Communicable Diseases List | With Examples and Prevention Measures

A disease is a significant disturbance in health due to microbial infection.

Most of these diseases tend to spread from one person to another, from one region to another.

These are transmitted by mediators or vectors like insects, animals, air, water, soil, and human activities like sneezing, kissing, sex, etc.

They are also called contagious diseases and epidemics. They are so deadly that; they kill thousands of people in a row.

Communicable Diseases List

Infectious diseases can be divided based on a few aspects.

a) The disease-causing agent

b) The transmission agent

c) The mode of spreading

d) The rate of spreading.

Based on causing agent: We have causing agents like

• Bacteria
• Virus
• Protozoa
• Fungi
• helminth parasites, nematodes

Bacteria communicable diseases list

Communicable diseases by bacteria are most prevalent and difficult to eradicate from the human population. These include

1. Cholera: This is caused by bacteria namely Vibrio cholera. There are immense watery, loose motions, and mostly fatal.

2. Typhoid: This is characterized by prolonged fever and is caused by Salmonella typhi.

3. Diphtheria: This is an infectious condition of the buccal cavity and trachea. It is very fatal and is caused by the bacteria Corynebacterium diphtheriae.

4. Tuberculosis: This is spread by contaminated salivary droplets during sneezing, using utensils of an infected person, etc. Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the causative bacteria.

It is a fatal infection that affects millions worldwide every year and is curable if medicines are taken as prescribed.

5. Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease caused by the bacteria bacterium ‘Treponema pallidum.’ It infects the genitals of the contaminated individual.

6. Gonorrhea is another sexually transmitted disease caused by the bacteria Neisseria gonorrhea.

7. Plague is a deadly infection caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. It is declared to be eradicated from the world as per WHO.

Viral diseases

HIV: Human Immunodeficiency virus is a communicable virus that can results in AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome).

Polio: A disorder characterized by a deformity in limbs.

Encephalitis: This is an inflammatory brain infection that is fatal with characteristic symptoms like fever, headache, coma, etc.

Measles: This is a respiratory infection. Spread by water or air.

Mumps: This is an infection of tonsils characterized by swelling of jaw and cheek regions with immense pain.

Rabies: This is an infection caused due to a dog bite. The vector is an infected dog.

Smallpox is a fatal infection caused by the virus Variola. It causes blisters all over the body.

Chickenpox: Skin rashes appear during infection along with fever. Most children develop it during childhood and achieve natural resistance to it.

Protozoan diseases

• Malaria is caused by protozoa plasmodium.
• Amoebiasis is an intestinal infection caused by entameoba histolytica.
• Leishmaniasis
• Trypanosomiasis