Pathogens and Infectious Diseases
Introduced| English |
|---|
| pathogen/ˈpæθədʒn/ |
| Infectious diseases/ɪnˈfekʃəs dɪˈziːzɪz/ |
| waterborne/ˈwɔːtəbɔːn/ |
| vector/ˈvektə/ |
The living causes of disease
- Many diseases are caused by living things.
- A pathogen 病原体 is an organism that causes disease.
- Bacteria, viruses, and parasites are all pathogens.
- Infectious diseases 传染病 spread from one host to another.
Waterborne diseases
- A waterborne 水传播 disease spreads through dirty water.
- Cholera and typhoid spread when sewage taints drinking water.
- People fall ill after drinking the contaminated water.
- Clean water and sewage treatment are the best defence.
A pathogen is…
A pathogen is a disease-causing organism — a bacterium, virus, or parasite.
Vector-borne diseases
- A vector 媒介 is an animal that carries a pathogen.
- Mosquitoes carry malaria and dengue from person to person.
- Ticks carry Lyme disease.
- Controlling the vector helps control the disease.
Waterborne or vector-borne?
Sort each disease by how it spreads - through water or through an animal carrier.
A waterborne disease like cholera spreads through…
Waterborne diseases spread when people drink water tainted with sewage or pathogens.
An animal that carries a pathogen from host to host, like a mosquito, is a ____.
A vector (like a mosquito or tick) carries a pathogen and passes it to new hosts.
Prevention
- Safe drinking water stops most waterborne disease.
- Sewage treatment keeps pathogens out of water supplies.
- Controlling mosquitoes cuts vector-borne disease.
- Vaccines and clean living conditions protect people too.
Clean water and good sewage treatment prevent many infectious diseases.
Safe water and proper sewage treatment stop waterborne pathogens, preventing disease.
Select all vector-borne diseases.
Malaria, dengue, and Lyme spread through animal vectors. Cholera is waterborne.
Sorting by how it spreads tells you how to stop it. A waterborne disease (cholera, typhoid) is beaten with clean water and sewage treatment. A vector-borne disease (malaria, dengue) is beaten by controlling the vector — draining mosquito breeding pools, nets, repellents. Attack the wrong route and the disease keeps spreading, so identifying the transmission path is the first step.
Two outbreaks, two solutions:
- A town's water is tainted by leaking sewage, and cholera breaks out — a waterborne disease. The fix is clean water and proper sewage treatment.
- A tropical village suffers malaria — carried by mosquitoes, a vector-borne disease. The fix is nets, repellents, and draining the still water where mosquitoes breed.
- The pathogen differs, and so does the cure — because the route differs.
A pathogen is a disease-causing organism (bacterium, virus, parasite), and infectious diseases spread between hosts. Waterborne diseases (cholera, typhoid) spread through dirty water and are stopped by clean water and sewage treatment. Vector-borne diseases (malaria, dengue) spread by a vector like a mosquito and are stopped by controlling that carrier.