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Table 6-29

DiseaseCaused byOnsetSymptomsTreatment
Avian influenza (bird flu)
Highly infectious virus affecting millions of birds across Asia (especially Hong Kong, Thailand, Vietnam).
  • Poultry—birds excrete the virus → people inhale fecal dust
  • Human-to-human transmission rare
24–72 hr
  • Eye infection
  • Fever, sore throat, cough
  • In fatal cases: viral pneumonia, severe respiratory problems
  • pillImageAntiviral drug (Tamiflu, Relenza)
  • No vaccine
Lyme disease (see Physiological Integrity)
Mad cow disease (bovine spongiform encephalopathy [BSE])
Causes variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (VCJD): a CNS degenerative brain disorder that has killed >100 in past decade, mostly in Britain.
  • Eating meat from cattle (brain, spinal cord, eyes, bone marrow, spleen), or eating contaminated tissue from cattle that ate these parts (have been fed offal)
5 or more years
  • ↓ Memory
  • Speech abnormalities
  • Hallucinations
  • Incontinence
  • Difficulty in dressing
  • None
  • Fatal
  • Lasts for several months
Monkey pox
Related to smallpox. Fatal in 10% of cases. Found in midwestern U.S. (Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Wisconsin).
  • Animal bites by or bodily fluids from rats, mice, squirrels, prairie dogs, or imported west African rodent pets
  • Can be transmitted human-to-human
7–18 days
  • Lymphadenopathy
  • Fever
  • Headache
  • Fatigue
  • Rash → blisters over entire body
  • None
Rabies
Viral disease. 7,000 cases/yr in U.S.
  • Bite from infected cat, dog, or wild animal (raccoon, skunk, fox)
Within 24 hr
  • Fever
  • Hypersalivation
  • Dysphagia
  • Partial paralysis
  • Hallucinations
  • Excitation
  • pillImagePostexposure prophylaxis (PEP): immune globulin for 1 mo; rabies vaccine
  • No effective therapy after symptoms appear
Salmonella
Bacterial disease; kills approx. 1,000/yr; 40,000 cases/yr.
  • Drinking contaminated water or eating contaminated chicken or eggs
  • Can be transmitted by reptiles (snakes, turtles, lizards), chicks, ducklings
Hours to 7 days
  • Severe diarrhea
  • Fever
  • Abdominal pain
  • No treatment, as resolved in 5–7 days
  • pillImageAntibiotics if infection spreads from intestines
Tularemia (see Table 6-30. Recognizing Bioterrorism Agents and Associated Syndromes Bioterrorism)
West Nile virus
Fatal in 10% of cases; first found in Uganda.
  • Mosquitoes
3–14 days
  • Flu-like (fever, headache, body aches)
  • IV fluids
  • Prevention of pneumonia as secondary infection

For more information, go to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Web site: www.cdc.gov.