Where There Is No Doctor 2011 19
EXAMPLES OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES
Organism that causes Name of the sickness How it is spread or
the sickness
enters the body
tuberculosis
tetanus
some diarrhea
b acteria
(microbes or germs)
pneumonia
(some kinds)
gonorrhea,
chlamydia, and
syphillis
through the air
(coughing)
dirty wounds
dirty fingers, water, flies
through the air
(coughing)
sexual contact
Principal medicine
different
antibiotics
for different
} bacterial
infections
earache
with a cold
infected wounds
contact with dirty things
sores with pus
direct contact (by touch)
colds, flu, measles,
from someone who is
mumps, chickenpox, sick, through the
infantile paralysis,
air, by coughing.
virus diarrhea
flies, etc.
virus
(germs
smaller
rabies
animal bites
than bacteria)
warts
touch
aspirin and other
painkillers
(Medicines like
antibiotics do not
fight viruses effectively)
Vaccinations prevent
some virus infections.
HIV
body fluids of someone
infected get inside
another person´s
body
Antiretroviral
medicines fight HIV.
ringworm
by touch or from
fungus
athlete’s foot
clothing
jock itch
sulfur and vinegar
ointments: undecylenic,
benzoic, salicylic acid
griseofulvin
internal parasites
(harmful animals
living in the body)
In the gut:
worms
feces-to-mouth
amebas (dysentery)
lack of cleanliness
In the blood:
malaria
mosquito bite
different specific
medicines
a combination of
malaria medicines
external parasites
(harmful animals
living on the body)
lice
fleas
bedbugs
scabies
by contact with
infected persons
or their clothes
permethrin,
keeping very clean
Bacteria, like many of the organisms that cause infections, are
so small you cannot see them without a microscope—an instrument
that makes tiny things look bigger. Viruses are even smaller than
bacteria.
Antibiotics (penicillin, tetracycline, etc.) are medicines that
help cure certain illnesses caused by bacteria. Antibiotics have
no effect on illnesses caused by most viruses, such as colds, flu, mumps,
chickenpox, etc. Do not treat virus infections with antibiotics. They will not help
and may be harmful (see antibiotics, p. 55).