Transmissible Diseases and their Vectors

Bacterial diseases are often treatable with antibiotics, though antibiotic resistance can sometimes complicate treatment. Viral diseases are sometimes treatable with vaccines.

Bacterial Diseases

Mode of Transmission

Symptoms

Tuberculosis

Airborne water droplets

Fatigue, persistent cough, bleeding in lungs; can be fatal

Diphtheria

Airborne water droplets

Fever, sore throat, fatigue

Scarlet Fever

Airborne water droplets

Rash, fever, sore throat

Plague

Fleas

Fever, weakness, headache, progression into bubonic, septicemic, and pneumonic forms.

Typhus

Lice

Rash, chills, fever; often fatal

Tetanus

Dirty wounds

Severe, prolonged muscle spasms

Cholera

Contaminated water

Severe diarrhea, vomiting; often fatal

Typhoid

Contaminated water and food

Headaches, fever, diarrhea, rash; often fatal

Hanson's Disease (Leprosy)

Personal contact

Nerve damage, skin lesions, tissue degeneration

Hantavirus Bite or contact with rodent waste products Fever, chills, sweaty palms, diarrhea, malaise, headaches, nausea, abdominal and back pain, respiratory problems

Lyme Disease

Ticks

Rash, pain, swelling in joints

Syphilis Sexual transmission Chancre sores, rash, later no visible symptoms, late stage can involve inflammation and involvement of central nervous system
Gonorrhea Sexual transmission Often no symptoms, or burning sensation during urination, many late symptoms if untreated
 

Viral Diseases

Mode of Transmission

Symptoms

COVID-19 Airborne (droplets) fever, dry cough, fatigue, shortness of breath
Zika virus mosquito or sexual transmission fever, red eyes, joint pain, headache, rash, but often no symptoms; can cause microcephaly in unborn children
H5N1 (Bird Flu) Airborne, originated in poultry fever, cough, sore throat, muscle aches, conjunctivitis
H1N1 (Swine Flu) Airborne, originated in pigs headache, muscle aches, sore throat, cough
SARS Airborne (droplets) fever, muscle ache, lethargy, cough, sore throat

Chickenpox

Air currents

rash, fever

Measles (Red Measles)

Air currents

blotchy rash, high fever, congestion in nose and throat

Rubella (German Measles)

Air currents

rash, swollen glands

Mumps

Air currents

swollen salivary glands

Influenza (Flu)

Air currents

headache, muscle aches, sore throat, cough; can be fatal

Smallpox

Air currents

high fever, pustules on skin; now extinct (though the U.S. and Russia have frozen samples)

Infectious hepatitis (Hep A)

Contaminated food or water

fever, chills, nausea, swollen liver, jaundice, pain in the joints

Polio

Contaminated food or water

headache, stiff neck, possible paralysis

Dengue fever Mosquitoes fever, headache, vomiting, muscle and joint pain, skin rash

Yellow fever

Mosquitoes

nausea, fever, aches, liver cell destruction; can be fatal

Ebola Contact with bodily fluids, consumption of bush meat fever, sore throat, muscle pain, headache followed by vomiting, diarrhea, rash, internal bleeding

AIDS

Exchange of bodily fluids

immune system failure; often fatal due to secondary infections

 

Protist Diseases

Host

Organism

Amoebic dysentery

Humans

Entamoeba

Malaria

Humans

Plasmodium

Toxoplasmosis

Humans, cats

Toxoplasma

Giardiasis

Humans

Giardia

African sleeping sickness

Humans, tsetse flies

Trypanosoma

Leishmaniasis

Humans, sand flies

Leishmania