Sterile Procedures
LESSON 1: Communicable Diseases
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1-4. COMMUNICABLE DISEASES
A communicable disease is an illness that can be transmitted from one person to another person, from an animal to a person, or from a person to an animal. Communicable diseases can be divided into the following five groups.
a. Respiratory Diseases. Respiratory diseases are usually transmitted from person to person by discharges from the nose, mouth, throat, or lungs of an infected person. Examples of communicable respiratory diseases include the common cold, influenza (flu), pneumonia, streptococcal throat infection (strep), and tuberculosis (TB).
b. Intestinal Diseases. Intestinal diseases are usually transmitted by food or water that is contaminated by the feces or urine of an infected person or animal. Examples of communicable intestinal diseases include typhoid, cholera, and dysentery.
c. Insect-Borne Diseases. Insect-borne diseases are transmitted from a person to another person or from an animal to a person by insects. Examples of communicable insect-borne diseases include malaria (transmitted by mosquitoes), yellow fever (transmitted by mosquitoes), typhus (transmitted by lice), Rocky Mountain spotted fever (transmitted by ticks), and plague (transmitted by fleas). Ticks and mites are not true insects, but are generally called insects because of their resemblance to true insects.
d. Sexually Transmitted Diseases. These diseases are usually transmitted from person to person by sexual intercourse. Examples include syphilis, gonorrhea (clap), and chancroid.
e. Bloodborne Diseases. For more on such diseases as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis B virus (HBV) and how to protect yourself against them, see Section III of this lesson.
f. Miscellaneous Diseases. Miscellaneous communicable diseases consist of communicable diseases that do not fall into any of the other five groups. Diseases such as tetanus (lockjaw) and rabies fall into this group.
