Infections are a risk to our health. Thankfully, vaccines have limited and even eradicated many infectious diseases.
Germ Pathways
Infections can spread in air, in food, and in fluids like blood.
Floating Infections
Airborne infections like colds and flus can spread just by someone breathing. Airborne germs then land on surfaces and wait to be picked up. Some live on a surface only 5 minutes, some a few hours, and a few up to 24 hours. If you touch a surface with live germs, you can pick up the germ. If you then touch your mouth, nose, or eyes, you can infect yourself. Washing your hands before touching your face prevents the germs from infecting you.
Fluid Transport
The primary fluid that spreads disease is blood and fluid in contact with blood. Spit is a hard way to spread infections, the same with urine. Not so with solid waste---it can carry diseases. Other bodily fluids can and do carry and spread germs. This is true of infections transferred during sex.
Road Block to Infections
Our skin is a barrier to infections. Most viruses can’t get through it. The normal healthy bacteria on our skin keep bad germs under control. Few infections make it past unbroken skin. Something has to break the skin. Insects like mosquitoes and ticks spread disease because when they bite, they puncture our skin and access our blood.
Eating and Drinking Germs
Food and water also contain germs that spread disease. Use good hygiene when handling food, and think twice about sharing drinks, and never drink unpurified water. See the fall 2018 Panacea for the full story on diseases spread by food.
Where Germs Get in
Eyes
The eyes are one of the most common ways for an infection to get beneath the skin. Viruses, as they are so small, can enter the bloodstream through the eyes. This is often how we get colds and flus.
Nose and Mouth
Infections can also enter through the nose and mouth because inside your mouth is not skin, but a membrane called mucous membrane. The outer layer of skin is dead, but the mucous membrane is all live cells. It can be as thin as a single cell. Many infections make their way through these membranes.
Sensitive Equipment
Both sets of equipment for making sheet music have area of membrane instead of skin. This non-skin is thin and very touch sensitive. And it is easier for infections to cross. There is a whole class of diseases that spreads through a roll in the hay: STDs or, as they used to be known, venereal disease.
What are Germs?
Animal, Vegetable, Mineral
Germs come in three basic types: viruses, bacteria, and fungi (fungus). Viruses are the smallest and get in the easiest. Bacteria are generally larger than viruses---up to 100 times as large. Fungi (the plural of fungus) are the largest. Viruses are really just blueprints in a shell. Bacteria are one cell. A fungus can be many cells. They are more complex. In rare cases, parasites can cause infectious disease. Parasites can be a single cell or many cells.
Super Tiny, Maybe Alive - Virus
Viruses are the smallest living things, if you can call them that. They cannot reproduce outside of another living thing. Once in a living cell, they use the machinery of the cell to make parts that they assemble into copies of themselves. Viruses can even infect bacteria. Some only infect one type of animal or cell, yet others can infect many different kinds of animals. Most colds and flus are viruses.
One Live Cell - Bacteria
Bacteria are single cells that multiply by splitting themselves in two. Many bacteria help us, but some are harmful and cause disease. Most infections from food are from bacteria.
They Can Grow - Fungus
Fungus infections are normally not severe and mostly affect people with a weak immune system. The most common fungal infections are toenail fungus, which causes thickening and yellowing, and yeast infections. Fungal infections can sometimes occur after a round of antibiotics. Antibiotics kill helpful bacteria that keep the yeasts and other fungi at bay.
Diseases of Infection
Flus
The flu doesn’t seem deadly, but it kills about 3,500 Canadians each year. It is caused by a virus. There are two main types of flu viruses that cause seasonal outbreaks: types A and B. In each type, there are different strains. The A types are named in the H#N# format, as in H1N1 or H5N2. The H and N refer to the surface of the virus. The full name of a virus lists its type, source, strain, and year. For example, a virus called “A/duck/Alberta/35/76 (H1N1)” is a type A flu virus that came from a duck in Alberta, strain #35, in 1976 in the H1N1 configuration. H1N1 is a type that is included in the flu vaccine every year.
Flu Immunity
Flu vaccines are slightly different every year and are sometimes tailored by region. They usually cover 3 or 4 strains but also protect against similar flu viruses. You can’t actually get the flu from the vaccine, as the vaccine includes only parts of the virus surface so that your body will recognize it. You can get a sore arm for a day and have a few days of fatigue. Flu shots are recommended for all adults. It takes 2 weeks to get immunity from a shot, so you can’t wait until the flu is an epidemic.
D Against Flu
Vitamin D might help build resistance to the flu. This may be one reason flus come in the winter when our skin is producing less vitamin D.
Spanish Flu
A hundred years ago, a flu virus infected about ⅓ of the world and killed 50 million people. It was caused by an H1N1-type virus that also caused the swine flu a few years ago. Living in crowded spaces because of World War I, probably helped it spread. It killed 55,000 Canadians right after World War I had killed 60,000, from a population of 8 million.
Many Colds
The everyday cold is caused by over 200 different types of viruses. Although generally not a serious problem, those in poor health can progress from cold to pneumonia. The symptoms of a cold are the body’s response to the virus rather than the virus itself. Because it’s a virus, antibiotics are of no help, and there are no antiviral drugs for colds. The good news is most colds are gone in 2 weeks.
The Deadliest Disease
Smallpox was one of the deadliest diseases in history. It killed about ⅓ of the people who contracted it. In the previous century, it is estimated to have killed 300 million people. That’s more than 3 times the number killed in World Wars I and II combined! About 1,000 years ago, it spread from Asia and the Middle East to Europe. In the 1500s, smallpox nearly wiped out the Incas and the Aztecs when the Spaniards brought the infection. In the 1700 and 1800s, it killed up to 70% of Native Americans. Thankfully, it was eradicated in 1980 (except for strains kept in military labs).
Cows Help Prevent Smallpox
If you’re old enough, you likely have a dime-size scar from the smallpox vaccine. This scar resulted from the unique way the vaccine was given. A tiny sharp fork was dipped into the vaccine, and then it was pricked into the skin up to 15 times. This was covered to prevent the spread of the virus and, in 3 weeks, a scab formed, which fell off and left the scar. The word “vaccine” comes from the Latin word for cow, which was where the original (and somewhat dangerous) smallpox vaccine came from. Edward Jenner developed it in 1798 from cows with cowpox.
The Disease that Paralyzed the 1950s
Infantile paralysis, or polio, was the most feared childhood disease of the early 50s. During these years, polio epidemics ravished towns. It was unknown how the disease spread. It turns out that the newly sanitary conditions prevented early exposure to polio. Contracting polio as an older child, or rarely, as an adult, was much worse.
Polio Demonizes Drinking
The polio scare was the origin of the drinking fountain scare. At the time, it was unknown how polio spread. Because of this, people avoided drinking fountains, swimming pools, and movie theatres. In general, drinking fountains are safe if your mouth only touches the water. You’re more likely to pick up germs with your hands on the handle than with your mouth.
Vaccines
Prevent Surprise Attacks
Both bacterial and viral infections can be prevented with vaccines. Vaccines work by giving your body the virus attack plans. This helps your body build antibodies for a specific infection. By having antibodies ready to copy, your body reacts quickly when you are infected, preventing the germs from getting a foothold. Vaccines prevent surprise attacks.
Vaccines Low Risk
Vaccines come with some risk, but the benefits are enormous. Vaccines have eliminated or controlled diseases that would have killed tens, or even hundreds of millions of people. People do die from vaccines, but it’s extremely rare. Less than 2 people per million vaccines develop an allergic reaction, and of those, a tiny part of them will die from the reaction.
Vaccine Scare
A preservative used in some vaccines, called thimerosal, contains mercury, so there was a scare 20 years ago. It is no longer used in the vast majority of vaccines in developed countries. It is still used in many poorer countries, as it lowers the cost of vaccines by allowing multiple doses to be stored in a single vial.
Prevent Infections
Ten Commandments of Preventing Infections
1) Wash your hands often. Soap and water work fine, nothing special needed.
2) Don’t share personal items like toothbrushes, razors, or nail clippers.
3) Don’t share drinks or eating utensils.
4) Practice safe food hygiene (see Fall 2018 Panacea).
5) Stay rested. When you’re tired, you are more susceptible to infection.
6) Cough into your elbow, not your hand (to prevent the spread to your hands).
7) Be smart with sex. Both lovers are exclusive or use a barrier (condom).
8) Spray on DEET when mosquitos or ticks are around.
9) Control rodents and avoid rodent areas.
10) Consider flu vaccines or other vaccines if you travel abroad.
While infectious disease sounds scary, eat well, stay rested, limit stress, be smart, and don’t worry.
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Hepatitis ABCs
Hepatitis is inflammation in the liver. If a virus causes it, it is given a letter, A through E. Hepatitis A comes mostly from contaminated food or water. Overseas travelers often get a Hep A shot, as it is common in much of the world. Hepatitis B is spread through bodily fluid contact---exposure to blood, sharing drug needles, sexual contact, or even tattoos. It is much more infectious than HIV AIDS. A vaccine is available so now it is common only in Asia and Africa.
C The Leading Cause of Liver Transplant
Hepatitis C is also spread via blood contact, primary through shared needles. Having tattoos doubles the risk of having Hep C. It is the leading cause of liver transplants. With new drugs, it can be cured most of the time.
Legionnaires
Pontiac disease or Legionnaires’ disease is a type of pneumonia caused by bacteria. The bacteria thrive in warm but not hot water, even with chlorine (chlorine kills most but not all germs). It loves bath temperature. It can survive in a hot water heater if you keep your hot water tank too cool. Hot water should be at least 50C or 120F when running purely hot out of the tap.
Mosquito Diseases
Many tropical diseases spread via insect bites. Malaria, dengue, and Zika are spread mostly by mosquitoes. West Nile is also spread by mosquitos, often from infected birds. If you find more than one dead bird, report it to the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative online, and don’t touch the birds with your hands. About 3 out of 100 mosquito pools in Canada carry the virus.
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis is a bacteria that spreads in the air, but it is difficult to catch. Still, it is the leading cause of infectious death in the world. It can be treated with antibiotics.
The Plague
Rare today, the plague killed 100 million people or about half of Europe’s population in five years in the 1350s. Plagues reoccurred for the next 300 years. The Plague was caused by bacteria carried by rodents, which killed about 90% of the people infected. Today, it can be treated with antibiotics.
Recent Killer
The HIV Virus, which causes AIDS, spreads via bodily fluids. It has killed 25 million people in the last 35 years.
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Infectious Game
If you want to play an infectious game, play PANDEMIC. It can be played by 2-5 people age 10 and up. It is a cooperative board game where you treat, cure, and eradicate infectious diseases that are spreading around the world. Loads of fun and gives you a sense of the difficulty in controlling infectious diseases.
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