11 Infectious Diseases

11 00 Acute Sinusitis

11 01 Bird Flu (Avian Influenza, Avian Flu)

11 02 Cholera

11 03 Leprosy

11 04 Malaria

11 05 PANDAS Syndrome

11 06 Plague

11 10 Pneumonia

11 11 Rotavirus Infection

11 12 Schistosomiasis

11 13 Shigellosis

11 14 Shingles

11 15 Tuberculosis (TB)

11 16 Zika Virus Infection

Infectious diseases are disorders caused by organisms — such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, or parasites. Many organisms live in and on our bodies. They’re generally harmless or even helpful. However, under certain conditions, some organisms may cause disease. Some infectious diseases can be passed from person to person. Insects or other animals transmit some. You may get infected by consuming contaminated food or water or being exposed to environmental organisms.

Understanding the color treatment system is crucial as it can guide you in your treatment journey. Each disease or condition is assigned a unique code, which includes a treatment color. This system is designed to help you quickly identify the treatment options for your specific condition, empowering you to take control of your health.

Scroll down the site to find your disease or condition. Then, you look for the treatment color. The treatment colors are magenta (red-blue), blue, cyan (blue-green), green, yellow (red-green), and red. I give the treatment colors a number. Magenta = 0, blue = 1, cyan = 2, green = 3, yellow = 4, and red = 5. For instance, Acute Sinusitis would then be categorized as 11-00-1. Here, the last digit, the treatment color, is blue. The first two digits are the disease/condition group (Infectious Diseases is 11). The next two digits (Acute Sinusitis is 00) are the illness within the group, and the last digit (blue is 1) is the treatment color. This system can help you quickly identify the treatment options for your specific condition.

When you use the projector, click on your treatment color, and a large image of it will appear. Make the color cover the whole page and project it onto yourself. When you use the LED light bulb, you choose your color manually.

Acute sinusitis causes the spaces inside your nose (sinuses) to become inflamed and swollen, interfering with drainage and leading to mucus buildup.

With acute sinusitis, breathing through the nose may be difficult. The area around your eyes and face might also feel swollen, and you may experience throbbing facial pain or a headache.

The common cold primarily triggers acute sinusitis. Unless a bacterial infection develops, most cases resolve within a week to 10 days. Home remedies may be sufficient to treat acute sinusitis. Sinusitis lasting more than twelve weeks despite medical treatment is called chronic sinusitis.

Signs and symptoms of acute sinusitis often include thick, yellow, or greenish mucus from the nose (runny nose), a blocked or stuffy nose (congestion), and pain, tenderness, swelling, and pressure around your eyes, cheeks, nose, or forehead.

Bird flu (avian flu or avian influenza) is a virus that primarily affects wild or domesticated birds. It spreads quickly among birds, although transmission to humans is uncommon. Most human infections occur after exposure to infected birds or their droppings. The H5N1 strain of the avian influenza virus emerged in the late 1990s and has proven highly pathogenic, causing severe illness and death in birds. Since then, other strains of bird flu have been identified that can also lead to severe disease and death. Additionally, human infections with a new avian influenza A (H7N9) virus were first reported in China in March 2013.

Bird flu symptoms and signs resemble those of influenza infection, including fever, cough, and headache. Other symptoms encompass tiredness, sore throat, runny nose, eye infections, nausea and vomiting, muscle aches, and diarrhea.

Cholera is a bacterial disease typically spread through contaminated water. It causes severe diarrhea and dehydration, and if left untreated, it can be fatal within hours, even in previously healthy individuals.

Modern sewage and water treatment have virtually eliminated cholera in industrialized countries. However, it persists in Africa, Southeast Asia, and Haiti. The risk of a cholera epidemic is highest when poverty, war, or natural disasters force individuals to live in crowded conditions lacking adequate sanitation. Nevertheless, the preventability of cholera through inexpensive and straightforward rehydration solutions should inspire hope and motivate proactive measures.

Cholera is easily treated; a simple and inexpensive rehydration solution can prevent death from severe dehydration. An estimated 2.9 million cases and 95,000 deaths occur each year worldwide. The infection is often mild or asymptomatic but can also be severe.

An infection with Mycobacterium leprae or M. Lipomatosis causes leprosy. It is a slowly developing, progressive disease that damages the skin and nervous system. The infection spreads from person to person through nasal droplets or secretions. As leprosy progresses, it can lead to very disfiguring skin lesions.

Symptoms and signs of leprosy include painless ulcers, hypopigmented macules on the skin, and eye damage.

Additionally, extensive ulcerations, loss of digits, skin nodules, and facial disfigurement may occur. Other symptoms and signs can include thick, stiff, or painless ulcers on the soles of the feet, painless swelling or lumps on the face or earlobes, and the loss of eyebrows or eyelashes.

Malaria is a serious and potentially fatal disease caused by a parasite that primarily infects a specific type of mosquito that feeds on humans. Malaria patients usually experience severe illnesses, including high fevers, shaking chills, and flu-like symptoms. Four malaria parasites can infect humans:

Plasmodium falciparum,
P-vivax,
P-ovale, and
P-malariae.

Plasmodium falciparum is the type of malaria most likely to result in severe infections and, if not promptly treated, may lead to death. While the disease is uncommon in temperate climates, malaria remains prevalent in tropical and subtropical countries. Each year, nearly 290 million people are infected with malaria, and more than 400,000 people die from the disease.

Strep throat is a common childhood illness. Some kids experience it repeatedly; a simple course of antibiotics usually clears it up. However, for a small number of children, the infection triggers unusual behavior changes known as PANDAS syndrome (Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal infections).

With PANDAS, your child may appear to turn into a different person overnight, becoming moody, anxious, aggressive, exhibiting obsessive-compulsive behaviors, and struggling with body movements they can’t control. It can be not very comforting, but once your child is diagnosed with PANDAS and begins treatment, they’ll likely make a full recovery.

A plague is a severe bacterial infection primarily transmitted by fleas. The organism that causes plague, Yersinia pestis, resides in small rodents mainly found in rural and semi-rural areas of Africa, Asia, and the United States. It is transmitted to humans through bites from fleas that have fed on infected rodents or by handling infected animals.

Known as the Black Death during medieval times, the plague today affects fewer than 5,000 people a year worldwide. The most common form of plague results in swollen and tender lymph nodes, called buboes, located in the groin, armpits, or neck. The rarest and deadliest form of plague affects the lungs and can spread from person to person.

Pneumonia is often caused by infections that can be bacterial, viral, or sometimes result from fungi or parasitic infections. Streptococcus pneumoniae is the most common bacterial type. Influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) are the most frequent viral causes of pneumonia. Fungal pneumonia and pneumonia caused by the parasite Pneumocystis jiroveci are most common in individuals with compromised immune systems.

Pneumonia often begins with symptoms of a cold or upper respiratory infection, such as a sore throat, nasal congestion, and cough. As the disease develops in the lungs, a high fever becomes apparent, accompanied by chills and a cough that produces thick sputum. Chest pain may occur if the lungs’ outer layer (pleura) is involved in the inflammatory process.

Rotavirus infection is the most common cause of gastroenteritis (inflammation of the stomach and intestines). It primarily affects young children but can also impact adults.

Symptoms of rotavirus infection include fever, chills, vomiting, watery diarrhea, abdominal pain, dehydration, and loss of appetite, which may lead to severe dehydration. Symptoms typically resolve within three to nine days. Adults generally experience milder symptoms than affected children.

Several strains of rotavirus cause this highly contagious infection, and due to the presence of multiple viral strains, it is possible to develop the condition more than once.

Schistosomiasis is a parasitic disease, also known as bilharzia or snail fever. The parasites are found in various tropical regions of the world. Signs and symptoms of schistosomiasis typically do not develop until the eggs form about one to two months after the organism enters the body. At this point, some individuals may experience fever, cough, chills, and muscle aches.

Chronic symptoms and signs follow within months to years. They can include blood in the stool, diarrhea, painful urination, blood in the urine, chest pain, seizures, abdominal pain and swelling, weakness, paralysis, or changes in mental status.

Schistosomiasis is caused by parasites that enter the body through the skin and migrate through the circulation. Eventually, these parasites produce eggs that develop into worms within the body. Infected freshwater snails are the source of the organism that enters the human body.

Shigella infection (shigellosis) is an intestinal infection caused by a family of Shigella bacteria. The main sign of a Shigella infection is diarrhea, which is often bloody. Shigella is highly contagious. People become infected with Shigella when they come into contact with and swallow small amounts of bacteria from the stool of an infected person. For example, this can occur in childcare settings when staff members do not wash their hands thoroughly after changing diapers or assisting toddlers with toilet training.

Shigella bacteria can also be transmitted through contaminated food, drinking, or swimming in unsafe water. Children under five are the most likely to contract a Shigella infection, but it can occur at any age. A mild case usually resolves on its own within a week.

Shingles is a viral infection that causes a painful rash. Although shingles can occur anywhere on your body, they often appear as a single stripe of blisters wrapping around your torso’s left or right side. The varicella-zoster virus, which causes shingles, is the same virus that leads to chickenpox.

After you have had chickenpox, the virus remains inactive in nerve tissue near your spinal cord and brain. However, years later, the virus may reactivate as shingles. Shingles are not a life-threatening condition, but they can be excruciating.

Postherpetic neuralgia is the most common complication, causing shingles pain to persist long after the blisters have cleared.

The signs and symptoms of shingles may include pain, burning, numbness or tingling, sensitivity to touch, a red rash that begins a few days after the pain, fluid-filled blisters that break open and crust over, and itching.

Tuberculosis (TB) is a bacterial infection spread by inhaling tiny droplets from an infected person’s coughs or sneezes. It primarily affects the lungs but can impact any body part, including the abdomen, glands, bones, and nervous system.

Typical symptoms of TB include a persistent cough that lasts more than three weeks and may produce bloody phlegm, weight loss, night sweats, high fever, tiredness and fatigue, loss of appetite, and neck swellings.

TB is a bacterial infection, and the type that impacts the lungs (pulmonary TB) is the most contagious form. However, it typically only spreads after prolonged exposure to someone with the illness.

The Zika virus spreads primarily to people through mosquito bites, especially in tropical and subtropical areas. Most people infected with the Zika virus exhibit no signs or symptoms. However, some individuals experience a mild fever, rash, and muscle pain. In rare cases, the Zika virus can lead to complications affecting the brain or nervous system, even in those who do not show any symptoms of infection.

Women infected with the Zika virus during pregnancy face an increased risk of miscarriage. Additionally, Zika virus infection during pregnancy raises the likelihood of severe congenital disabilities in infants, including a potentially fatal brain condition known as microcephaly.

The best way to prevent infection is to avoid mosquito bites and reduce mosquito habitats.

As many as 80 percent of people infected with the Zika virus do not show any signs or symptoms. When symptoms appear, they typically start two to fourteen days after an infected mosquito bites a person. Symptoms generally last about a week, and most individuals recover completely.

Signs and symptoms of the Zika virus commonly include mild fever, rash, joint pain—particularly in the hands or feet—and red eyes (conjunctivitis).