We all have certain responsibilities in life depending on our age, social condition; job occupied, marital status and other factors. However all of us share one the same responsibility which is not always realized and comprehended by every person. This obligation includes taking care of oneself and staying healthy. In the following article I am going to discuss infectious diseases. They are the common denominator that we all must have to confront or else the propensity of the havoc would continue unabated, at least to say the least!

So, if one may hazard a guess, what really are these little foxes, perhaps, described by the ancient song writer in coded tones, which ruins the vine which had been bequeathed to humans as the gift of nature! Well, not to over flog the issue, these little foxes, I would say, are the negative elements called the bacteria, viruses, parasites, protozoan, which are all members of the human ecosystems but make their presence known in a negative manner. The net effect of their actions could be very devastating causing serious humanitarian conditions which are grave! Thus, their actions cannot be overemphasized.

To put it straight, what is an infectious disease? To do this in a word or two it is important to note some synonyms which might be used interchanging in the course of this discussion. An infectious disease or communicable or transferable disease could be described as a disease whose cause is known with well defined signs and symptoms. The causative agents could be bacteria, viruses but there has to be a susceptible host who on contact with a certain dose of the agent manifest the disease. There may or may not be a vector. It is worth noting that infectious diseases may be spread by direct contact with an infected person by ingesting contaminated food or water, by insects like mosquitoes or ticks or by contact with contaminated surrounding like animal droppings or contaminated air.

In addition infectious diseases are wide spread, differing largely depending on geographical locations, since living conditions and standards differ in throughout the continents of the world, while some are prevalent on the African continent because of the idiosyncrasies of the African situations, those same diseases might be rare in other regions. For instance, African trypanosomiasis, malaria, measles, poliomyelitis, pertusis, tetanus, tuberculosis Guinea worm, diphtheria, are highly prevalent on the African scene, while these are rare in the western world! Although, there are now some pockets of cases of tuberculosis in some parts of Europe, while infectious conditions like Lime’s disease, homophiles influenza b are more common in Europe. A close look at these conditions will point to the fact that living conditions in these parts of the world contribute a great deal to the prevalence of these conditions. Another good example is Chagas disease which is very rampart in South America due to the nature of their houses. The South American trypanosome lives in the cracks of mud houses and as such able to infect humans. So, there is a strong correlation between standards of living and the prevalence of these “negative elements”.

Mary Anne Winslow is a member of Essay Writing Service counselling department team and a dissertation writing consultant. Contact her to get free counselling on custom essay writing.