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Infectious (contagious) diseases are caused by pathogenic microorganisms, such as bacteria, viruses, parasites or fungi that spread directly or indirectly from one person to another (WHO).
The causative agent of the infectious disease is a microorganism that causes the disease, its toxic product or prion.
The source of infection is a person, an animal, a thing or a substance from which the causative agent is transferred to a sensitive person.
The most common ways of spreading infectious diseases are:
- Physical contact with an infected person, such as touch (Staphylococcus), sexual intercourse (gonorrhea, HIV), through a stool or feces or food (hepatitis A) or by inhaling droplets (grip, tuberculosis);
- Contact with the infected area or object (Norvalk virus), food (Salmonella, Escherichia coli), blood (HIV, hepatitis B) or water (cholera);
- By insects or animals bites that are transmitters of the disease (mosquito: malaria and yellow fever, fleas: plague);
- By air (tuberculosis or measles).
Despite the great development of medical science, infectious diseases still represent a significant health problem.
Every year about 15 million people die of contagious diseases in the world, mostly from respiratory and digestive infections, AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. There are great differences in the incidence and mortality of infectious diseases among countries. In developing countries, infectious diseases account for more than 40% of all causes of death, while in developed countries this percentage is much lower (1%).
In Serbia in 2015 mortality from infectious diseases shows a decreasing trend compared to 2014. Infectious diseases were the cause of death in 0.3% of all deaths in our country.
Infectious diseases are important for many reasons:
- For some diseases, no effective preventive measures or adequate therapy are available;
- Existing preventive measures are not used everywhere in a satisfactory manner, adequate therapy is not available to everyone (for example, not all children in the world are covered by the vaccination; the high cost of medicines for HIV infection and hepatitis limits the possibility of their use);
- Any failure in implementation of preventive measures creates the possibility of disease spreading;
- New infectious diseases have emerged in the last decades (Ebola, SARS and others);
- There is a change in the causative factor itself and the resistance to existing drugs has increased;
- The number of people susceptible to infections due to the aging is increasing, as well as the number of persons with impaired immunity.
- The increased population mobility contributes to the spread and importation of infectious diseases.
References:
- http://www.who.int/topics/infectious_diseases/en/
- Dye C. After 2015: Infectious diseases in a new era of health and development. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 2014; 369 (1645): 20130426.
- Infectious Diseases Report in the Republic of Serbia. Institute of Public Health of Serbia “Dr Milan Jovanovic Batut”, available at: http://www.batut.org.rs/download/izvestaji/Zarazne%20bolesti%20godisnji%20izvestaj%202015.pdf
- Gledović Z, Jankovic S, Jarebinski M, Markovic Denić Lj, Vlajinac H i sar. Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, Belgrade, 2009: 165-171.
