Giving examples, explain two types of communicable diseases, their signs and symptoms as well as prevention measures

Communicable diseases are those diseases that can be transferred from one person to another. Examples of these diseases are malaria and tuberculosis.

Tuberculosis:
Tuberculosis is caused by a germ called bacterium in singular and bacteria in plural. Coughs and spits of an effected person have droplets which contains the germs that are released in the air. Another person breathing in those droplets he/she becomes infected.

Signs and symptoms of tuberculosis:
• Difficulty in breathing
• Simple coughs for a start and then persists
• Chest pains
• Person lose weight and becomes thin and weak
•Infected person may cough out blood • The person can develop fever.

Prevention of Tuberculosis
Immunization:
This is where people especially young babies are given a vaccine which prepares the body to fight and defeat the diseases causing germs when they attack
Air:
Tuberculosis likes where fresh air does not flow quickly e.g. In crowded places with poor ventilation. For prevention, we should always allow air to flow freely into the room.
Treatment:
The infected person should be treated quickly to avoid further spread.
Health worker (Doctor/clinical officer
If coughs are noted to persist, the person should be advised to see a doctor or a clinical officer.
Separation:
The infected ones should be advised to be away from other people for sometime until they are well.
Cleanliness:
Always keep our environment clean and dust free
Proper hygiene Practice proper hygiene by use of handkerchief when sneezing, coughing and cleaning the nose.

Malaria:
Malaria is a vector based disease and is considered highly communicable meaning it can be spread though not directly from human to human. The disease is caused by plasmodium. Plasmodium is a parasite carried by female anopheles mosquitoes. This mosquito bites a person with malaria and sucks the parasites when this mosquito bites another healthy person, the parasites are passed into his/her blood and becomes sick.

Signs and symptoms
• Dizzy feelings
• Loss of appetite
• Feeling weak
• Fever
• Cold and shivering feelings
• Headache
• Joint pains
• Sweating excessively

Prevention:
The main prevention of malaria is destruction of places where mosquitoes live through the following methods:
• Removal of stagnant water from containers and getting rid of them. The places where we live should be free from stagnant water.
• Tall grasses and bushes should be cut around the houses we live.
• Cutting and disposing litters
• Spraying of oil on stagnant water
• Sleeping under mosquito nets – i.e. nets dipped into special chemicals that kill mosquitoes and so stop the spread of malaria parasite
• Taking of anti malaria drugs
• Burning mosquito coils to repel mosquitoes and spraying insecticides
• Applying mosquito repellants on the body. These are special chemicals that keep mosquitoes away, e.g. Doom.
Other examples of communicable diseases are: Common cold, Hepatitis A to D, Chicken fox, Mumps, STDs and Measles.

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raphael answered the question on October 7, 2018 at 12:07