Abstrato

Model infectious diseases: malaria, hepatitis c, dengue, tuberculosis, cholera, leprosy

Jorge Trujillo Mendoza

 Infectious diseases are disorders caused mainly by microscopic agents, the most common ones can be divided in bacteria, virus, fungi or parasitic infections. Paradoxically, similar kind of these microorganisms are the same that also protect almost any living creature from other pathogens. The community of these microorganisms, called as “microbiota” in addition to their interaction with surrounding environmental conditions and structural elements or signal molecules is known as a “microbiome”. However, there is also the scenario where microbiome, under certain specific conditions, could loose its protective role and become a source of illness. There are many infectious diseases models, some of them need a vector in order to complete their life cycle just as it is the case of Malaria and Dengue, and some others may be ubiquitous such as Tuberculosis case and Hepatits C. Moreover, some may be transmitted by water or food, like is the situation with Cholera or on the other hand, by close person contact or animals as reservoir, like the case with Leprosy; nevertheless the diverse public health measures taken by developed and non-developed countries create a contrast among the epidemiology of certain infections. Signs and symptoms at the beginning of the vast majority of infections may be unspecific and repetitive, however, besides the microbiological features of each model disease here exposed, it is also considered the actual epidemiological data available in some territories of interest.