WHY DO WE FALL ILL

PART - II
 MEANS OF SPREAD OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES
• The communicable diseases are infectious
diseases and they can spread from one
person who is infected to another person
who is healthy.
• Different pathogens spread their infections
by variety of methods.
• The means of transmission of infection is
of two types:
Direct transmission: Diseases which
directly without any intermediate
agent.
Indirect transmission: Diseases which
spread through an intermediate agent
like air, contaminated food or water or
any vector.

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Common methods of disease transmission

E.g. Measles, Malaria E.g. Diabetes, Hypertension

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Spread of air borne diseases

Air-transmitted diseases are easier to catch the closer we

are to the infected person. However, in closed areas, the
droplet nuclei rearticulate and pose a risk to everyone.
Overcrowded and poorly ventilated housing is thus a
major factor in the spread of air borne diseases.

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 Spread of water borne diseases

Apart from water borne diseases,

pathogens can also spread by the
consumption of contaminated food.

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 Diseases spread through physical contact
Sexually transmitted diseases
• There are certain diseases which can be
transmitted through sexual contact which is a
form of closest physical contact between two
people.
• Common examples of STD are Syphilis, AIDS,
Gonorrhoea, Hepatitis-B etc.
• These diseases however do not get transmitted
Diseases spread through direct physical contact are also called
Contagious diseases. E.g.- chicken pox, small pox, ring worm.
by casual or social contact such as touching or
shaking hands with the infected person.
Transmission
of AIDS
• Other than sexual contact, AIDS virus can also
be spread through blood to blood contact with
infected people or from an infected mother to
her baby during pregnancy or through breast
feeding.

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 Transmission of diseases through vectors
• Certain living organisms that may spread the diseases from an infected to a healthy person
are called vectors.
• These vectors are often called as carriers as some of them carry a part of the life cycle of
pathogens in their body and transfer it to the host organism.
• Most of the vectors are insects.
• Blood sucking insects can transmit the pathogen by their bite
on the body of an organism. MOSQUITO
• Mosquito is a very common vector where the female mosquitoes feed on the blood of many
warm blooded mammals as they need nutritious food in form of blood to lay eggs. Female
anopheles mosquito spread malaria while filariasis is spread by female culex mosquito.
• Housefly is also responsible for carrying pathogens that cause cholera, typhoid, dysentery
and diarrhoea on their legs and some of the mouth parts.
• Typhus, plague and sleeping sickness are caused by louse, rat flea and tse-tse fly
respectively.
HOUSEFLY
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 ORGAN SPECIFIC AND TISSUE SPECIFIC MANIFESTATION

The signs and symptoms of the

disease thus depends on the tissue or
the organ the microbe targets.
• We experience headache,
vomiting, unconsciousness if brain
is targeted.
• If liver is affected, we get jaundice .
• Pain in abdomen and loss of We can therefore imagine what the symptoms and signs
appetite is observed if alimentary of an infection will be if we know which tissue or organ
organs are affected by worms. has been targeted by the microbe. This is known as
organ specific manifestation.
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 ORGAN SPECIFIC AND TISSUE SPECIFIC MANIFESTATION
• When a microbe invades a particular tissue or cell in a disease, it is termed as tissue specific
manifestation.
• Apart from the organ and tissue specific manifestations, there are some common effects
exhibited in a disease.
• These common effects are dependent on the activation of the immune system of the body
in response to certain infections.
• An active immune system recruits many WBC to kill the disease causing microbes; this
process of collecting many cells against the infectious microbe is called inflammation.
• Inflammation causes some local effects like swelling (oedema) and pain. Fever is also a
general effect of inflammation.

SIGNS OF
INFLAMMATION

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 ORGAN SPECIFIC AND TISSUE SPECIFIC MANIFESTATION
Causes of inflammation
Inflammation occurs due to escape of
chemicals such as histamine and 5’-
hydroxytryptamine from the infected
tissues which increases the flow of
blood in the wounded area and thus
raises the temperature.
Plasma and white blood cells are
discharged into the surrounding tissue
which causes inhibition of bacterial
growth and combat the spread of
infections.
Interferon is the main chemical
secreted by some WBCs exposed to
foreign antigens which brings about
resistance against viruses in the body.
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IMMUNE SYSTEM AND SECONDARY INFECTIONS
• There are certain diseases such as AIDS in which
the virus affects the immune system and damages
it.
• Due to the destroyed immune system, the person
cannot fight against infections and even a minor
infection becomes life threatening.
• In such a case, a common cold can develop into
pneumonia or a minor gut infection may give rise to
severe diarrhoea with heavy blood loss.
• These may cause death of the person suffering from
AIDS and thus are called secondary infections.
The severity of disease manifestation depends on-
 The number of microbes in the body
 The pathogenicity of the infecting microbes
 The functioning of the immune system
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 PRINCIPLES OF TREATMENT

The microorganisms are classified into different categories namely virus, bacteria,
protozoa or fungi. As each of these groups of organisms have special biochemical
life processes , the drug used for killing the microbes should target that particular
organism to kill or inhibit it without affecting our normal cells. So antibiotics are
used to kill bacterial diseases, antimalarial drugs are used for controlling malarial
parasites and effective retro viral drugs to keep HIV infection under control.

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 PRINCIPLES OF PREVENTION
need for prevention
During the treatment of an infectious disease,
the following limitations are observed:
 The functions of the body of an individual gets
impaired when he is suffering from a disease
and may never recover.
HAVE A ROBUST IMMUNE SYSTEM
 During thee period of treatment, the patient is
restricted to the bed for proper rest and thus
miss out productive work in his daily routine.
 The patient may become a source of infection
to other healthy individuals of his family or
even the community. Thus it is said -
‘Prevention is always better than cure’.

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 PRINCIPLES OF PREVENTION
METHODS OF PREVENTION

GENERAL METHODS SPECIFIC METHODS

PUBLIC PERSONAL
VACCINATION IMMUNIZATION
HEALTH HEALTH
MEASURES MEASURES

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 PRINCIPLES OF PREVENTION
General methods 0f prevention of infectious diseases
The general ways of prevention relate to prevention of exposure to the disease which includes-
I. PUBLIC HEALTH MEASURES
• Overcrowding - To prevent air borne diseases, overcrowding should be avoided; it is
important to maintain proper spacing at home, school, office and public spaces.
• Sanitation – Hygiene is most important to prevent spread of diseases as garbage, sewage
and open drains are source of broad spectrum of diseases. Proper sanitation measures
should be adopted; antiseptics, soaps and phenyl must be used to to keep the
surroundings of a patient clean.
• Eradication of vectors – As many infectious diseases are vector borne, every measure
should be adopted to eradicate adult vectors by spraying insecticides, prevention of
stagnation of water so that mosquitoes do not breed and keeping the neighbourhood clean.
• Isolation – In order to prevent the transmission of the germs, the infected person must be
kept in proper isolation in hospitals or in home.
• Education – People should be educated so that they are aware about ways to protect
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 PRINCIPLES OF PREVENTION
General methods 0f prevention of infectious diseases
The general ways of prevention of disease also includes-
II. PERSONAL HEALTH MEASURES
• Clean and nutritious food – A healthy, nutritious and balanced diet which boosts up the
immunity system must be consumed by all individuals to maintain good health.
• Clean drinking water – Water should be purified and clean from all contaminants including
germs before drinking.
• Clean air – The air we breathe in should not be dirty or polluted as it leads to many diseases
like bronchitis, asthma, irritation of eyes and other respiratory problems.
• Personal hygiene – We should maintain personal hygiene by regular bathing, brushing of
teeth, washing hands before meals, wearing clean clothes to avoid exposure to diseases.
• Free from addiction – Drugs, alcohol and smoking are bad habits which leads to ill health.
• Exercise, rest and relaxation – These are important stress remover which keeps are mind
and body alert and plays a major role in preventing infections in our body.
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 PRINCIPLES OF PREVENTION
Specific ways 0f prevention of infectious diseases
• Specific prevention is provided by immune system when it
provides specific molecules called antibodies to fight against
invading microbes or their products called antigens.
• Immune system of our body plays a vital role in preventing disease
caused by microbes.
• When a person suffers from a particular disease, he develops the
specific antibodies against the pathogen , which is remembered by
the memory cells (plasma B cells) of the immune system.
• When the microbe enters the body of the host the next time, the
immune system recognises the microbe and is successful in
eliminating it quickly.
• This process of developing the ability to protect the body from
diseases or developing immunity is known as immunisation.
• Immunity is defined as the ability of one’s body to resist a disease.
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Vaccine and its mode of action

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 PRINCIPLES OF PREVENTION
SOME IMPORTANT VACCINES
VACCINE DISEASE AGE GROUP

DPT-Hib Diphtheria, Pertussis, Infants of 1.5 to

Tetanus & Influenza 3.5 months
Hepatitis-B Hepatitis Infant, Children,
adults
Polio Poliomyelitis Children upto 5
years of age
BCG Tuberculosis Children of 0-15
years

Some of the vaccines may be temporary providing

immunity for short duration for example cholera vaccine
provides immunity against the disease for six months.
Other permanent vaccines provide life long protection
against the disease, for example MMR vaccine which
provide protection against measles, mumps and rubella.
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 (NCERT, CLASS IX) 19
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