Communicable diseases;
A communicable disease may be defined as an illness that arises from transmission of an infectious agent or its toxic product from an infected person, animal, or reservoir to a susceptible host, either directly or indirectly through an intermediate plant or animal host, vector, or environment.
Types of communicable Disease: Depending upon source:
- Respiratory Infections: e.g, Tuberculosis etc
- Intestinal Infections: e.g, Hepatitis etc
- Arthropod Borne Infections: e.g, Plague etc
- Surface Infections: e.g, Leprosy etc
- Sexually Transmitted Disease: e.g, AIDS etc
Cholera
Cholera is the prototype of diarrheal diseases, and often the two terms are used as synonyms. Although amenable to very simple treatment, cholera has caused seven pandemics, most of which have originated from India.
Agent
Vibrios are comma shaped bacteria are a group of comma shaped Gram negative, described by Robert Koch as moving 'fish in stream'. Most enterobacteria (including vibrios) have two common antigens
• their flagella (H antigen).
• a phospholipid-protein-polysaccharide complex which forms the endotoxin (O antigen).
Symptoms
Pathogenesis
The vibrios produce enterotoxin, which is a ligand for a GM1 ganglioside receptor present in the enterocytes, resulting in secretion of water, bicarbonates, sodium and potassium.
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