Communicable Diseases
Communicable diseases, sometimes called infectious diseases, are illnesses caused
by organisms such as bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites.
Sometimes the illness is not due to the organism itself, but rather a toxin
that the organism produces after it has been introduced into a human
host.
Communicable diseases may be transmitted (spread) by:
-
one infected person to another,
or
-
from an animal to a human, or
-
from some inanimate object (doorknobs, table tops, etc.)
to an
individual.
Some communicable diseases can be spread in more than one way.
Last Revised: March 31, 2009
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