How can we protect ourselves from infectious diseases?

Learn these healthy habits to protect yourself from disease and prevent germs and infectious diseases from spreading.

Handle & Prepare Food Safely.
Wash Hands Often.
Clean & Disinfect Commonly Used Surfaces.
Cough & Sneeze Into Your Sleeve.
Don’t Share Personal Items.
Get Vaccinated.
Avoid Touching Wild Animals.

What are the common methods of transmission of diseases?

Examples of direct contact are touching, kissing, sexual contact, contact with oral secretions, or contact with body lesions. Indirect contact infections spread when an infected person sneezes or coughs, sending infectious droplets into the air.

Can a virus reproduce?

A virus is a tiny, infectious particle that can reproduce only by infecting a host cell. Viruses “commandeer” the host cell and use its resources to make more viruses, basically reprogramming it to become a virus factory. Because they can’t reproduce by themselves (without a host), viruses are not considered living.

What is the best method for preventing the spread of infection?

The most important way to reduce the spread of infections is hand washing – frequently wash hands with soap and water, if unavailable use alcohol-based hand sanitizer (containing at least 60% alcohol). Also important is to get a vaccine for those infections and viruses that have one, when available.

Do viruses have a life cycle?

The life cycle of virus. The virus life cycle could be divided into six steps: attachment, penetration, uncoating, gene expression and replication, assembly, and release.

What are the four major types of germs?

The four major types of germs are bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protozoa. They can invade plants, animals, and people, and sometimes they can make us sick. Bacteria (say: BAK-teer-ee-uh) are tiny, one-celled creatures that get nutrients from their environments in order to live.

What are 3 characteristics of viruses?

Characteristics

Non living structures.
Non-cellular.
Contain a protein coat called the capsid.
Have a nucleic acid core containing DNA or RNA (one or the other – not both)
Capable of reproducing only when inside a HOST cell.

What are the most common contagious diseases?

Keep these eight highly contagious diseases on your radar and find out how to prevent them.

Norovirus (“Stomach Flu”)
Influenza.
Meningitis.
Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD)
Pertussis.
Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs)
MRSA.
Tuberculosis (TB)

What are the 7 pathogens?

Infectious diseases are caused by pathogens, which include bacteria, fungi, protozoa, worms, viruses, and even infectious proteins called prions.

What all viruses have in common?

All viruses contain nucleic acid, either DNA or RNA (but not both), and a protein coat, which encases the nucleic acid. Some viruses are also enclosed by an envelope of fat and protein molecules. In its infective form, outside the cell, a virus particle is called a virion.

What are the 4 most common causes of infectious diseases?

Infectious diseases can be caused by:

Bacteria. These one-cell organisms are responsible for illnesses such as strep throat, urinary tract infections and tuberculosis.
Viruses. Even smaller than bacteria, viruses cause a multitude of diseases ranging from the common cold to AIDS.
Fungi.
Parasites.

What are the four methods for spreading diseases?

Infectious diseases can spread in a variety of ways: through the air, from direct or indirect contact with another person, soiled objects, skin or mucous membrane, saliva, urine, blood and body secretions, through sexual contact, and through contaminated food and water.