Bacterial diseases are often treatable with antibiotics, though antibiotic resistance can sometimes complicate treatment. Viral diseases are sometimes treatable with vaccines.
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Bacterial Diseases |
Mode of Transmission |
Symptoms |
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Airborne water droplets |
Fatigue, persistent cough, bleeding in lungs; can be fatal |
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Airborne water droplets |
Fever, sore throat, fatigue |
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Airborne water droplets |
Rash, fever, sore throat |
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Fleas |
Fever, weakness, headache, progression into bubonic, septicemic, and pneumonic forms. |
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Lice |
Rash, chills, fever; often fatal |
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Dirty wounds |
Severe, prolonged muscle spasms |
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Contaminated water |
Severe diarrhea, vomiting; often fatal |
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Contaminated water and food |
Headaches, fever, diarrhea, rash; often fatal |
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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 |
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Ticks |
Rash, pain, swelling in joints |
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| 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 |
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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 |
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Air currents |
rash, fever |
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Measles (Red Measles) |
Air currents |
blotchy rash, high fever, congestion in nose and throat |
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Rubella (German Measles) |
Air currents |
rash, swollen glands |
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Air currents |
swollen salivary glands |
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Influenza (Flu) |
Air currents |
headache, muscle aches, sore throat, cough; can be fatal |
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Air currents |
high fever, pustules on skin; now extinct (though the U.S. and Russia have frozen samples) |
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Infectious hepatitis (Hep A) |
Contaminated food or water |
fever, chills, nausea, swollen liver, jaundice, pain in the joints |
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Contaminated food or water |
headache, stiff neck, possible paralysis |
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| Dengue fever | Mosquitoes | fever, headache, vomiting, muscle and joint pain, skin rash |
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Mosquitoes |
nausea, fever, aches, liver cell destruction; can be fatal |
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| Ebola | Contact with bodily fluids, consumption of bush meat | fever, sore throat, muscle pain, headache followed by vomiting, diarrhea, rash, internal bleeding |
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Exchange of bodily fluids |
immune system failure; often fatal due to secondary infections |
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Protist Diseases |
Host |
Organism |
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Humans |
Entamoeba |
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Humans |
Plasmodium |
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Humans, cats |
Toxoplasma |
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Humans |
Giardia |
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Humans, tsetse flies |
Trypanosoma |
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Humans, sand flies |
Leishmania |
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