Communicable diseases are those that are transmissible from one person, or animal, to another.

The disease may be spread directly, via another species (vector) or via the environment. Illness will arise when the infectious agent invades the host, or sometimes as a result of toxins produced by bacteria in food. The spread of disease through a population is determined by environmental and social conditions which favour the infectious agent, and the relative immunity of the population. An outbreak of infection could endanger the operation and safety of the ship. An understanding of the disease and the measures necessary for its containment and management is therefore important Communicable diseases are also known as infectious diseases. They spread from one person to another, that is, a healthy person may catch it from a patient. Communicable diseases, commonly known as contagious or infectious diseases, are diseases that are carried by pathogens and transmitted through people, animals, foods, surfaces, or air. Pathogenic bacteria, fungi, and parasites, usually referred to as germs, can be found everywhere. Although many diseases have similar symptoms (or no symptoms at all, their modes of transmission, contagiousness, potential of fatality drastically differ from one disease to the next. Communicable diseases are usually spread by people, foods, and animals. In human-to-human transmission, diseases can be passed through blood, semen, breast milk, saliva, and (in airborne diseases) by breath. Animalto-human transmission usually occurs as a result of an animal bite or a parasitic organism attaching itself to a human host. Humans can contract rabies from a dog bite, Lyme disease from an infected tick, and malaria, yellow fever, and the West Nile virus from mosquitoes. The most common food diseases are Escherichia coli (better known as E.coli) and salmonella poisoning, usually caused by consuming raw eggs or uncooked meat. Although some communicable diseases are airborne and nearly impossible to protect yourself from, many others are highly preventable. Human-to-human communicable diseases can be prevented by regular hand washing and proper waste

disposal. The risk of contracting a sexual disease can be drastically reduced by practicing safe sex or abstinence. Many other infectious diseases can be prevented with vaccinations. In order to prevent an epidemic and eradicate some infectious diseases, the United States Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) requires all school-age children to be vaccinated before they can attend school. To prevent food diseases, the CDC discourages consumption of raw eggs and meats. They also recommend that disinfecting surfaces to prevent cross contamination. In years past, the communicable disease issue was often annotated as a short notation on the back page of a monthly safety committee report. Health care providers, working in the pre-hospital environment, did not dwell on the infection control problem. Medical protocol dictated that protecting the patient from additional injury and/or infection was paramount. Rarely did the provider worry about his/her own health. This is no longer the case. Todays health care environment is an unmarked mine field. Personnel are exposed, on a daily basis, to any number of diseases. Due to increased risk of contracting a communicable disease, infection control within the pre-hospital setting has progressed to unprecedented levels. In an effort to augment medical protocols, legal and ethical guidelines have been developed to ensure personal safety of the patient as well as the provider. Rapid and slow-onset natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes, hurricanes and droughts occur globally every year because of adverse weather conditions or poor land use. Climate change, together with population growth and urbanisation as well as ageing populations will increase the number of disasters, change the disease pattern. Communicable diseases also account for most of the reported deaths among conflict-affected populations due to displacement, malnutrition and limited access to basic needs. In addition to assessing the disease incidence and prevalence, the prevention and control of disease outbreaks require a thorough understanding of the environmental and

host factors, the transmission pattern and other characteristics of causative organisms. More people are travelling more than ever worldwide; diseases and epidemics, therefore, will be more prone to spread rapidly. Communicable disease outbreaks respect no borders. Humanitarian actors must work closely with not only global bodies like WHO, Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) cluster and local health authorities, but also the communities particularly when planning and implementing disease control programmes. Preferably one can prevent communicable disease outbreaks by engaging the communities and ensuring early detection and alert. Implementing disease control measures is quite straightforward provided one knows the starting point, the arrival point and how to get there. Without an effective monitoring of engaged communities and evaluation systems, measuring and reporting ones progress and the final result might be difficult. In addition, further research on the effectiveness of proposed interventions and the testing of new preventive or treatment measures will enhance national policies and guidelines as well as the reallocation of resources among various stakeholders. A communicable disease is an infectious disease that can be transmitted from one person to another either directly by contact or circuitously by fomites and vectors. HIV/AIDS is one of the many communicable diseases in the world. Communicable diseases occur only when the causative agent comes into contact with a susceptible host in a suitable environment. Prevention and control efforts for communicable diseases may be directed to any of these three elements. Communicable diseases affect both individuals and communities, so control efforts may be directed at both. Treatment of persons with communicable diseases with antibiotics typically kills the agent and renders them noninfectious. Thus, treatment is also prevention. A simple way to prevent the occurrence of communicable diseases is to eliminate the infectious agent through, for example, cooking food, washing hands, and sterilizing surgical instruments between use. Assuring the safety of drinking water through filtration and chlorination and treating sewage appropriately are other important means of preventing the spread of communicable diseases. For most communicable diseases there is an interval between

infection and occurrence of symptoms (the incubation period) in which the infectious agent is multiplying or developing. Some persons who are infected may never develop manifestations of the disease even though they may be capable of transmitting it (inapparent infection). Some persons may carry (and transmit) the agent over prolonged periods (carriers) whether or not they develop symptoms. Treatment during the incubation period may cure the infection, thereby preventing both disease and transmission. This preventive treatment (chemoprophylaxis) is often used in persons who have been exposed to sexually transmitted diseases such as syphilis and gonorrhea. It also is effective in persons who have been infected with tuberculosis, although the preventive treatment must be given for several months. The susceptibility of the host to a specific infectious agent can be altered through immunization (e.g., against measles) or through taking medications that can prevent it.

HOW DOES DISEASE SPREAD? You know that germs are present everywhere around us and they can spread through four modes: (i) Food and water (ii) Air (iii) Contact (iv) Insects (i) Food and Water Drinking water should be taken from a safer source. Water which we get from the taps is safe to drink. Can you tell why? This is because tap water is cleaned by certain methods that kill germs before it is sent to our homes. But water from wells, ponds, streams and even hand pumps is generally unsafe and may contain disease causing germs. Diseases such as hepatitis, cholera, typhoid, etc., are spread in this way. (ii) Air The person suffering will let germs of that disease into the air which will enter your body when you breathe in. So you will be likely to catch the disease. The air of crowded places, ill ventilated houses, cinema houses and so on is more likely to contain disease causing germs. (iii) Contact A communicable disease may also spread through contact, which may be:

(a) Direct contact

(b) Indirect contact Direct contact means you actually touch a person who has the disease. Whereas you have indirect contact with a patient when you use anything that they have used like comb, towel, cup, etc. For example, suppose your brother is suffering from influenza. He covers his mouth with his hand when he coughs and then shakes hands with his friend. The disease germs are passed through direct contact from your brother to his friend. However, if he gives you a glass of water without washing his hands, then the germs are passed from his hand to the glass and from the glass to you. This is indirect contact. Think of more examples to explain direct and indirect contact as a mode of spread of disease. (iv) Insects Many diseases are spread through insects. Flies carry germs from rubbish and garbage on their bodies and infect the food on which they sit. This causes diseases like cholera. Mosquitoes cause malaria. TYPES OF COMMUNICABLE DISEASES Communicable diseases remain a frequent cause of illness in the human population. Viruses, bacteria and fungi commonly pass from one person to another through direct contact or contamination of inanimate objects or food. Hand washing and adequate personal hygiene practices can help prevent the spread of many communicable diseases. Head Colds More than 200 known viruses circulating in the human population cause approximately 1 billion head colds each year in the United States, reports the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The illness passes from one person to another through airborne droplets and nasal secretions.

Viral Pharyngitis Viral pharyngitis, or a sore throat, is a common communicable disease among children and adults. Virus particles pass from one person to another through the oral and nasal secretions. The American Academy of Family Physicians recommends hand washing and covering the mouth when coughing or sneezing to prevent the spread of viral pharyngitis. Infectious Conjunctivitis Various viruses and bacteria can cause infectious conjunctivitis, also known as pink eye, reports the patient information website All About Vision. Rubbing the infected eye and touching an inanimate surface leaves a reservoir of infectious particles with which another person can come into contact. Chest Cold Viruses account for the overwhelming majority of chest colds, also known as acute bronchitis. The illness passes from one person to another through droplets produced by coughing or contamination of inanimate surfaces, notes FamilyDoctor.org. Covering a cough with a tissue or coughing into one's sleeve can help prevent the spread of chest colds. Stomach Flu The stomach flu, or viral gastroenteritis, is a highly contagious illness caused by several viruses, including norovirus and rotavirus, reports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Contamination of the hands with virus particles from the stool or emesis of an infected person serves as the primary route of transmission. Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease

Hand, foot and mouth disease is a communicable viral illness commonly caused by coxsackievirus A16, according to the CDC. Mouth sores, fever and a blistering rash typically occur with the illness. Disease transmission occurs via contact with the stool or nasal or oral secretions from an infected person. Ringworm Ringworm is a fungal infection of the skin on the body, scalp, groin or feet. Fungal infections of the feet and groin are commonly known as athlete's foot and jock itch, respectively. These infections pass from person to person through direct skin contact or an intermediate inanimate surface, reports MedlinePlus. Chlamydia Chlamydia is a prevalent sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis. The CDC reports that the infection frequently proves asymptomatic, which contributes to a high rate of transmission in the population. Gonorrhea Approximately 700,000 people in the United States contract the sexually transmitted bacterial infection gonorrhea each year, according to the CDC. Gonorrhea remains a common cause of female infertility and ectopic pregnancy. HIV/AIDS HIV/AIDS is a chronic, life-threatening viral illness transmitted primarily through having sexual contact with an infected person or sharing injection drug equipment. As of July 2010, the CDC estimates that approximately 21 percent of Americans infected with HIV are unaware they have the virus. RISK FACTORS

Many

factors

promoting

communicable

disease

transmission

interact

synergistically in complex emergencies. These factors include mass population movement and resettlement in temporary locations, overcrowding, economic and environmental degradation, impoverishment, scarcity of safe water, poor sanitation and waste management, absence of shelter, poor nutritional status as a result of food shortages, and poor access to health care. Additionally, the collapse or overwhelming of public health infrastructure and absence of health services hamper prevention and control programmes, with a consequent rise in vector-borne diseases such as malaria, trypanosomiasis, and yellow fever, and vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles and pertussis. The control of tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS is similarly disrupted. These factors are further compounded by absent or unstable governments, ongoing conflict and insecurity limiting access to the affected populations, dearth of drugs and supplies, and multiple agencies providing health care with poor coordination. In addition to the humanitarian imperative to protect the health of populations in complex emergencies, there are several other justifications for communicable disease intervention in such emergencies. First, there might be a resurgence of old or previously controlled diseases (eg, malaria, trypanosomiasis), and the emergence of drug resistance driven by improper and incomplete use of drugs and the absence of regulatory controls (eg, bacillary dysentery and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis). Second, delays in detection, response, and containment of epidemics in conflict-affected countries represent a constant threat to surrounding countries and to the world. In 2002, 207 outbreak events of international public health importance were verified and 29% of them were recorded in countries affected by complex emergencies (WHO Outbreak, Alert and Response, unpublished). Third, countries affected by conflict represent important potential zones of new disease emergence because of delays in detection and characterisation of new pathogens and their widespread transmission before control measures can be implemented (eg, monkeypox in Democratic Republic of the Congo). Fourth, the continued presence in countries affected by conflict of diseases targeted for eradication

(eg, poliomyelitis, Guinea-worm, and leprosy) represents a major threat to these goals and to the huge monetary investment in such initiatives. THE EFFECTS OF COMMUNICABLE DISEASES Small life forms are crawling over your body, hunting for the opportunity to make you sick. There are millions more of these germs inside your body, trying to get out and infect someone else. Communicable diseases are those that travel from one person or animal to another. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services states you can also catch a communicable disease from an animal, and animals can get one from you. Contracting a communicable disease can have long-lasting effects. Mortality Many communicable diseases are relatively harmless, such as the common cold. Flu viruses can be more serious. Seasonal flu kills more than 25,000 Americans each year, according to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Others, like AIDS and tuberculosis, should be treated as potentially life-threatening communicable diseases.

Symptoms A variety of symptoms are associated with communicable diseases. Some symptoms are the vehicle that spreads the disease. Sneezing, for example, propels the viruses through the nose. A productive cough sends bacteria into the air or onto a hand. Other symptoms might include pain, diarrhea, nausea, headache, itch, rashes and fever. Chronic Conditions

Some communicable diseases turn into chronic conditions which can impair the quality of life. Tuberculosis, or TB, can cause breathing problems or even death if left untreated. Diseases like polio can cause paralysis. Isolation Quarantine is a common way to stop or slow the spread of disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Isolation can be difficult to endure, especially for lengthy treatments, due to loneliness and the inability to participate in activities of daily living. Hospitalization Some communicable diseases are quite serious and require hospitalization. Hospitals have special rules and equipment to prevent the spread of communicable diseases while administering treatment. Social Effects Some communicable disease have a social stigma attached and can affect social and physical well-being. Embarrassment about contracting AIDS or sexually transmitted disease can prevent a person from seeking treatment, which increases the likelihood the disease will be transmitted to another person. Societal Burden Decline in population could have an impact on society if a fatal communicable disease becomes an epidemic and kills a significant number of people. There have been several outbreaks of communicable diseases that cause disability, such as polio. These epidemics can be costly to society due to a smaller work force, more physician and hospital visits and increased welfare and disability claims.

IMPACT OF COMMUNICABLE DISEASES The gathering of humans in settlements (and subsequently cities) resulted in the development of periodic epidemics of communicable diseases, often with devastating impact. In the fourteenth century, for example, bubonic plague (carried by rats and transmitted to humans by fleas) swept through Europe, killing approximately one-quarter of the population of the continent. Epidemics of "crowd" diseases such as measles and influenza resulted from person-to-person transmission, and inadequate water and sewage management led to epidemics of diseases such as cholera and typhoid. Milk-and foodborne diseases also were common. Until the end of the nineteenth century, communicable diseases were the leading cause of death throughout the world. In the United States in 1900, tuberculosis was the leading cause of death, followed by pneumonia and diarrhea. Along with diphtheria (in tenth place), these conditions accounted for more than 30 percent of all deaths in the country. Major reductions in morbidity and mortality from communicable diseases have resulted from improvements in sanitation, housing, and nutrition as well as introduction and use of vaccines and specific therapies. Improvements in sanitation have dramatically reduced the burden of water-and food-borne diseases. Improvements in housing have also played an important role in reducing transmission of tuberculosis, and improvements in nutrition have made persons with infectious diseases less likely to die from their infections. The introduction and use of vaccines have resulted in global eradication of smallpox, significant progress toward eradication of poliomyelitis, and a marked reduction in illness and death due to diseases such as diphtheria, whooping cough (pertussis), and measles. Specific therapies such as antibiotics and antiparasitic drugs have had a significant impact on deaths due to infectious diseases as well as having some impact on the occurrence of the diseases by shortening the period in which an infected person is infectious to others.

Although significant progress has also been made in developing nations, the World Health Report 2000 reports that 14 million deaths (25 percent of all deaths in the world in 1999) resulted from infectious diseases or their complications. There is a marked disparity in the importance of infectious diseases in high-income countries compared to middle-and low-income countries. In high-income countries, infectious diseases accounted for only 6 percent of all deaths, whereas in middle-and low-income countries they accounted for 28 percent of all deaths. THE CHALLENGE OF COMMUNICABLE DISEASE The second half of the twentieth century saw enormous improvements in health across the whole world. Indeed, life expectancy in developing countries has increased faster than in the industrialised world, albeit from a lower baseline. People in many developing countries have life expectancies close to those in more advanced economies, but there is now a big gap between them and another group of countries, mainly in subSaharan Africa (SSA), where high mortality persists. In 2002, there were 57 million deaths worldwide. Of these, 20% were children under 5, and 98% of these childhood deaths occurred in developing countries. Communicable diseases represent 7 out of the top 10 causes of child deaths in developing countries, and account for around 60% of all such deaths: more than 6 million deaths annually. A further problem in developing countries is premature mortality of adults (15-59), which represents 30% of all deaths, compared to only 20% in developed economies. As ever, it is the poorest in these countries who suffer disproportionately. Non-smokers in the richest countries have a lower risk of dying throughout their life than other population categories. Deaths in excess of the rate in this category can be considered avoidable, and certain sectors of developing country societies, particularly infants and young women, are disproportionately affected. Around 90% of these avoidable deaths are caused by communicable diseases. The tools to tackle these have

been employed to good effect in the worlds richest countries, but the challenge is now to make them available to the worlds poorest people.