UNIT 12: INFECTIOUS DISEASES
• Infectious diseases are diseases that can be passed from an
infected person to safe person. Ex: COVID-19, influenza,
HIV/AIDS, Ebola, diarrheal diseases, hepatitis, anthrax,
tuberculosis, salmonella.
• Infectious diseases spread from an infected person to a
healthy person through air, water, food,vectors, physical
contact and sexual contact.
12.1. Definition of some common terms
i) Good health: state of mental, social, physical and emotional well-being.
ii) Disease: any physical or mental disorder or malfunction with characteristic
set of signs and symptoms in an organism.
iii) A condition is a permanent health problem that affects a particular part of
the body.
iv) An infection is an illness that is caused by microorganism. It can affect one
part of the body and spread from one person to another.
v) Endemic disease: a disease that is always present in an area. E.g Malaria in
East Africa; HIV/AIDS
vi) Epidemic disease: a sudden appearance of a disease, especially
an infectious one that affects a large number of people within a
population at the same time. E.g Meningitis
vii) Pandemic disease: a disease that affects almost everyone in a
very large area. E.g. influenza (flu, common cold).
viii) Chronic disease: A disease that lasts for a long time, usually at
least six months. A chronic disease may be stable (does not get any
worse) or it may be progressive (gets worse over time).
ix) Progressive disease: a disease whose typical natural course is
the worsening of the disease until death, serious debility, or organ
failure occurs.
x) Pathogen (also known as germ or disease-causing
microorganism): It is an agent that can cause a disease, e.g:
bacteria, protozoa, and viruses
xi) Transmissible disease: These are diseases capable of spreading
from one person to another; e.g; Ebola, common cold.
xii) Host: An organism that harbours a disease-causing micro-
organism, for example, water snails are hosts to schistosomes that
causes bilharzia.
xiii) Vector: A living organism that can transmit germ.
Ex: Female anopheles mosquito is a vector to the plasmodium
parasite malaria.
xiv) Carrier: A person who has been infected but develops no
signs or symptoms. This person is capable of transmitting the
disease to other people.
xv) Signs: Visible expressions brought about by a disease, for
example, red spots on the body.
xvi) Symptoms: A physical or mental feature that is regarded as
indicating a condition of disease, particularly such a feature that
is felt by the patient, for example, nausea, dizziness and
headache.
xvii) Epidemiology: The study of all factors that contribute to the
appearance of a particular disease.
12.2 Transmission of infectious diseases
• Infections can be spread in several different ways.
• There are two modes transmission of diseases:
– Direct contact is when a germ passes physically from the infected person
directly to the healthy person. Ex: touching, kissing, sexual contact.
– Indirect contact is when the disease spreads from contaminated surfaces
or food, from animals or from air.
• Some other ways of transmission are listed below:
1- Air borne diseases-Diseases can be transmitted through air.
e.g: tuberculosis, common cold.
2- Water borne and food borne diseases - Diseases transmitted
through consumption of contaminated water.; e.g: cholera, typhoid,
fever,…
3- Through blood transfusion or blood contact e.g: HIV/AIDS
4- Contagious diseases- Through physical contact with an infected
person. E.g: ring worms, scabies, Ebola
5- Vector borne diseases- Diseases spread by vectors. eg: malaria,
sleeping sickness, yellow fever (spread by black fly and some
mosquitoes)
6- Sexually transmitted infections (STIs)- Through unprotected
sexual intercourse, known as e.g. HIV/AIDS
7- From mother to unborn baby trough blood or other bodily fluids,
skin or mucus membranes.
12.3. Defense against infections
• Resistance is the ability of the body to prevent itself from
diseases using its lines of defense.
• It can either be first line or second line of defense.
a. Body’s first line of defense
This line of defence prevents harmful micro-organisms from
entering the body. It is the external defence system of the body.
It includes both physical and chemical defence lines.
- ear: cerumen inhibits bacterial growth
- eyes: cleansed by tears which also contain chemicals
inhibiting bacterial growth
- mouth cavity: moucus membrane traps microorganisms, saliva
cleanses the mouth.
- trachea and bronchi: mucus traps microorganisms and cilia
push them up
- vagina: acidic secretions kill pathogens
- nasal cavity: hairs and mucus trap microorganisms
- skin: an impervious barrier ( does not allow water to flow
through)
- urethra: urine flow prevents bacterial growth
- anus: mucus membranes trap microorganisms
- blood clot: when the skin is cut, blood clot stops pathogens
b. Body’s second line of defense
• This is a group of cells, tissues and organs that work together to
protect the body. It is the immune system.
• If the pathogens are able to get past the first line of defence, for
example, through a cut in your skin, and an infection develops,
the second line of defence becomes active.
• Through a sequence of steps called the immune response,
the immune system attacks these pathogens.
• White blood cells, known as phagocytes, are adapted to fight the
disease-causing micro-organisms by surrounding invading
microbes and engulfing them.
• By this, they releasing digestive enzymes which breakdown the
trapped microbes before they can do any harm.
• Pus is formed from a collection of dead tissue, dead bacteria, and
live and dead phagocytes
Immunity
• Immunity is the ability of an organism to resist a particular infection or
toxin.
• It can be by the action of specific antibodies or some white blood cells.
• An antibody is a protein produced by the body’s immune system when it
detects harmful substances, called antigens.
• An antigen is any substance that causes your immune system to produce
antibodies against it.
• An antigen may be a substance from the environment, such as chemicals,
bacteria, fungi, parasites, viruses, or pollen.
• Each type of antibody is unique and defends the body against one specific
type of antigen.
• Antibodies detect and neutralises the antigen by binding to it.
• This signals the production of other cells of the immune system to get rid
of the invading microbes before it spreads or attacks the body.
Types of immunity
There are 2 types of immunity: natural and artificial immunity:
immunity.
(a) Natural immunity
Natural immunity comes from the body itself.
Natural immunity comprises of active and passive natural.
(i) Active natural immunity may develop after recovering from a
disease. The organism makes its own antibodies as a result of
contact with antigen from disease-causing pathogen.
(ii) Passive natural immunity is immunity acquired by the foetus
from the mother through the placenta and also through breast
milk. This type of immunity is short-lived.
(b) Artificial immunity
• Artificial immunity is obtained by introducing antigens into the
body of an organism to protect the organism from a disease.
• It is divided into two: active and passive artificial immunity.
(i) Active artificial immunity is induced by introducing antigens
into the body of an organism through the use of a vaccine.
• A vaccine contains antigens composed of living, dead or
weakened pathogens.
• They are used to stimulate the body to recognize certain
disease antigens and respond to them. Vaccines usually do not
cause the disease.
(ii) Passive natural immunity is the transfer of immunity in the
form of ready-made antibodies.
• This is immunity that comes from using antibodies produced in
one organism to protect another organism from a specific
disease.
• These antibodies are usually extracted from the serum (plasma
without soluble proteins) of an animal that has recovered from
the disease. Such immunity does not last long.
12.4. Causes, symptoms, prevention, control and treatment of common infectious diseases
