Diseases in AfricaDiseases in Africa

• Caused by mosquito bites• People experience fever,

chill, headaches, and flu-like illness

• Each yeah, 350-500 million cases occur– Over one million die– Most are children in Sub-

Saharan Africa• Could be prevented by using

bednets (preferably insecticide treated), insecticides, wearing clothes that cover most of the body, or antimalarial drugs– But no specific vaccine

• Can develop in 7 days or several months

Malaria

Countries in Africa Afflicted with Malaria

All countries south of the Sahara

Yellow Fever

• Caused by mosquito bites• Range from self-limited

fever to severe hepatitis and a fever that causes blood discharge

• No specific treatment• Fatality rate = 20%

CountriesAngolaBeninBurkina FasoBurundiCameroonCentral Africa RepublicChadCote d’IvoireDemocratic Republic of the CongoEquatorial GuineaEthiopiaGabonThe GambiaGhanaGuineaGuinea-Bissau

KenyaLiberiaMaliMauritaniaNigerNigeriaRwandaSierra LeoneSao Tome and PrincipeSenegalSomaliaSudanTanzaniaTogoUganda

In Sub-Saharan Africa

Dengue Fever

• Transmitted by mosquitoes

• Occurs to 3 – 14 days• High fevers, severe

frontal headaches, joint/muscle pain, vomiting, and rash that can spread from torso to the arms, legs and face– Occasionally

• No vaccine

Typhoid Fever

• Spread by eating food/beverages that is contaminated with Salmonella Typhi (S. Thyphi)

• Persistant high fever (103 – 104), headache, anorexia, rash spots

• 22 million cases a year– 200,0000 die a year

• Two vaccines– Oral live (capsule)– Shot– Protect 50%-80% of people

Cholera

• Spread by contaminated food, fecal contamination in water

• Watery diarrhea, vomiting, circulatory collapse– Leads to rapid loss of body

fluids– Without treatment, death

can occur in hours

• Two oral vaccines (not available in the US)

• Rehydration is main treatment– Oral rehydration salts

Hepatitis

A• Viral infection of the liver• Fever, anorexia, nausea,

malaise• Can be transmitted by

direct person-to-person contact, contaminated water/food, uncooked food

• Two vaccines– Both shots

B• Fever, anorexia, malaise,

nausea• Transmitted by

unprotected sex with a HBV infected partner, contaminated needles used for injection of drugs/hospitals, unscreened blood transfusions

• Two Vaccine– Both shots

AIDS/HIV

• HIV (human immunodeficiency virus)

• AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome)

• Damages the immune system (which allow certain cancers to develop)

• Transmitted by sexual contact, using contaminated syringes, using infected blood– Many women with child bearing

HIV will pass it to the infant

• Recognized in 1981• Nearly 40 million people are

affected worldwide

Schistosomiasis

• Spread by larvae from infected snails that can penetrate unbroken skin, brief exposure to contaminated water

• Fever, loss of appetite, weight loss, weakness/joint and muscle pain, diarrhea, nausea– Few cases produce

seizures or disease in the liver, kidney, lung, intestinal tract, and bladder

• No vaccine

Tuberculosis

• Transmitted airborne (person infected coughs and spreads to other people in the same space)– The germs can stay in the

air for hours depending on the environment

• Weight loss, fever, night sweats, chest pain, coughing of blood

• Affects the lungs, brain, or spine

• Take several drugs for 6 – 12 months– If directions are not

specifically followed, person could become sick again or resistant to the drug

Rabies

• Transmitted by an animal bite that has the virus

• Last 1 – 3 months• Paralysis and spasms of

muscles stimulated by the sight, sound, or perception or water– Convulsions can happen,

which is quickly followed by coma and death

• Immunization works until 72 hours have past

• No treatment will work after development of symptoms– Extremely rare cases of

recovery

Trachoma

• Spread from person to person (child to child/mother to child), eye-seeking flies

• Disease is caught at an early age, effects are not shown until adulthood

• Swollen eyelids, turned-in eyelashes– Scarring of cornea

– Left untreated, irreversible blindness

• Six million people worldwide are blind because of this– More than 150 million are in

need of treatment

• Oral antibiotics and in certain cases eyelid surgery