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 may cause disease. Some infectious diseases can be passed from person to person, and insects or other animals transmit some. You may get infected by consuming contaminated food or water or being exposed to environmental organisms.
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. 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.
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. It interferes with drainage and causes mucus to build up.
With acute sinusitis, breathing through the nose might be difficult. The area around your eyes and face might also feel swollen, and you might have throbbing facial pain or a headache.
The common cold primarily causes acute sinusitis. Unless a bacterial infection develops, most cases resolve within a week to 10 days. Home remedies may be all you need to treat acute sinusitis. Sinusitis that lasts more than twelve weeks despite medical treatment is called chronic sinusitis.
Acute sinusitis signs and symptoms often include thick, yellow, or greenish mucus from the nose (runny nose), 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 mainly affects wild or domesticated birds. Bird flu spreads quickly among birds, although transmission to humans is not standard. Most human infections occur after exposure to infected birds or their droppings. The H5N1 strain of the avian influenza virus arose in the late 1990s and proved highly pathogenic (causing severe illness and death) in birds. Since then, other strains of bird flu have been identified that also can cause severe disease and death. In addition, human infections with a new avian influenza A (H7N9) virus were first reported in China in March 2013.
Bird flu symptoms and signs resemble influenza infection, including fever, cough, and headache.
Other symptoms include tiredness, sore throat, runny nose, eye infections, nausea and vomiting, muscle aches, and diarrhea.
Cholera is a bacterial disease usually spread through contaminated water. Cholera causes severe diarrhea and dehydration. Cholera, left untreated, can be fatal within hours, even in previously healthy people.
Modern sewage and water treatment have virtually eliminated cholera in industrialized countries. But cholera still exists in Africa, Southeast Asia, and Haiti. The risk of a cholera epidemic is highest when poverty, war, or natural disasters force people to live in crowded conditions without adequate sanitation.
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 around the world. The infection is often mild or without symptoms but can 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 cause very disfiguring skin lesions.
Symptoms and signs of leprosy include painless ulcers, hypopigmented macules on the skin, and eye damage. In addition, extensive ulcerations, loss of digits, skin nodules, and facial disfigurement may develop.
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 severe and sometimes fatal disease caused by a parasite that commonly infects a particular type of mosquito that feeds on humans. People who get malaria are typically very sick with high fevers, shaking chills, and flu-like illnesses.
Four malaria parasites infect humans:
- Plasmodium falciparum,
- P-vivax,
- P-ovale, and
- P-malariae.
In addition, P-knowlesi, a type of malaria that naturally infects macaques in Southeast Asia, also infects humans, causing malaria that is transmitted from animal to human (“zoonotic” malaria).
P. falciparum is the type of malaria that is 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 is still common in tropical and subtropical countries. Each year, nearly 290 million people are infected with malaria, and more than 400,000 people die of the disease.
Strep throat is a common childhood illness. Some kids get it repeatedly; a simple round of antibiotics usually clears it up. But for a small number of children, the infection triggers strange behavior changes known as PANDAS syndrome (Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal infections).
With PANDAS, your child may seem to turn into a different person overnight, becoming moody, anxious, aggressive, obsessive-compulsive behaviors, and dealing with body movements they can’t control. It can be scary, but once your child is diagnosed with PANDAS and starts treatment, they’ll likely make a full recovery.
Plague is a severe bacterial infection transmitted primarily by fleas. The organism that causes plague, Yersinia pestis, lives in small rodents mainly found in rural and semi-rural areas of Africa, Asia, and the United States. The organism is transmitted to humans bitten by fleas fed on infected rodents or by humans handling infected animals.
Known as the Black Death during medieval times, the plague affects fewer than 5,000 people worldwide annually. The most common form of plague results in swollen and tender lymph nodes, called buboes, 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 may be bacterial, viral, or sometimes caused by fungi or parasitic infections. Streptococcus pneumonia is the most common bacterial type. Influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) are the most common viral causes of pneumonia. Fungal pneumonia and pneumonia due to the parasite Pneumocystis jiroveci are most common in people with compromised immune systems.
Pneumonia often starts with symptoms of a cold or upper respiratory infection, like a sore throat, nasal congestion, and cough. As the infection develops in the lung, a high fever is apparent, and chills and a cough produce thick sputum. Chest pain can 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 usually affects young children but can also affect adults.
Symptoms of Rotavirus infection include fever, chills, vomiting, watery diarrhea, abdominal pain, dehydration, and loss of appetite, which can lead to severe dehydration.
Symptoms typically go away after three to nine days. Adults tend to have milder symptoms than affected children.
Several strains of rotavirus cause this highly contagious infection. Because there are several viral strains, developing the condition more than once is possible.
Schistosomiasis is a parasitic disease. It is known as bilharzia or snail fever. The parasites are found in various tropical parts of the world.
Signs and symptoms of schistosomiasis typically do not develop until the eggs set about one to two months after the organism enters the body. At this point, some people develop 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 mental status changes.
Schistosomiasis is caused by parasites that enter the body through the skin and migrate through the circulation. Eventually, the 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 shigella infection is diarrhea, which is often bloody.
Shigella is very contagious. People get infected with shigella when they come into contact and swallow small amounts of bacteria from the stool of a person infected with shigella. For example, this can happen in childcare when staff members don’t wash their hands well enough after changing diapers or helping toddlers with toilet training. Shigella bacteria can also be passed in infected food or by drinking or swimming in unsafe water.
Children under five are most likely to get shigella infection, but it can occur at any age. A mild case usually clears up 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 most often appear as a single stripe of blisters that wrap around your torso’s left or right side.
The varicella-zoster virus causes shingles, the same virus that causes chickenpox. After you’ve had chickenpox, the virus lies inactive in nerve tissue near your spinal cord and brain. However, years later, the virus may reactivate as shingles.
Shingles isn’t a life-threatening condition, but it can be excruciating. Postherpetic neuralgia is the most common complication, which causes shingles pain for a long time after your 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 through inhaling tiny droplets from the coughs or sneezes of an infected person.
It mainly affects the lungs but can affect any body part, including the tummy (abdomen), glands, bones, and nervous system.
Typical symptoms of TB include a persistent cough that lasts more than three weeks and usually brings up phlegm, which may be bloody, weight loss, night sweats, high temperature, tiredness and fatigue, loss of appetite, and swellings in the neck.
TB is a bacterial infection. TB that affects the lungs (pulmonary TB) is the most contagious type, but it usually only spreads after prolonged exposure to someone with the illness.
The Zika virus spreads most often to people through mosquito bites, primarily in tropical and subtropical areas. Most people infected with the Zika virus have no signs or symptoms. However, some people have a mild fever, rash, and muscle pain. In rare cases, the Zika virus may cause brain or nervous system complications, even in people who never show symptoms of infection.
Women who are infected with the Zika virus during pregnancy have an increased risk of miscarriage. In addition, Zika virus infection during pregnancy also increases the risk of severe congenital disabilities in infants, including a potentially fatal brain condition called microcephaly.
For now, the best way to prevent infection is to avoid mosquito bites and reduce mosquito habitats.
As many as 4 out of 5 people infected with the Zika virus have no signs or symptoms. When symptoms occur, they usually begin two to fourteen days after an infected mosquito bites a person. Symptoms typically last about a week, and most people recover fully.
Signs and symptoms of the Zika virus most commonly include mild fever, rash, joint pain, particularly in the hands or feet, and red eyes (conjunctivitis).