Question

List the different ways by which communicable diseases are transmitted

Answer 1

Communicable diseases are transmitted broadly by two modes:

Direct transmission:

1. Direct contact: From skin to skin. Examples: eye infection (conjunctivitis),skin diseases, etc.
2. Droplet infection: From droplet of saliva or nose during cough, sneezing, speaking and spitting. Examples: Tuberculosis (TB), common cold, whooping cough, influenza.
3. Contact with soil. Example: mycosis, tetanus.
4. Inoculation into skin: Microbes may inoculate directly into skin. Examples: Rabies virus is inoculated by dog bite, hepatitis B virus is inoculated through contaminated needles and syringes.

Indirect transmission:

1. Transmission of microbes through water and food (vehicle borne transmission). Examples: typhoid, cholera, polio, food poisoning, diarrhoea etc.
2. Transmission by blood. Examples: Hepatitis B and malaria
3. Transmission of microbes by an arthropod/living carrier (vector borne). Examples: malaria, dengue are transmitted by mosquito, typhoid, cholera are transmitted by housefly, plague is transmitted by rat flea, etc.
4. Transmission through fomites: Fomites include soiled clothes, towel, cups, spoon, toys, etc. Examples: diptheria, eye and skin infection.
5. Transmission through unclean hands. Examples: typhoid, intestinal parasites.
6. Air borne transmission. Examples: epidemic typhus.