Alphabetical List Of Infectious Diseases

The infectious diseases are, for lack of a better word, so viral that there is a high percentage chance that people may die from the complications. Some of these diseases have preventive measures while others are simply deadly with little chance of survival. To be included on the list of such infectious diseases, the virus has to have been a major cause of death in history with ranking based on fatality rates and impact worldwide.

A virus called variola had many forms and continues to be a required vaccination for many countries. Smallpox in its inferior forms hemorrhagic and flat had the highest fatality rates with only a 10 percent or less chance of survival. Fortunately this infectious disease has been the only one on this list to be completely eradicated from nature since it is only contagious through humans. Perhaps one of the least deadly diseases on this list, the fatality rate of typhoid fever is only 10-30 percent. But the disease symptoms show up in stages over a period of three weeks and, in most cases, are not fatal. That states the disease can stay dormant in a person who has overcome it and then be passed on to another person. The most famous case of this condition was the American cook in the early 1900s known as Typhoid Mary Mallon.

Perhaps the infectious virus on this list is one that anyone anywhere can contract - influenza. The flu can easily be identified and in most countries easily combated. The young children however, and the elderly are particularly susceptible to flu. And the most famous tension was the Spanish Flu, which was estimated to have killed 2-5 percent of the human population in 1918-1919. Thankfully that tension has never been seen again; however, the flu virus is famous for mutating from animals to humans. This disease plague is transmitted through infected fleas and kills about 70 percent of its victims in 4-7 days. The most well known outbreak was the Black Death in Medieval times when it was rumored to have killed about 25 million in Europe alone and another 50 million across the world. The bubonic epidemic is often characterized by swollen lymph nodes though the modern world has seen few breakouts.

Normally a person gets cholera from drinking or eating infected water or food. And if kept untreated, the infectious disease will progress from massive diarrhea to shock in 4-12 hours and possibly death within 18 hours or several days. With oral re-hydration therapy luckily a person can survive from cholera; however, in the most severe form, cholera can kill within three hours. But good hygiene practices can curb an outbreak. Recently a whole new part involving so-called pro-biotic yogurts has opened up. The idea behind these yogurts is to enhance the body's natural defenses. One of these yogurts eaten every day, can in fact, do wonders to help fortify the immune system. And there is another supplement that has proved its worth: cod liver oil. It can be taken in handy capsule form and it is not only good for the joints, but can stave off colds and flu as well.

• Matt Thompson
• 30/12/2008, 8:59 AM
• 0 Comments