Communicable Diseases Flashcards
Communicable diseases, also known as
infectious diseases or transmissible diseases
illnesses that result from the infection, presence and growth of pathogenic (capable of causing disease) biologic agents in an individual human or other animal host
Communicable diseases
Leprosy
Synonym
Hansen’s disease
more formal name for leprosy;
sometimes used to avoid the dreaded name
Hansen’s disease
Leprosy Etiologic agent:
Mycobacterium leprae
Leprosy Reservoir:
Humans
Leprosy Transmission:
Aerosol spread of nasal secretions; cannot cross intact skin
Leprosy incubation period:
3 to 5 years (shorter for PL than ML)
- roughly the same as ___________ leprosy (PL) in the WHO leprosy classification system.
- characterized by discolored regions of the skin that have lost sensation
tuberculoid (neural) form
- paucibacillary
characterized by one or a few hypopigmented or hyperpigmented skin macules that exhibit loss of sensation (anesthesia) due to infection of the peripheral nerves supplying the region.
Paucibacillary (PB), or tuberculoid
- much the same as _____________ (ML) in the WHO system
- skin cells are infected, and disfiguring nodules form all over the body.
lepromatous (progressive) form
- multibacillary
Therapy for PL and ML leprosy
PL: Dapsone and Rifampicin for 6 months
ML: Dapsone, Rifampicin, and Clofazimine for 24 months
leprosy prevention
BCG vaccination: provides variable protection (34% to 80%)
- the word is from the Latin for rage or madness
- a disease that almost always results in fatal encephalitis.
Rabbies
Rabbies Reservoir:
Wild and domestic canines, skunks, raccoons, insectivorous bats
Rabbies Transmission:
Animal (dog) bite (rabies virus in saliva)
Incubation Period of Rabies:
average of 30 to 50 days; 6 years have been reported
Rabies virus enters a motor neuron and travels, at the rate of ________ mm/day, along peripheral nerves to the CNS, where it causes encephalitis.
15 to 100
- begins with fever, nausea, vomiting, headache, fatigue, and other nonspecific symptoms (mild and varied, resembling several common infections.)
- Some patients continue to experience pain, burning, prickling, or tingling sensations at the wound site.
The prodromal phase of rabbies
- the first acute signs of neurological involvement are agitation, disorientation, seizures, and twitching.
The furious phase of rabies
patient is not hyperactive but paralyzed, disoriented, and stuporous.
The dumb (numb or paralytic) phase
- detection of the viral antigen
- nearly 100% sensitive and highly specific.
- can be done on saliva samples, blood, CSF, and skin; post- mortem samples are
usually taken from the brain.
direct fluorescent-antibody (DFA) test
- requires only the use of an ordinary light microscope and has a sensitivity and specificity equivalent to the standard DFA test.
- For less- developed parts of the world by CDC
- rapid immunohistochemical test (RIT)
is one of the few infectious diseases for which a combination of passive and active postexposure immunization is indicated and successful.
- Rabies