Communicable Diseases That Can Be Spread in Shelters - Essay Example

"Communicable Diseases That Can Be Spread in Shelters" is a wonderful example of a paper on infections. 
Communicable diseases comprise illnesses that are evident and result from infections, growth of pathogenic biological agents, and individual hosts also known as infectious diseases (Noah, 2006). The essay considers communicable diseases spread in shelters.

Communicable diseases

Cholera is a communicable disease caused by bacteria Vibrio cholera leading to the excessive release of water from the intestinal cells thus diarrhea. It can be spread in shelters as a result of poor sanitation within the shelters and drinking of contaminated water or food, according to Bailey (2011). Cholera can also be transmitted from one person to another living in one shelter which might be crowded.

Smallpox is a communicable disease caused by the Variola virus. It can be transmitted within a shelter if a person living within the shelter contacts the diseased. People can pass it on to others living in the shelter through touch, whereas outside shelters, it is almost negligible as there is less contact (Kohn, 2008).

Plague is a communicable disease transmitted from one host to another due to contact or handling of an infected host, though it originally comes from rodents and fleas found within shelters (Kohn, 2008). A person suffering from the illness can pass it on to another person living within the same shelter.

Nipah Virus (NiV) infection is a communicable disease that affects humans. According to Georgiev, Western, and McGowan (2008), there is the transmission of Nipah virus by people living within the same shelter through contact or sharing of the same objects. It is more prone to be transmitted from humans to humans if they are living within the same shelter and sharing common commodities like plates and spoons.

Marburg hemorrhagic fever is an infectious disease that can be transmitted from humans to humans within a shelter as a result of contact. This is, according to the study work of Wertheim, Horby, and Woodall (2012), where many people living within a similar shelter succumb to the disease if one of them acquires it. It is rare to succumb to it while outside a shelter as there is little contact.

Influenza is a communicable illness which, according to Wertheim, Horby, and Woodall (2012), passes from one person to another living within the same vicinity as it is viral. It can be passed through inhalation of contaminated air which can occur where there are many people within the same shelter.

Hepatitis is an infectious disease that, according to the study works of Marshall Cavendish Corporation (2010), can be passed on from human to human as it is viral. The sharing of objects especially used for eating is a leading transmission agent. This happens to people living within a common shelter such that they share the same object while eating or drinking.

In relation to Georgiev, Western, and McGowan (2008), Ebola is a highly infectious fever that can be passed on from a person to another within a shelter due to its viral nature. Communication within a shelter that is not well ventilated can cause transmission of the virus.

Lassa fever is a highly infectious virus that can be passed from humans to humans from the contact of contaminated household items. This makes it a communicable disease, transmitted within a shelter.

Lastly, meningitis is an infectious disease that, according to the study by Georgiev, Western, and McGowan (2008), can be passed from human to human living within the same shelter.