health threats

There are potential and very real threats for viruses and bacterial diseases to affect people across the globe. Another epidemic of the plague or Ebola, or a new influenza pandemic, or many other kinds of epidemics are not just probabilities but likely realities. It is uncertain when and where one of these will occur or whether they will be contracted from contact with insects, parasites, animals, or from person to person, but the likelihood of a lethal epidemic is high.

Epidemic

Edit An epidemic is a widespread occurrence of an infectious disease in a community at a particular time. An epidemic is an event in which a disease is actively spreading through one or more population. In recent years, various areas of the globe have suffered from epidemics of Influenza, Yellow Fever, and Ebola Virus.

Pandemic

A pandemic is how a disease spreads geographically and how it affects a whole country or the entire world. The Black Death, the 1918 Spanish Flu, and HIV/AIDS are all considered to have been pandemics.

Endemic

Edit An epidemic is a widespread occurrence of an infectious disease in a community at a particular time. An epidemic is an event in which a disease is actively spreading through one or more population. In recent years, various areas of the globe have suffered from epidemics of Influenza, Yellow Fever, and Ebola Virus.

Disease

A disease is a disorder of structure or function in a human, animal, or plant, especially one that produces specific signs or symptoms, or that affects a specific location and is not simply a direct result of physical injury. There are four main types of disease:

  • Infectious diseases
  • Deficiency diseases
  • Hereditary diseases, Including genetic and non-genetic
  • Physiological diseases

Bacteria

Bacteria is a large group of unicellular microorganisms that have cell walls but lack organelles and an organized nucleus, including some that can cause disease. Bacterial infections have many things in common with viral infections. Bacteria can cause anywhere from mild to severe, symptoms and are sometimes even deadly.

Virus

A virus is an infective agent that typically consists of a nucleic acid molecule in a protein coat, is too small to be seen by light microscopy, and is able to multiply only with the living cells of a host. Viruses or viral infections, affect the body by attacking your cells. They can cause mild to severe symptoms and in extreme cases, death. Viruses can affect only certain cells in your body such as those of your upper respiratory system, causing common cold symptoms or they can affect your whole body. An example of this is when someone has an influenza virus and gets a fever with all over body aches and muscle soreness. A virus can cause serious illness by attacking a particular system in your body such as the nervous or circulatory system.

Infection

An infection happens when a foreign organism enters a person’s body and causes harm. The organism uses the host’s body to sustain it while it reproduces and colonizes. These infectious organisms are also known as pathogens. Bacteria, viruses, fungi and prions are examples of pathogens that can multiply and adapt quickly.