InfectiousDisease.ca
Learn about infectious diseases in plain English
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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
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