A communicable disease is a disease that spreads from one person to another person or an animal. So, these illnesses are caused by pathogens, including viruses, bacteria, and fungi. This article would explain what communicable disorders are. You will also learn about the measures for the Prevention of Communicable Diseases.
What are communicable diseases?
Pathogens, including microbes, viruses, fungi and protists, cause communicable diseases.
An individual can develop a communicable disease after pathogen infection. This could happen through:
- Close contact with the person carrying the pathogen
- Contact with infected fluids, such as blood, mucus, or saliva
- Inhalation of infected droplets from cough or sneezing of another person
- Receiving a bite from an animal or an insect carrying a pathogen
- Using contaminated water or food
If a pathogen has entered the body of a human, it will begin to replicate. The person will then begin to experience symptoms.
Some symptoms are the direct consequence of the pathogen causing damage to the cells of the body. Others are attributed to the immune response of the body to the infection.
Communicable diseases are usually mild, with symptoms occurring within a few days. However, others can be serious and life-threatening. But these Communicable Diseases have prevention. Let’s find how.
Measures for the prevention communicable diseases
1. Wash Your Hands
Many people may not know that microbes can reside on surfaces anywhere for several months. It depends on the environment and the pathogen’s form.
This means that certain viruses and bacteria may remain on surfaces that you touch daily. These include your computer keyboard, light switch, or the pedestrian crossing button.
Hand-to-face transmission is among the most common ways to transmit communicable diseases. We advise frequent hand washing to minimize the pathogen’s transmission to the mouth, eyes, or nose.
2. Avoid Sharing Personal Items
Toothbrushes, towels, razors, tissues can all be sources of communicable diseases. They can contain bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites. People refer to these items as fomites. It is a term used to classify objects or products that are likely to cause contamination.
Many pathogens have a low chance of transmission to fomites. Some pathogens widely transmit through this way. This includes the following:
- Clostridium difficile
- Escherichia coli; (E. coli)
- A disease of the hand, foot, and mouth
- Head lice
- Hepatitis B virus (HBV)
- Influenza
- Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)
- Rhinoviruses (associated with the common cold)
- Scabies:
- Staphylococcal skin infection
- Streptococcus
It is important to teach the children not to put toys and items in their mouths.
3. Cover Your Mouth
Healthy hygiene requires personal cleanliness. It also needs the age-old practice of covering your mouth as you cough or sneeze. Hence, droplets transmit many respiratory infections. Some of the droplets may be small enough to become aerosolized and travel long distances.
The risk is higher for upper respiratory tract infections in which virus or bacterial particles live mostly in the nose and mouth. But even lower respiratory tract infections, such as tuberculosis, can spread effectively.
To prevent the spread of respiratory infections, the CDC recommends that you cover your mouth with your arm, sleeve, or elbow crook instead of using your bare hands.
4. Wear a Face Mask
Face masks have become part of people’s normal lives with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the advantages of this practice is that it helped slow the spread of coronavirus. It also led to a sharp reduction in influenza cases during the 2020-2021 influenza season.
Face masks protect you to avoid infectious respiratory diseases. Also, they keep you from infecting others if you are sick. You should wear a face mask in any situation where you have respiratory problems and cannot quarantine yourself.
5. Practice Food Safety
Food-borne illnesses often arise from poor food preparation. Most people do not know that most gastroenteritis cases in adults are likely food poisoning.
Microbes thrive on virtually all food products, particularly food left at room temperature. Prompt refrigeration will usually slow or interrupt the growth of most microbes.
The use of separate cutting boards—one for raw meat and the other for produce- avoids cross-contamination. To avoid illness:
- Make sure to keep your countertops immaculately clean
- Wash your hands regularly
- Wash all the raw fruits and vegetables before you eat
If you have a weak immune system, you may need to go one step further. Cook meat well and peel or scrape all vegetables and fruit. This precaution is necessary for pregnant women, the elderly and young children at increased risk of food poisoning.
6. Travel Safely
You can easily pick up the communicable disease while travelling. Be careful, especially when travelling to resource-limited countries. There are things that you should do to reduce the risk:
Be careful about water. If your destination’s water quality is questionable, use bottled water for drinking and brushing. You will also need to avoid ice cubes that may be contaminated.
Avoid raw or uncooked meat or fish. Always eat well-cooked food. Even if the fish has been “freshly caught” and looks ideal for seviche, there is a risk of contamination.
Avoid raw vegetables and fruit. When you eat fruit, pick those that can be peeled. But make sure that the peel does not contact the rest of the fruit while peeling.
Finally, make sure to update all travel immunizations recommended for your destination. You can find them on the CDC or the doctor’s website.
7. Avoid Animal-Borne Diseases
Infections that can spread from animals to humans, or zoonotic diseases, are more common than people know. If you have animals, make sure they get daily check-ups and their vaccines are up to date.
Clean litter boxes regularly and keep children safe from animal feces. If you are pregnant or immunocompromised, someone else can take care of the litter box. Cat feces are also the cause of toxoplasmosis and cytomegalovirus (CMV).
Wild animals also pose risks, including rabies, bird flu, and flea or tick-borne diseases. To better prevent this from occurring, make your house “unfriendly” to the rodents by eliminating places where they could hide or build nests.
Use animal-proof trash cans to prevent attracting wildlife. And teach little children that they should never approach or touch wild animals.
The Bottom Line: Prevention of Communicable Diseases
Communicable diseases are diseases that may occur from person to person. The pathogens that cause these diseases can spread in different ways. These include through the air, contact with infected objects or surfaces, or animal and insect bites.
Many communicable diseases cause minor signs that go away without medication. Others need treatment to prevent them from becoming more severe.
There are steps a person should take to reduce the risk of developing and transmitting virus pathogens. This includes receiving available vaccinations, the practice of regular hand washing, and maintaining good hygiene at home.
