Airborne Diseases

Airborne Diseases

Airborne Diseases
Among various modes of disease transmission, air is one of the important routes and a number of diseases have been shown to be transmitted through air. Since human beings and animals are continuously inhaling the air, the chances for airborne microorganisms to find a host and cause infection are more. Most of the respiratory tract infections are acquired by inhaling the air containing the pathogen. Microorganisms in droplets and infectious dusts and spores can be easily disseminated through air.

Airborne infections cannot be defined as precisely as waterborne or food-borne infections, but they will be taken to include all those infections whose causative agents produce infection after inhalation.

Thus airborne transmission refers to the spread of agents of infection by droplet nuclei-in dust that travel more than 1 metre from the reservoir (source of infection) to the host. For example, the virus that causes measles and the tubercle bacilli can be transmitted via airborne droplets.

Broadly they can be of three kinds:
1. Infection of the respiratory tract like common cold, influenza, sore throat and pneumonia.
2. Specific fevers like measles, whooping cough, diphtheria, scarlet fever, etc.
3. Specific respiratory infections, the most important of which is pulmonary tuberculosis.

In addition, some infections may be acquired by inhalation of dried, infective excreta or secretions, e.g. psittacosis and Q fever.

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