Preventable Disease All images from WikiMedia Commons

Preventable Disease Varicella

Preventable Disease Varicella is chicken pox. It is caused by a virus. Chicken Pox usually begins with a few spots and then quickly spreads to up to a couple hundred spots or blisters all over the body. Blisters have been known to show up in rather uncomfortable places, such as on the eyelid or in private areas.

Preventable Disease Between % of chickenpox cases occur in children under 10 years of age. Before the introduction of the vaccine, about 4 million cases of chickenpox were reported in the U.S. each year.

Preventable Disease Diptheria

Preventable Disease Diptheria is caused by a bacterium. Diptheria spreads easily and quickly from person to person through sneezing and coughing. Diphtheria is especially dangerous when it affects the throat where is can cause a gray fibrous membrane to form and block the airways. Death can result from diptheria.

Preventable Disease Whooping Cough

Preventable Disease Whooping Cough is also called pertussis. It is caused by a bacterium. Symptoms of pertussis include a dry cough, low-grade fever and irritability. One to two weeks later, a child will suffer from explosive bursts of coughs with no breaths between and thick mucus. Often children experience bulging eyes, a protruding tongue,pale or reddened skin, vomiting, sweating, exhaustion and hernias from coughing so hard.

Preventable Disease Primarily a childhood illness, the cough is a highly contagious respiratory tract infection. Before1950 thousands of cases were reported each year in the US. The world wide reported mortality rate is nearly 50%.

Preventable Disease Tetanus

Preventable Disease Tetanus is caused by a toxin producing bacterium. The symptoms of tetanus include Stiff muscles, stiff jaw, muscle spasms, usually of the jaw or neck, muscle irritability, and a fever. As the toxins build throughout the body, the symptoms may become more pronounced and the muscle spasms may become quite severe. Difficult breathing and stoppage the heart can result.

Preventable Disease Measles (English Measles)

Preventable Disease Measles is a respiratory infection caused by a virus. Symptoms include rash, fever, runny nose, red eyes and coughing. The world wide death rate from measles is over 150,000 annually. In the US before widespread vaccination the death rate was about 14 per 10,000 cases of measles.

Preventable Disease Mumps

Preventable Disease Mumps is caused by a virus that causes swelling of the parotid glands. Mumps sometimes affects the other salivary glands, which can lead to swelling under the tongue, in the jaw and in the chest. Even More dangerous is the rare possibility of swelling of the brain or other organs. In adolescent and adult males, inflammation of the testicles may occur.

Preventable Disease Rubella

Preventable Disease Rubella is caused by a virus. Rubella usually is a mild rash illness in children and adults; however, infection early in a woman's pregnancy, particularly during the first 16 weeks, can result in miscarriage, fetal death, or an infant born with birth defects. In 2000 over a 150,000 cases were reported worldwide.

Preventable Disease Polio

Preventable Disease Polio (Poliomyelitis) is a virus that can leave victims paralyzed, and in severe cases, unable to breath on their own. Polio epidemics used to be common in the US. In 1952, nearly 60,000 cases with more than 3,000 deaths were reported in the United States alone.

Preventable Disease Hepatitis B Hepatitis liver cells

Preventable Disease Hepatitis B is caused by a virus. It may have symptoms similar to the flu — tiredness, nausea, loss of appetite, mild fever, and vomiting, abdominal pain or pain underneath the right ribcage where the liver is. Hepatitis B can also cause jaundice, which is a yellowing of the skin and the whites of the eyes, and may cause the urine to appear brownish.

Preventable Disease About 2 billion people worldwide have been infected with the Hepatitis virus and about 350 million live with chronic infection. An estimated persons die each year due to the acute or chronic consequences of hepatitis B.