The National Academies
What You Need To Know About Infectious Disease
How Infection Works
Types of Microbes
The microorganisms, or microbes, that can cause disease come in different forms. Viruses and bacteria are probably the most familiar because we hear so much about them. But fungi, protozoa, and helminths are also big players in the story of infectious disease. Learn more about each of these five main categories, as well as a recently discovered one: prions.
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Disease Watchlist
What do you know about infectious disease?
True or False: Scientists predict that rising average temperatures in some regions will change the transmission dynamics and geographic range of cholera, malaria, dengue fever, and tick-borne diseases.
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Correct!
Scientists predict that rising average temperatures in some regions—a result of climate change—will change the transmission dynamics and geographic range of cholera, malaria, dengue fever, and tick-borne diseases.
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Sorry, that’s incorrect.
Scientists predict that rising average temperatures in some regions—a result of climate change—will change the transmission dynamics and geographic range of cholera, malaria, dengue fever, and tick-borne diseases.
Infectious Disease Defined
- Ecosystem
A functional unit that consists of all the living organisms in a particular area, including the nonliving, physical components in the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water, and sunlight.
National Academies Press
Search the National Academies Press website by selecting one of these related terms.
Source Material
- Fungal Diseases: An Emerging Threat to Human, Animal, and Plant Health— Workshop Summary (2011)
- Infectious Disease Movement in a Borderless World—Workshop Summary (2010)
- Microbial Evolution and Co-Adaptation: A Tribute to the Life and Scientific Legacies of Joshua Lederberg (2009)
- The New Science of Metagenomics: Revealing the Secrets of Our Microbial Planet (2007)
- Ending the War Metaphor: The Changing Agenda for Unraveling the Host-Microbe Relationship—Workshop Summary (2006)
- Microbial Threats to Health: Emergence, Detection, and Response (2003)
