Small lifeforms are crawling over your body, hunting for the opportunity to make you sick. There are millions more of these germs inside your body, trying to get out and infect someone else. Communicable diseases are those that travel from one person or animal to another. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services states you can also catch a communicable disease from an animal, and animals can get one from you. Contracting a communicable disease can have long-lasting effects.
Mortality
Many communicable diseases are relatively harmless, such as the common cold. Flu viruses can be more serious. Seasonal flu kills more than 25,000 Americans each year, according to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Others, like AIDS and tuberculosis, should be treated as potentially life-threatening communicable diseases.
Symptoms
A variety of symptoms are associated with communicable diseases. Some symptoms are the vehicle that spreads the disease. Sneezing, for example, propels the viruses through the nose. A productive cough sends bacteria into the air or onto a hand. Other symptoms might include pain, diarrhea, nausea, headache, itch, rashes and fever.
Chronic Conditions
Some communicable diseases turn into chronic conditions which can impair the quality of life. Tuberculosis, or TB, can cause breathing problems or even death if left untreated. Diseases like polio can cause paralysis.
Isolation
Quarantine is a common way to stop or slow the spread of disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Isolation can be difficult to endure, especially for lengthy treatments, due to loneliness and the inability to participate in activities of daily living.
Hospitalization
Some communicable diseases are quite serious and require hospitalization. Hospitals have special rules and equipment to prevent the spread of communicable diseases while administering treatment.
Social Effects
Some communicable disease have a social stigma attached and can affect social and physical well-being. Embarrassment about contracting AIDS or sexually transmitted disease can prevent a person from seeking treatment, which increases the likelihood the disease will be transmitted to another person.
Societal Burden
Decline in population could have an impact on society if a fatal communicable disease becomes an epidemic and kills a significant number of people. There have been several outbreaks of communicable diseases that cause disability, such as polio. These epidemics can be costly to society due to a smaller work force, more physician and hospital visits and increased welfare and disability claims.
