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B3 B) Communicable Diseases – Protists & Fungi
B3 B) Communicable Diseases – Protists & Fungi
There are 4 different types of communicable diseases; bacteria, viruses, protists and fungi. We looked at bacteria and viruses in the previous section, and we will look at protists and fungi in this section.
3) Protists
Protists are eukaryotes and they are often single celled. There are many different types of protists and some of them are parasites. Parasites are organisms that live on or inside other organisms (known as the host). The parasite benefits from the host by taking nutrients without giving anything in return. Parasites are often transferred by a vector, which is an organism that is not affected by the protist, but passes the protist on. Malaria is an example of a protist.
Malaria
Malaria is carried around by some infected female mosquitos; the infected female mosquitos are the vector. The infected female mosquitos get malaria by feeding off an infected animal. When an infected mosquito bites someone, the individual that they have bitten becomes infected with malaria. Humans that have malaria can develop a fever and have flu like symptoms. Sometimes malaria can be fatal.
We can reduce the spread of malaria in a few different ways, such as:
Protists are eukaryotes and they are often single celled. There are many different types of protists and some of them are parasites. Parasites are organisms that live on or inside other organisms (known as the host). The parasite benefits from the host by taking nutrients without giving anything in return. Parasites are often transferred by a vector, which is an organism that is not affected by the protist, but passes the protist on. Malaria is an example of a protist.
Malaria
Malaria is carried around by some infected female mosquitos; the infected female mosquitos are the vector. The infected female mosquitos get malaria by feeding off an infected animal. When an infected mosquito bites someone, the individual that they have bitten becomes infected with malaria. Humans that have malaria can develop a fever and have flu like symptoms. Sometimes malaria can be fatal.
We can reduce the spread of malaria in a few different ways, such as:
- Reducing your chances of getting bitten by wearing long clothing, sleeping under a mosquito net that has been sprayed with insecticides, putting on insect repellent frequently etc.
- Taking antimalarial tablets
- Preventing infected mosquitos from breeding
4) Fungi
Fungi can be single celled or multicellular. An example of a single celled fungi is yeast, and an example of a multicellular fungi is a mushroom. Not all fungi cause diseases, but some fungi are harmful as they penetrate human skin and the surface of plants, which results in diseases. Two examples of fungal diseases are athlete’s foot and rose black spot.
Athlete’s Foot
Athlete’s foot is usually found between people’s toes of infected individuals. It can cause the skin to become red and flaky or cause the skin to become white and start cracking. Individual’s usually catch athlete’s foot in communal changing areas like swimming pools and gym changing rooms by touching surfaces that have been in contact with individuals that have athlete’s foot. For example, if I had athlete’s foot and got changed in a changing room, the floor that I would have walked bare foot on will have the fungi that causes athlete’s foot on it. Then if you got changed in the same changing room and walked bare foot on the floor, you could potentially pick up the fungi and then develop athlete’s foot. We treat athlete’s foot by using antifungal medication.
Rose Black Spot
Rose black spot is a fungus that causes the leaves of rose plants to develop black or purple spots. The rest of the leaves with black or purple spots on turn yellow and may even drop off of the plant. This reduces the rose plant’s ability to photosynthesise, which means that the plant will not grow properly (photosynthesis mainly takes place in the leaves, so a reduction in the number of leaves will reduce the plant’s ability to photosynthesis; photosynthesis is the reaction of carbon dioxide and water to produce glucose and oxygen). The reduction in photosynthesis for a rose can even result in the rose plant dying. Rose black spot can be spread through water, the wind or by direct contact from gardeners. We can treat plants that have rose black spot by using fungicides and removing infected leaves (we also destroy the infected leaves so that other plants do not get infected).
Fungi can be single celled or multicellular. An example of a single celled fungi is yeast, and an example of a multicellular fungi is a mushroom. Not all fungi cause diseases, but some fungi are harmful as they penetrate human skin and the surface of plants, which results in diseases. Two examples of fungal diseases are athlete’s foot and rose black spot.
Athlete’s Foot
Athlete’s foot is usually found between people’s toes of infected individuals. It can cause the skin to become red and flaky or cause the skin to become white and start cracking. Individual’s usually catch athlete’s foot in communal changing areas like swimming pools and gym changing rooms by touching surfaces that have been in contact with individuals that have athlete’s foot. For example, if I had athlete’s foot and got changed in a changing room, the floor that I would have walked bare foot on will have the fungi that causes athlete’s foot on it. Then if you got changed in the same changing room and walked bare foot on the floor, you could potentially pick up the fungi and then develop athlete’s foot. We treat athlete’s foot by using antifungal medication.
Rose Black Spot
Rose black spot is a fungus that causes the leaves of rose plants to develop black or purple spots. The rest of the leaves with black or purple spots on turn yellow and may even drop off of the plant. This reduces the rose plant’s ability to photosynthesise, which means that the plant will not grow properly (photosynthesis mainly takes place in the leaves, so a reduction in the number of leaves will reduce the plant’s ability to photosynthesis; photosynthesis is the reaction of carbon dioxide and water to produce glucose and oxygen). The reduction in photosynthesis for a rose can even result in the rose plant dying. Rose black spot can be spread through water, the wind or by direct contact from gardeners. We can treat plants that have rose black spot by using fungicides and removing infected leaves (we also destroy the infected leaves so that other plants do not get infected).