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diseases and viruses pt. 2

Some insects infect man directly and some indirectly. Animals infested with insects are among the worse as humans ingest food from these animals and are infected with disease. Allergies can flare from bites of bees, body lice, and bites of chiggers and ticks. Some flies will be called mechanical carries as they pick up germs by biting a diseased animal and then bite a healthy person thus contaminating them with disease. There are germs on garbage and other filth that a fly can crawl on it or walk on it and carry disease to humans.

Mosquitoes are of the insect order Diptera and this group of insects can cause more destruction in terms of human deaths and illness. Mosquitoes are all over this earth except in the polar regions. They are carriers of malayan filariasis, bancroftian, dengue, yellow fever and malaria and some kinds of encephalitis. The species of mosquitoes that carry human malaria are the dapple-winged Anopheles. The cells The greatest outbreaks of malaria are in the temperate regions and the Tropics. Anywhere there exists a mild climate and abundant water mosquitoes will bread and multiply. People tend to spend more time outside in these areas. Screened porches and houses do not necessarily keep out these mosquitoes. In the United States there are at least a dozen species of Anopheles mosquitoes. There are many species of the Anopheles that exist in other parts of the world. Some carry malaria and others do not. The mosquito known as the yellow-fever mosquito is a semi domestic. Yellow fever is still a serious threat in many places in the world. An infected monkey or even man can spread this virus. It can be found breeding in water and various places such as old tires, vases or cans. The female is the one that bites.

A breed of mosquito called Culex tarsalis and several other species of mosquitoes are transmitters of Encephalitis. This is one of several kinds of viruses that attack the central nervous systems of vertebrates. In the Tropics and subtropics Elephantiasis a disfiguring malady of humans is caused by mosquitoes. Culex tarsalis and several other species of mosquitoes are transmitters of Encephalitis. This is one of several kinds of viruses that attack the central nervous systems of vertebrates. In the Tropics and subtropics Elephantiasis a disfiguring malady of humans is caused by mosquitoes.

West Nile virus. West Nile virus is very similar to SLE in many respects but was unknown in the Americas until 1999, when it appeared in the northeastern U.S. More than 60 clinical human cases occurred in the New York City area in late summer, while subsequent serosurveys suggested that there actually had been several thousand subclinical human infections following a widespread die-off of American crows in the region. The virus, previously found in parts of Eurasia and Africa, is found in birds and other vertebrates and is thought to be transmitted to humans primarily by Culex mosquitoes. In 2001, the virus spread throughout the eastern U.S. and crossed the Mississippi River, causing widespread fatality among horses and eight deaths among the 57 recorded human cases. For every recognized human case, an estimated 100 to 200 infections went undiagnosed because of mild or nonexistent symptoms.

Sand flies are blood suckers and carry at least a few serious diseases. In some South American countries the veruga or Oroya fever is carried by sand flies

Moth Flies breed in sewage and carry disease. Black flies of the family Simuliidae are small humpbacked gnats exist in the United States and in many other countries. Humans can be severely allergic to them or have severe dermatitis. These flies are hosts for early stages of roundworm that can cause onchoceriasis by getting in the eyes and even have caused blindness in some cases. Horse and deer flies are aggressive bloodsuckers who prefer livestock but will bite humans with painful bites. These flies carry tularemia on their beaks.

House flies will live in the human home and lay eggs and have a new generation within two weeks. They will breed in fermenting vegetable and animal matter. They are known to have spread tuberculosis, parasitic worms, yaws, trachome and cholera. Blow flies are known as the blue bottle or the green bottle flies and carry much of the same disease-producing organisms as the house fly. There is a fly in the tropical Americas called the Dermatobia. It will infest man causing maggots to pop out of the eggs and burrow in the skin.

Fleas have parasitic habits in the adult stage only. They are able to move rapidly among hairs or feathers of their hosts with their wingless adult laterally compressed bodies and strong, spiny legs. If a human is bit there will be an immediate area of inflammation. The human flea is called Pulex irritas as it can live in clothing instead of fur. Rat, cat and dog fleas will carry disease from the host to humans. In the Tropics there is a Fleas called the chigoe that will bury themselves in the skin, especially feet and cause an ulcer like crater. There are species of fleas that carry the bubonic plague and murine typhus to humans living in warm climates. Bubonic plague is the most serious disease that the Flea has causes.

Wild Rodents in certain areas around the world are infected with plague. Outbreaks in people still occur in rural communities or in cities. They are usually associated with infected rats and rat Fleas that live in the home. In the United States, the last urban plague epidemic occurred in Los Angeles in 1924-25. Since then, human plague in the United States has occurred as mostly scattered cases in rural areas (an average of 10 to 15 persons each year). Globally, the World Health Organization reports 1,000 to 3,000 cases of plague every year. In North America, plague is found in certain animals and their Fleas from the Pacific Coast to the Great Plains, and from southwestern Canada to Mexico. Most human cases in the United States occur in two regions: 1) northern New Mexico, northern Arizona, and southern Colorado; and 2) California, southern Oregon, and far western Nevada. Plague also exists in Africa, Asia, and South America. People can get plague from an infected animal, but this is very rare. Rodents (for example, Mice, Rats, and Squirrels) and Cats are animals that can carry plague. Usually, people get plague from the bite of an infected flea. Since Fleas bite both people and animals, especially cats and Rodents, an infected Fleas can pass plague to animals or people.

Caterpillars need to be mentioned even though they do carry disease as they can cause many painful injuries. The sting of the caterpillar can be very painful. The puss caterpillar can give a severe sting that gives a human the symptoms of paralysis. Ants, Wasps and Bees will sting man sometimes causing a very allergic reaction requiring medical attention. The brown-tail moth stings and will irritate the skin and eyes of many humans.

The Bed Bug is of an order of insects called the Hemiptera. This order includes wingless Bed bugs, winged, biting, blood sucking, assassin, bugs, conenoses and their relatives. These bugs live in areas of filth in houses, hotels and in public transportation areas. They will retreat to mattresses, joints of wood, cracks, and can fit into very tight crevices. It has not been proved that these bugs are carriers of disease but that they are the causative agents of several diseases such as plague, relapsing fever, infectious jaundice, lymphocytic choriomeningitis and tularemia. They have been known vectors of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Some of these bugs will attack humans.

Lice There are three kinds of sucking lice that will infest man, the head, body, and crab lice. The crab lice prefer hairy parts of the human body and will cause intense itching. The other lice have caused the disease, "red death" in the Middle Ages. The body louse can adapt readily to the human host. Louse-born typhus, like plague, has been one of the worst vermin-infestations of humanity. Epidemics have spread because of lice.

Ticks are mites are a class of arthropods of the Acarina. They have four instead of three legs in the nymphal and adult stages and lack a separate thoracic region as true insects have in their bodies. Half of the species of ticks feeds upon man. Ticks are the number one vector of infectious disease in the United States and run a close second to mosquitoes worldwide. Tick-borne illnesses constitute an important health problem that has increased over the past 20 years as humans increasingly live and play in rural areas. Tick-borne disease can result from infection with bacteria, viruses, parasites and from toxins or venom from the tick itself. Ticks are the number one vector of infectious disease in the United States and run a close second to mosquitoes worldwide. Tick-borne illnesses constitute an important health problem that has increased over the past 20 years as humans increasingly live and play in rural areas. Tick-borne disease can result from infection with bacteria, viruses, parasites and from toxins or venom from the tick itself.

Description: multi-systemic, inflammatory disease caused by a spirochete; characterized in early phase by a distinctive skin lesion known as erythema migrans (EM) which first appears as a red, raised area, but tends to expand in size over time, and may develop a centralized clearing; single or multiple lesions often accompanied or preceded by a variety of other symptoms including headache, fever, fatigue, malaise, joint pain, stiff neck, and nausea; incubation period 3-30 days; within weeks or months of the appearance of EM (early phase Lyme disease), neurologic and cardiac symptoms may develop; latter phase of Lyme disease, which may occur weeks to years following onset, marked by swelling and pain in the large joints, particularly the knees; in both early and advanced phases of Lyme disease, symptoms are often recurrent and may become chronic in untreated individuals.

Description: rickettsial disease with sudden onset of fever, which may persist for 2-3 weeks in untreated cases, malaise, muscle pain, severe headache, chills, and conjunctivitis; a spotted rash may appear on the palms and soles in about 50% of cases, and may spread rapidly to other parts of the body; incubation period is 3-14 days; the fatality rate may reach l5- 20% in untreated cases.

Description: rickettsial disease characterized by fever, chills, malaise, headache, muscle aches and pain, nausea, vomiting, and cough; incubation period estimated to be 1-3 weeks; illness may be severe, fatalities rare (5%).

Description: rickettsial disease characterized by fever, headache, muscle aches and pain, anorexia, diarrhea, abdominal pain, and confusion; incubation period estimated to be 1-3 weeks; illness may be severe, fatalities rare (2-3%); frequency and effects of persistent infections unknown.

Description: protozoan disease characterized by fever, chills, headache, muscle pain, fatigue and anemia, which may persist from several days to months; incubation period is variable, ranging between 1 week to 1 year; illness may be severe and potentially fatal.

Description: clinically indistinguishable from Lyme disease

Scabies is caused by the itch mite. Grocer's itch and harvester's rash are caused by mites that infest grain and stored-food products. There is a tropical rat mite and a house-mouse-infesting mite that causes infestation of houses. Chiggers belong to the mite family Trombiculidae. Scrub typhus is caused by certain species of chiggers. It is passed from one generation of mites to the next through the eggs. Certain species of chiggers will even attack man. There are many more insects that will be carriers of human diseases, too numerous to mention. Scientists are working all the time to find ways to prevent insects from carrying disease to humans. One method is to destroy the insect vector, by using drugs to kill or by immunization making the human host immune to the insect bites.

Rodent-borne Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS). A relatively recent entry (1993) for public-health concerns, HPS is increasingly evident throughout the U.S. The hantavirus fatality rate in humans ranges from 10 percent to 55 percent. Symptoms appear one to three weeks after exposure to the virus, occasionally up to six weeks. Fever and aching large muscles occur in all cases; abdominal pain is present in about half of the cases; and coughing, shortness of breath, dizziness and chills also may occur. Shortness of breath is a symptom that appears later due to the filling of the lungs with fluid. Pneumonia is the most frequent misdiagnosis of HPS. Hemorrhagic fever is common. There is no cure for HPS, but early detection and medical attention increase the probability of survival and recovery. HPS is a respiratory illness associated with breathing air contaminated with Rodents urine and feces contaminated with hantavirus particles. One hantavirus species, Sin Nombre virus, has been associated with the largest proportion of HPS cases. The deer mouse is the primary reservoir. But several species of hantavirus exist and are associated with other rodent species. The virus is passed in the feces, urine and saliva of infected rodents. Being bitten by an infected rodent is also a possible route of transmission. Biting, along with grooming, probably helps perpetuate the virus in deer mice. Person-to-person transmission has not been observed, and health-care workers who have cared for HPS patients have not become infected. There do not appear to be differences in susceptibility due to age or sex. Exposure to susceptible rodents or tightly enclosed areas of infestation increases the chance of contracting the disease. Spring and summer are the seasons when most cases occur, due to increased outdoor exposure.

Dermatitis. The house Mouse easily adapts to life with people. It thrives in a wide range of climatic conditions in a great variety of habitats, feeding on most human food and reproducing at a remarkable rate. Dermatitis caused by the bites of mites has been associated with house mouse infestations. The uncomfortable skin irritation and itching can affect children and adults. Mites may spread through all of a mouse-infested house or apartment during particular times of the year, and the dermatitis is frequently blamed on other causes (heat rash, allergies, fleas and the like).

Leptospirosis (Weil's disease). The house Mouse can be a major carrier of leptospirosis, although human cases are more commonly caused by rats. Human cases of this disease are seldom fatal. The disease organisms are spread from rat urine into water or food, and they enter humans through mucous membranes or minute cuts and abrasions of the skin. The disease may be so mild as to be unnoticed or may cause mild aches, pains and fever. More serious cases, often referred to as Weil's disease, can result in high fever, jaundice, aseptic meningitis, acute kidney failure, internal bleeding and occasionally death.

Meningitis. Lymphocytic choriomeningitis is a viral infection of house Mouse that may be transmitted to people (mainly to children) through contaminated food or dust.

Rabies infections in people are rare in the United States. However, worldwide about 50,000 people die from rabies each year, mostly in developing countries where programs for vaccinating dogs against rabies don't exist. But the good news is that problems can be prevented if the exposed person receives treatment before symptoms of the infection develop. Rabies is a virus that in the U.S. is usually transmitted by a bite from a wild infected animal, such as a Bat, Raccoons, Skunks, or fox. If a bite from a rabid animal goes untreated and an infection develops, it is almost always fatal. If you suspect that your child has been bitten by a rabid animal, go to the emergency department immediately. Any animal bites — even those that don't involve rabies — can lead to infections and other medical problems. As a precaution, call your doctor any time your child has been bitten. Transmission Approximately 7,000 cases of rabies in animals are reported each year to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Raccoons are the most common carriers of rabies in the United States, but Bats are most likely to infect people. Almost three quarters of rabies cases between 1990 and 2001 came from contact with Bats. Skunks and foxes also can be infected with rabies, and a few cases have been reported in wolves, coyotes, bobcats, and ferrets. Small rodents such as hamsters, Squirrels, chipmunks, Mice, and rabbits are very rarely infected with the virus.

diseases and viruses pt. 2

This is only to name a few Vectors and Diseases and Viruses