Cholera is a bacterial disease transmitted through contaminated water or food supplies. It was a stubborn problem, particularly in urban areas, and could be mild or fatal.
Hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C are liver infections caused by three different viruses. They can be transmitted by blood products, sexual activity, and sharing needles.
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) attacks the immune system and, if not treated, can lead to Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS).There is currently no cure for HIV, but with proper medical care people can still live long, healthy lives.
As early as the ninth century, a Persian doctor wrote about measles. In 1912, measles became a nationally notifiable disease in the United States, requiring doctors and laboratories to report all diagnosed cases. In the first half of the twentieth century20th century, before a vaccine was developed, nearly all children got measles, one of the most infectious viruses.
Pertussis, or whooping cough, is an acute infectious disease caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis. Symptoms include running nose, sneezing, low-grade fever, a mild cough, and later, bursts of numerous, rapid coughs, due to difficulty expelling thick mucus, accompanied by a high-pitched whooping soundcan cause serious symptoms and even death in infants. There is now a vaccine available.
Poliomyelitis (often just called polio now) is an acute paralytic disease. It’s an enterovirus, transmitted through contact with people, by nasal and oral secretions, and by contact with contaminated feces. Polio virus enters the body through the mouth, multiplying along the way and especially in the digestive tract.can cause paralysis and is best-known for the iron lungs used to keep children alive during the 1940s-1950s, before vaccines became available.
Rubella is a contagious viral infection best known by its distinctive red rash. From From 1964–1965 there was a rubella epidemic in the United States and subsequently there were which caused 11,000 stillbirths, miscarriages, and abortions, and at least 20,000 congenitally infected infants called “rubella babies” deformed babies, which spurred the search for a vaccine.
Tetanus is an acute, often fatal , disease caused by an exotoxin a toxin produced by the bacterium bacterium Clostridium tetani. Exotoxins are toxins released by a living bacterial cell into its surroundings. Symptoms of tetanus include generalized rigidity and convulsive spasms of skeletal muscles. The muscle stiffness usually begins in the jaw(lockjaw) and neck and then becomes more generalized throughout the body., hence its nickname "lockjaw."
Typhoid fever is a bacterial disease caused by Salmonella typhi. Symptoms of typhoid fever are similar to other gastrointestinal illnesses and include fever , headache, nausea, constipation or diarrhea, loss of appetite and a rose-colored rash on the body. Typhoid fever spreads from person to person via in contaminated food and water, and via the fecal-oral route. A gastrointestinal illness, it was a major cause of disease before the mid-20th century.
Yellow fever had been around since at least the 18th century, and was known and fearedthroughout the 19th century, especially in port towns with the arrival of new ships. After the Spanish-American War, a Yellow Fever Commission was established in the United States to investigate. The focus shifted to prevention via mosquito control.
