Reportable Communicable Diseases

Reportable Communicable Diseases
Reportable diseases are known as Notifiable diseases in Medical terms. There are many diseases which are highly infectious in nature. These diseases spread rapidly from person to person, and can affect a large amount of population within a short period of time.

The resulting phenomenon is called as an Epidemic, when a large amount of population is affected, but the population is limited only to a specific area, or part of a specific country, or within a specific country

When the disease spreads very rapidly, taking down population from one country to another, it is called as a Pandemic. The disease usually spreads through travelers or even goods being exchanged between different countries.

Both these Pandemics and epidemics are required by every government in every country, to be reported to the relevant medical regulatory authority of the said country.

Every country has a different list of Reportable communicable diseases, simply because some diseases are more prevalent in certain countries, and other countries may have some other diseases which are highly prevalent in their locality.

The reporting or notification is done by the regional medical centre, to the regulatory medical body.

There are certain diseases which require to be reported or notified even if there is only a single case of that disease diagnosed.

Examples are Cholera, diphtheria, smallpox, etc.

Whereas certain diseases are notified only after there are an increasing number of cases of that specific disease, being diagnosed within a short interval, say, within 1 to 3o days.

Once any disease, be it a Pandemic or an Epidemic disease is reported or notified to the government regulatory medical body, the patients are kept in isolation, in government hospitals and medical centers. The patient is monitored while in treatment, and discharged from the hospital only after the necessary remedial measures have been completed and the infective period is completely over.

The significance of the Notifiable diseases is that, WHO, or the World Health Organization can impose travel and trade restrictions between countries, in the wake of Pandemics.

The notifiable or reportable communicable diseases, which are common to most of the countries are Cholera, Yellow fever, Anthrax, Leptospirosis, H1N1, Plague, AIDS, Botulism, Brucellosis, Diphtheria, Q-Fever, Malaria, Rabies, Chancroid,Pertussis, Smallpox, Leprosy, Syphilis, Poliomyelitis, Influenza( laboratory confirmed), Legionellosis, Rubella, Hepatitis, Invasive Meningococcal disease, Tuberculosis, Tularemia, Avian Influenza(bird flu), Hydatid disease, Yersinosis, Tetanus, Rickettsial diseases, Hepatitis C, Typhoid, Paratyphoid, Mumps, Cryptosporidiosis, Giardiasis, Coccidioidomycosis, Ehrlichiosis etc

List Of Communicable Diseases

List Of Communicable Diseases
Most states in the United States have specific laws and guidelines that spell out how communicable diseases should be kept in check and how outbreaks should be curbed. Towards this end, they keep a list of communicable diseases that is available even for the general public. The list communicable diseases is primarily used by the health facilities, healthcare providers and the relevant monitory authorities to ensure that such diseases are kept under control at all times.

Basically a diseases is termed communicable (CD) if it is infectious and can be transmitted from a sick person to a healthy person via direct contact, contact or exchange of bodily fluids, or even through an indirect contact (like touching something that's bee touched by an infected person). The following list of communicable diseases has been classified into some basic categories that overlap. Attempt has been made to build the list accumulatively, such that no disease is repeated if it occurs in more than one category.

Some common communicable diseases among children in the US include HIV/AIDS, bacterial meningitis, pink eye, fifth disease, cold sores (herpes simplex), viral hepatitis (A, B and C), lice, flu, mumps, measles, mono (mononucleosis), pinworms, whooping cough, RSV (respiratory syncytial virus), German measles (rubella), rosella, scabies, ringworm, staph infections, Chlamydia, genital herpes, scarlet fever, strep throat and tuberculosis.

Besides these, the EU has several other infections identified on its list of communicable diseases. Such diseases (Not covered above) include Amebiasis, Babesiosis, Chancroid, Chlamydia, Chickenpox (Varicella), Clostridium Difficile Infection, Crabs, E Coli, Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE), Ehrlichiosis, Giardiasis, Herpes, Hib/Haemophilus Influenza Type B, HIV, Human Papillomavirus (Genital Warts), Influenza, Legionellosis, Lyme, Meningitis (Meningococcal Disease), Molluscum Contagiosum, MRSA, Nongonococcal Urethritis (NGU), Norovirus Infection, Pediculosis and Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID).

In additions to these, both the EU and US recognize the following as communicable diseases; Pertussis (Whooping Cough), Polio, Rabies, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Salmonellosis, Shigellosis, Brucellosis, Echinococcosis, Scabies, Streptococcal and West Nile Virus. Some common sexually diseases across the continents include Gonorrhea, Chlamydia infections, Gonococcal infections, HIV-infection and Syphilis

In sub-Saharan Africa, there are some communicable diseases that are regarded as serious imported diseases and they include Cholera, Malaria, Plague and Viral hemorrhagic fevers. The most notorious communicable diseases that are airborne include Legionellosism, Meningococcal disease, Pneumococcal infections and Tuberculosis.

Some common food and water-borne communicable diseases and other diseases with an environmental origin include Botulism, Campylobacteriosis, Cryptosporidiosis, Giardiasis, Enterohaemorrhagic E.coli, Leptospirosis, Listeriosis, Toxoplasmosis, Trichinosis and Yersinosis.