InfectiousDisease.ca

Learn about infectious diseases in plain English

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  • Start
    • Causes of disease
      • Two kinds of disease
      • Infectious disease
      • Non-communicable
      • Helpful to harmful
      • Different reactions
      • Different environments
    • How scientists learn
      • On giant’s shoulders
      • I have a logical idea!
      • They don’t understand
      • We need experiments
      • What is peer review?
      • One step at a time
    • Using this web site
      • Big & complicated
      • Learn the principles
      • Understand examples
      • Explore
      • Apply your learning
    • Important words
      • Got/caught/infected
      • Bacterium, virus, …
      • Got the ‘Flu ?
      • Many kinds of E. coli
      • How contagious?
      • Vaccinate / inoculate
      • Antibiotics & drugs
      • Acute or chronic?
      • Opportunists
    • Important ideas
      • Ideas aren’t facts
      • A problem with logic
      • A problem with ego
      • Coincidence or cause?
      • Is it the cause?
      • Best understanding
      • Prevent/protect/treat
      • Self-interest
      • Health for all
  • Disease
    • Biggest killers
      • e.g. Diarrhoea
      • e.g. Tuberculosis
      • e.g. Pneumonia
    • Very dangerous
      • e.g. Measles
      • e.g. Smallpox
      • e.g. Streptococcus
      • e.g. Clostridium/C.diff.
    • Can be mild but …
      • e.g. Enterovirus 68
      • e.g. Polio
      • e.g. Chickenpox
      • e.g. Roundworm
    • Epidemic & pandemic
      • e.g. Influenza
      • e.g.Tuberculosis
      • e.g. Plague
      • e.g. Ebola
    • Ignored by the rich?
      • e.g. Buruli ulcer
      • e.g. Elephantiasis
      • e.g. Chagas disease
      • e.g. Sleeping sickness
    • They make you sick
      • e.g. Rotavirus
      • e.g. The common cold
      • e.g. Pinworm
      • e.g. Some diarrhoea
    • There is a vaccine
      • e.g. Measles
      • e.g. Pneumococcus
      • e.g. Whooping cough
      • e.g. Rabies
    • No vaccine for these
      • e.g. Chagas disease
      • e.g. Chikungunya
      • e.g. Leishmaniasis
      • e.g. Tuberculosis/BCG
    • They cause cancer
      • e.g. Papillomavirus
      • e.g. Hepatitis viruses
      • e.g. Helicobacter pylori
  • Cause
    • Bacteria
      • What are bacteria?
      • Container + contents
      • The container
      • A bacterium’s lifestyle
      • Life & death with oxygen
      • Harmful or helpful?
      • How they spread
      • How they do harm
      • They protect themselves!
    • Viruses
      • What are viruses?
      • Shell + stuff inside
      • Naked or enveloped
      • Life without living
      • DNA or RNA?
      • They are everywhere
      • How can they move?
      • They hijack our cells
      • Damage control
      • Deception & Detection
    • Traveling DNA
      • In viruses
      • In plasmids
      • Naked DNA
      • Antibiotic resistance
      • Virulence
      • More about this
    • Fungi
      • What are fungi?
      • Microfungi
      • Opportunists
      • Mild & serious
    • Small parasites
      • What are protozoa?
      • Parasitic protozoa
      • How do we get them?
      • Humans, insects & more
      • The damage they cause
      • Protozoan trickery
    • Parasitic worms
      • What are helminths?
      • Round, flat & segmented
      • Life as a worm
      • How do we get worms?
      • They may not be ours!
      • Snails, mammals & more
      • They harm/inflame/block
      • Adults, sex & offspring
      • Getting rid of worms
    • Prions
      • What are prions?
      • Prions & our brains
      • How we get prion disease
      • Preventing tragedy
  • Animals
    • Insects
      • Anopheles mosquitoes
      • Aedes mosquitoes
      • Culex mosquitoes
      • Fleas
      • Lice
      • Ticks
      • Tsetse/black/sand flies
      • Kissing bugs
      • Punctures/bites/feces
    • Bats/birds
      • Bats & habitat change
      • Wild & domestic birds
    • Snails/shellfish/fish
      • Snails & habitat change
      • Shellfish & food safety
      • Fish/sushi & food safety
    • Pigs/sheep/cattle/camels
      • Pigs, Trichinella …
      • Sheep & helminths
      • Cattle & bacteria
      • Camels & MERS-CoV
    • Dogs/cats/mice/rats
      • Dogs, rabies …
      • Cats, Toxoplasma …
      • Mice, Lyme disease, …
      • Rats, plague, …
    • Other animals
  • Prevent
    • Cleanliness
      • Wash your hands
      • Filth-borne disease
      • The fecal-oral route
      • Flies, eyes & hands
      • Picking your nose
      • Insects can smell you
      • Soap & chemicals
      • The hygiene hypothesis
    • Clean water
      • Water-borne disease
      • Water contamination
      • Water can protect us
      • Who lacks water?
      • Climate & drought
      • Disaster & disease
    • Where you live
      • What is sanitation?
      • Insects, water & filth
      • Rats, mice & other pests
      • Toilets & latrines
      • Endemic disease
      • Not only climate change
      • Enzootic disease
    • Nets/screens/spraying
      • Bed nets
      • Screens
      • Indoor residual spraying
      • What about outside?
    • Healthy body
      • Malnutrition
      • Fatigue
      • Stress
      • Immune disorders
      • HIV/AIDs + TB or …
    • Healthy mind
      • War, conflict & disaster
      • Stress & its effects
      • Depression & immunity
  • Protect
    • Immunity
      • Innate = 1st responders
      • Acquired & adaptive
      • ’B’ cells & antibodies
      • ’T’ cells & messages
      • SOS from infected cells
      • Like a giant orchestra
      • When immunity fails
    • Vaccines
      • History
      • Better natural immunity
      • Cowpox, smallpox & …
      • ’Attenuated’
      • ’Inactivated’
      • ’Recombinant’
      • How many vaccines?
      • Some don’t work well
      • Some don’t exist
    • Young & old
      • Infants
      • Children
      • Elderly
      • Other vulnerable groups
    • Mass drug administration
      • e.g. Malaria in Uganda
      • e.g. Onchocerciasis & ivermectin
      • Drug resistance
      • Drug toxicity
      • e.g. Onchocerciasis & Loa loa
  • Treat
    • Antibiotics
      • A short history
      • ‘Cidal or ‘static?
      • Who/what is ‘resistant’?
      • Use, misuse & abuse
      • XDR/pan-drug resistance
      • A post-antibiotic world?
    • Other drugs
      • Damage to our own cells
      • Antifungals
      • Antivirals
      • Antiparasitics
    • Antibodies plus ..
      • Vaccines after infection
      • A mother’s antibodies
      • Antitoxins
      • Antibody therapy
      • Designer antibodies
    • Phage therapy
      • What are phage?
      • A Russian connection
      • The fall & rise of phage
      • Examples of success
    • Supportive care
      • Self-repair required
      • How does it work?
      • Cholera & ORT
      • Ebola
      • Other diseases
  • Explore
    • On-line courses
      • Coursera
      • edX
      • FutureLearn
    • On-line talks
      • Gresham College
      • TED talks
      • YouTube
    • Other on-line resources
    • Societies
    • Books …
    • Other learning
  • Quick find
    • A to Z
    • Diseases
    • Drugs & resistance
    • Bacteria
    • Viruses
    • Fungi
    • Parasites
  • Random

Prevent | Clean water | 5.2.5 – Climate & drought

5.2.4 - Who lacks water?    ⇠   5.2.5   ⇢    5.2.6 - Disaster & disease
Some text.

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  • Disease
  • Cause
  • Animals
  • Prevent
    • Cleanliness
    • Clean water
      • Water-borne disease
      • Water contamination
      • Water can protect us
      • Who lacks water?
      • Climate & drought
      • Disaster & disease
    • Where you live
    • Nets/screens/spraying
    • Healthy body
    • Healthy mind
  • Protect
  • Treat
  • Explore
  • Quick find
  • Random

Random topic …

Egyptian fruit bats
Image source | License CC by-SA 3.0
Scientists are quite sure these bats can carry Marburg virus, which causes a hemorrhagic fever in humans, which is like Ebola virus disease. In fact Marburg & Ebola viruses are related.

By 'carry', scientists mean that bats get infected with the virus but don't become nearly as ill as humans. Then they can pass the virus on to humans in several ways, such as by their fecal droppings. Once infected, humans pass it to other humans by body secretions such as blood.

Not surprisingly, bats that carry Marburg virus are related to bats that carry Ebola virus. Both viruses are found in Africa & are very dangerous. Different kinds of bats can carry other dangerous viruses, such as rabies, Nipah & Hendra viruses. (Most of the time, humans get rabies from wild animals or dogs). Bats can be involved in passing on other diseases. E. ., they can pass on the fungus that causes lung disease histoplasmosis,

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