucous
membranes of the throat, secrete a potent toxin, which causes
tissue destruction and the formation of a gray membrane in the
upper respiratory tract that can loosen and cause asphyxiation.
The toxin may also spread via the blood and damage tissues elsewhere
in the body. Diphtheria can be prevented by vaccination.
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What
is Pneumonia?
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Pneumonia
is an acute infection of one or both lungs that can be caused
by a bacterium, usually the pneumococcus bacterium,
virus, fungus, or other organism. Symptoms include high fever,
pain in the chest, difficulty in breathing, coughing, and sputum.
Viral pneumonia is generally milder than the bacterial form.
Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, which is caused by a parasitic
protozoan, generally only occurs in patients whose immune system
is suppressed, as in AIDS or leukemia. Antibiotics are used
to treat bacterial pneumonia and have greatly reduced the mortality
rate of the disease.
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What
is Tuberculosis?
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Tuberculosis
is a contagious disease caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium
tuberculosis, identified by Robert Koch in 1882. Also known
as TB and consumption, the disease primarily affects the lungs,
although the intestines, joints, and other parts of the body
may also become infected. It is spread mainly by inhalation,
occasionally by ingestion through contaminated foods (e.g.,
unpasteurized milk) and utensils. Symptoms as the disease progresses
include fever, weakness, loss of appetite, and, in the pulmonary
form, cough and sputum. The incidence of tuberculosis—once
affecting millions—greatly decreased in many developed
countries with improved sanitation, early detection through
X rays and skin tests, and antituberculosis drugs, but in the
late 1980s the number of cases began to rise, particularly among
AIDS patients, the poor, and immigrants from developing countries.
Another troubling development was the spread of strains resistant
to isoniazid, the drug most often used in treatment. A vaccine,
Bacillus Calmette Guérin (BCG), that confers partial, temporary
immunity is given by the World Health Organization to high-risk
children.
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What
is Hepatitis?
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Hepatitis
is any of several viral inflammations of the liver that cause
nausea, fever, weakness, loss of appetite, and, usually, jaundice.
Five viral forms have been identified. The most common are:
hepatitis A (infectious), spread through contaminated food or
water; and hepatitis B (serum), usually transmitted by sexual
activity, transfusion of infected blood or transplantation of
infected tissue, or use of shared syringes by drug addicts or
of poorly sterilized medical and dental instruments. A third
type, hepatitis C, is also transmitted by contaminated blood
transfusions and tissue transplants. Although rarer, hepatitis
C is more likely to become chronic and to result in cirrhosis.
Hepatitis can also occur as a complication of other diseases
or as a toxic reaction to alcohol, drugs, or other chemicals.
Vaccination for hepatitis B is recommended for all infants and
others at risk for the virus; a hepatitis A vaccine has also
been developed. Chronic hepatitis B and C may be treated with
interferon.
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What
is Influenza?
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Influenza
is an acute, highly contagious disease caused by one of several
constantly changing viruses. The disease usually begins abruptly
with fever, muscular aches, and inflammation of the respiratory
mucous membranes; its more severe complications are pneumonia
and bronchitis. Influenza epidemics have decimated large populations;
an outbreak in 1918 killed more than 20 million people. An injection
with influenza virus vaccine can confer immunity to a particular
strain.
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What
is Polio?
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Poliomyelitis
or polio is an acute viral infection that, in its severe form,
invades the nervous system and causes paralysis. In its mild
form the disease produces mild symptoms (e.g., low-grade fever,
malaise), or none. Also known as infantile paralysis, it is
found worldwide, occurring mainly in children. The Salk vaccine
(injected killed-virus vaccine) and the Sabin vaccine (oral
live-virus vaccine) have greatly reduced the incidence of polio,
nearly eradicating it from developed nations. In 1985 the World
Health Organization began an effort to eradicate polio worldwide
by 2000. The last reported case of polio in the Americas was
in 1991.
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Biology
| Chemistry | Medicine
| La Natural
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