Bacterial diseases
Bacteria may produce poisons (toxins) that damage tissues and make us feel ill.
Under ideal conditions, bacteria can reproduce once every 20 minutes, they divide by a process called binary fission.
There are two types of bacterial disease that you will study:
1. Salmonella food poisoning
2.Gonorrhoea
Salmonella food poisoning
Salmonella bacteria are often present in the guts of poultry such as chickens, turkey or ducks. This means that any product including eggs derived from poultry could contain salmonella bacteria.
Transmission:
Ingestion of food that is contaminated with Salmonella bacteria. This can include eating raw or undercooked meat, or food that has been prepared in unhygienic conditions.
Symptoms:
Fever, abdominal cramps, vomiting and diarrhoea are caused by the bacteria and the toxins they secrete.
Treatment:
Most people will recover within a few days following infection. However, in more susceptible groups such as young children or elderly people antibiotics will be prescribed.
Prevention:
In the UK, poultry are vaccinated against salmonella to control the spread of salmonella bacteria.
Gonorrhoea
Gonorrhoea is a sexually transmitted disease (STD). It is caused by a bacterium called Neisseria gonorrhoeae.
Transmission:
Gonorrhoea is spread by sexual contact.
Symptoms:
Thick yellow or green discharge from the vagina or penis.
Pain on urination.
Treatment:
It is treated with the antibiotic penicillin. However, since the use of antibiotics many resistant strains of gonorrhoea have appeared.
Prevention:
The spread of gonorrhoea can be controlled by treatment with antibiotics, providing resistant strains are not present.
Condoms are a barrier method of contraception. Using a condom significantly reduces transmission because the condom forms a barrier between the bodily fluids of the infected person and the mucous membranes of the uninfected person.
Practice Questions
1.How do bacterial diseases make us ill?
2. State the symptoms of Salmonella food poisoning
3. A person who is on immunosuppressants due to an organ transplant has become infected with salmonella food poisoning. What treatment could be used to kill the infection?