The Infectious Disease Pages!
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The Medical Symptoms Staff.
Yeast Infection
Yeast is a fungus that grows freely throughout the world. Several strains grow in cooperation with the human body, and several are considered pathogenic. Typically when we are talking about yeast infections, we are discussing Candida Albicans, and the technical name for the infection is candidiasis.
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Whooping Cough
Whooping cough (Pertussis), is a highly contagious disease caused by the bacterium "Bordetella", most often B. Pertussis. There are 30–50 million cases per year, and about 300,000 deaths per year. Virtually all deaths occur in children under one year of age. Ninety percent of all cases occur in developing countries. The disease is spread by contact with airborne discharges from the mucous membranes of infected people.
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Rabies
Rabies causes acute encephalitis in animals and people (rabies means "rage" in latin). In unvaccinated humans, rabies is almost always fatal once symptoms have expressed completely. However, post-exposure vaccination can prevent symptoms from developing.
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Ringworm
Ringworm (Tinea, ring worm), is a fungal infection of the skin which is considered contagious. It is common among children, and may be spread via contact with contaminated items such as clothing, hairbrushes, and bedding, as well as via skin to skin contact.
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Lyme Disease
Lyme disease is an infectious tick-borne disease, caused by the Borrelia spirochete, a gram-negative microorganism. It is transmitted to humans by the bite of infected ticks.
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MRSA
MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (often misspelled as and searched as " MSRA Symptoms "), is a bacterium that has developed antibiotic resistance, first to penicillin in 1947, and later to methicillin and related "anti-staph drugs". Popularly termed a "superbug", it was first discovered in Britain in 1961 and is now widespread. While an MRSA colonisation in an otherwise healthy individual is not usually a serious matter, infection with the organism can be life-threatening to patients with deep wounds, intravenous catheters or other foreign-body instrumentation, or as a secondary infection in patients with compromised immune systems.
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Staph Infection
Staphylococcus aureus (which is occasionally given the nickname golden staph) is a bacterium, frequently living on the skin or in the nose of a healthy person, that can cause illnesses ranging from minor skin infections (such as pimples, boils, and cellulitis) and abscesses, to life-threatening diseases such as pneumonia, meningitis, endocarditis and septicemia. Each year some 500,000 patients in American hospitals contract a staphylococcal infection.
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Black Mold
Molds and black mold, are ubiquitous in nature, and mold spores are a common component of household dust. The term toxic mold is sometimes used to refer to mold-related indoor air quality problems.
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Leprosy
Leprosy, sometimes known as Hansen's disease, is an infectious disease caused by infection by Mycobacterium leprae, an aerobic, acid fast, rod-shaped mycobacterium. The modern name of the disease comes from the discoverer of Mycobacterium leprae, Gerhard Armauer Hansen. Sufferers from Hansen's disease have generally been called lepers, although this term is falling into disuse both from the diminishing number of leprosy patients and from pressure to avoid the demeaning connotations of the term. Also, this term can lead to public misunderstanding because the terms leprosy and leper are used in the Bible to describe a wide range of incurable skin conditions.
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Mono
Infectious mononucleosis (also known as mono, the kissing disease, Pfeiffer's disease, and, in British English, glandular fever) is a disease seen most commonly in adolescents and young adults, characterized by fever, sore throat and fatigue. It is caused by the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) or the cytomegalovirus (CMV). It is typically transmitted through saliva or blood, often through kissing, or or by sharing a drinking glass, an eating utensil or a needle. The virus is also found in the mucus of the infected person, so it is also easily spread through coughing or sneezing. It is estimated that 95% of adults in the world have been infected with the Epstein-Barr virus at some point in their lives.
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Dengue Fever
Dengue and dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) are acute febrile diseases, found in the tropics, with a geographical spread similar to malaria. Caused by one of four closely related virus serotypes of the genus Flavivirus, family Flaviviridae, each serotype is sufficiently different that there is no cross-protection and epidemics caused by multiple serotypes (hyperendemicity) can occur. Dengue is transmitted to humans by the mosquito Aedes aegypti (rarely Aedes albopictus).
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Colorado Tick Fever
In medicine Colorado Tick Fever is an illness caused by a virus carried by small mammals, such as ground squirrels, porcupines, and chipmunks, and by ticks.
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Common Cold
A cold is a mild viral infectious disease of the nose and throat, the upper respiratory system. It is different from influenza, a more severe viral infection of the respiratory tract that shows the additional symptoms of rapidly rising fever, chills, and body and muscle aches.
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Epstein Barr
The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), also called Human herpesvirus 4 (HHV-4), is a virus of the herpes family (which includes Herpes simplex virus and Cytomegalovirus), and one of the most common viruses in humans. Most people become infected at one point with EBV, which is often harmless. It is named after M.A. Epstein and Y.M. Barr, who, along with B.G. Achong, discovered the virus in 1964.
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West Nile Virus
West Nile virus is a newly emergent virus of the family Flaviviridae, found in both tropical and temperate regions. It mainly infects birds, but is also the cause of a number of conditions in humans, horses, and some other mammals. It is transmitted by bites of infected mosquitoes.
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Shingles
Herpes zoster, colloquially known as shingles, is the reactivation of varicella zoster virus, leading to a crop of painful blisters over the area of a dermatome. It occurs very rarely in children and adults, but its incidence is high in the elderly, as well as in any age group of immunocompromised patients. Treatment is generally with acyclovir. Many develop a painful condition termed postherpetic neuralgia.
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Measles
Measles, also known as rubeola, is a common disease caused by a virus of the genus Morbillivirus.
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Chicken Pox
Chicken pox, also spelled chickenpox, is a common childhood disease caused by the varicella-zoster virus (VZV), also known as human herpes virus 3 (HHV-3), one of the eight herpesviruses known to affect humans. It is characterized by a fever followed by itchy raw pox or open sores.
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Smallpox
Smallpox (also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera) is a highly contagious disease unique to humans. It is caused by two virus variants called Variola major and Variola minor. V. major is the more deadly form, with a typical mortality of 20-40 percent of those infected. The other type, V. minor, only kills 1% of its victims. Many survivors are left blind in one or both eyes from corneal ulcerations, and persistent skin scarring - pockmarks - is nearly universal. Smallpox was responsible for an estimated 300-500 million deaths in the 20th century. As recently as 1967, The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that 15 million people contracted the disease and that two million died in that year.
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Strep Throat
The group A streptococcus bacterium (Streptococcus pyogenes) is responsible for most cases of streptococcal illness. Other types (B, C, D, and G) may also cause infection. Group B streptococci cause most streptococcal infections in newborns and maternal post-labor/delivery infections.
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Pneumonia Basics
Pneumonia (the ancient Greek word for lungs) is defined as an infection involving the alveoli of the lungs. It occurs in patients of all age groups, but young children and the elderly, as well as immunocompromised and immune deficient patients, are especially at risk. Causal therapy is with antibiotics.
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Klebsiella pneumoniae
Klebsiella pneumoniae is a gram-negative rod-shaped bacteria, and clinically the most important member of the Klebsiella genus of Enterobacteriaceae. It can cause pneumonia although it more commonly implicated in hospital-acquired urinary tract and wound infections, particularly in people with weakened immune systems. It is an increasing problem on hospitals because of the evolution of antibiotic resistant strains.
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Streptococcus pneumoniae
Streptococcus pneumoniae is a species of Streptococcus that is a major human pathogen. It was recognized as a major cause of pneumonia in the 1880s, and is the subject of many humoral immunity studies.
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Jiroveci Pneumonia
Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia (PCP) is a form of pneumonia which is caused by a microorganism called Pneumocystis jiroveci (formerly known as Pneumocystis carinii). It is relatively rare in normal, immunocompetent people but common among people infected with HIV (the virus which causes AIDS). In that population, before the advent of effective treatment, it was a common immediate cause of death, and can still be the first indication of AIDS, though it does not generally occur unless the CD4 count is less than 200/mm?.
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Mycoplasma Pneumoniae
Mycoplasma pneumoniae is a very small bacterium, in the class Mollicutes. This class of organisms lack a peptidoglycan cell wall present on all other firmicute bacteria. Instead, it has a three layer cell membrane which incorporates cholesterol compounds, similar to eukaryotic cells. Lacking a cell wall, these organisms are resistant to the effects of penicillins and other beta-lactam antibiotics, which act by disrupting the bacterial cell wall.
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Aspiration Pneumonia
Aspiration pneumonia is a specific form of pneumonia that develop when gastric contents, food, saliva, or nasal secretions are aspirated into the bronchial tree. Depending on the acidity of the aspirate, a chemical pneumonitis develops, and bacterial pathogens (including anaerobic bacteria) further add to the inflammation.
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Influenza
Influenza (or as it is commonly known, the flu or the grippe) is a contagious disease caused by an RNA virus of the orthomyxoviridae family. It rapidly spreads around the world in seasonal epidemics, imposing considerable economic burden in the form of health care costs and lost productivity. Major genetic changes in the virus have caused three flu pandemics in the 20th century, killing many millions of people. The name comes from the old medical belief in unfavourable astrological influences as the cause of the disease.
Flu Symptoms
The virus attacks the respiratory tract, is transmitted from person to person by saliva droplets expelled by coughing, and causes the following symptoms of the flu:
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Scarlet fever (Scarlatina)
Scarlet fever is a streptococcal infection that occurs most often in association with a sore throat and rarely with impetigo or other streptococcal infections. It is characterized by sore throat, fever and a rash over the upper body that may spread to cover almost the entire body.
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Spanish Flu (Swine Flu)
Swine Flu is a form of influenza. Although swine flu is normally virulent only in pigs, it is thought to have crossed over to humans in the early part of the 20th century, causing the Spanish Flu pandemic. Estimates of the worldwide death toll from the Spanish Flu range up to 100 million people. The death toll was particularly high among young, healthy adults.
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Hong Kong Flu
The Hong Kong Flu was a pandemic outbreak of influenza that began in Hong Kong in 1968 and spread to the United States of America that year. The outbreak ended the following year, in 1969.
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Chicken Flu (Bird Flu)
The Chicken flu is an avian flu that can affect humans. It is deadly and has been reported in Southeast Asia. The first cases were reported in Hong Kong.
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Asian Flu
The Asian Flu was a pandemic outbreak of influenza that originated in China in 1957 and spread worldwide (including to the United States of America) that same year. The virus lasted until 1958.
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