Dyanmics of Disease Transmission

DYNAMICS OF
DISEASE
TRANSMISSION
By:-
Shreyas Ainapure
Aishwarya Panchangam
Aman Kumar Sahoo
Communicable diseases are
transmitted from the
reservoir/source of infection to
susceptible host.
Reservoir and Source
◦Reservoir is any person, animal, arthropod, plant, soil or
substance (or combination of these) in which an infectious
agent lives and multiplies no which it depends primarily for
survival, and where it reproduces itself in such manner that
it can be transmitted to a susceptible host
◦Source is the person, animal, object or substance from

which an infectious agent passes or is disseminated to the
host.
Attack on
these
organisms
TYPES OF RESERVOIR
Human reservoir Animal reservoir Non living things
Human reservoir
◦Case is a person in the population or
study group identified as having the
particular disease, health disorder or
condition under investigation.
◦Carrier is an infected person or

animal that harbors a specific
infectious agent in the absence of
discernible clinical disease and
serves as a potential source of
infection for others.
◦Primary case refers to the first case of a
communicable disease introduced into the population
◦Index case refers to the first case to come to the
attention of the investigator
◦Secondary case are those developing from contact
with primary case
◦Suspect case is an individual who has all of the
signs and symptoms of a disease or condition, yet has
not been diagnosed as having the disease or had the
cause of the symptoms connected to the suspected
pathogen
Types of carriers
• Incubatory carriers
Incubatory carriers are those who
shed the infectious agent during
the incubation period of disease,
e.g., measles, mumps. polio
They are capable of infecting
others before the onset of illness
• Convalescent carriers
Those who continue to shed the
disease agent during the period
of convalescence, e.g., typhoid
fever, dysentery
• Healthy Carriers
Healthy carriers emerge from subclinical cases
They are victims of subclinical infection who have developed
carrier state without suffering from overt disease, but are
nevertheless shedding the disease agent
e.g., poliomyelitis, cholera,
Animal reservoir
◦Animal reservoirs:-Humans are also subject to diseases that
have animal reservoirs. Many of these diseases are transferred
from animal to animal, with humans as incidental hosts.
◦The term zoonosis refers to an infectious disease that is
transmissible under natural conditions from vertebrate animals
to humans.
◦ Long recognized zoonotic diseases include brucellosis (cows
and pigs), anthrax (sheep), plague (rodents),and rabies (bats,
raccoons, dogs, and other mammals)
Environmenta
l reservoir
Environmental reservoirs.
Plants, soil, and water in
environment are also reservoirs
for some infectious diseases.
◦Outbreaks of Legionnaires
disease are often traced to
water supplies in cooling
towers and evaporative
condensers, reservoirs for the
causative organism Legionella
pneumophila.
Elements in carrier state
• the presence in the body of the disease agent
• the absence of recognizable symptoms and signs of
disease
• shedding of the disease agent in the discharges or
excretions, thus acting as a source of infection for
other persons
Portal of exit
◦Portal of exit is the path by
which a pathogen leaves its host.
◦The portal of exit usually
corresponds to the site where the
pathogen is localized.
◦For example, influenza viruses
and Mycobacterium tuberculosis
exit the respiratory tract,
schistosomes through urine,
cholera vibrios in feces, Some
bloodborne agents can exit by
crossing the placenta from mother
to fetus (rubella, syphilis,
toxoplasmosis), while others exit
through cuts or needles in the
Modes of
transmission
Communicable diseases may
be transmitted from the
reservoir or source of infection
to a susceptible individual in
many different ways,
depending upon the infectious
agent, portal of entry and the
local ecological conditions.
The mode of transmission of
infectious diseases is classified
as:
• Direct transmission
• Indirect transmission
Direct transmission
• Direct contact
• Droplet infection
• Contact with soil
• Inoculation into skin or mucosa
• Transplacental
Indirect transmission
• Vehicle borne
• Vector borne
• Air borne
• Fomites-borne
• Unclean hands and fingers
Portal of entry
◦The portal of entry refers to the manner in which a pathogen
enters a susceptible host.
◦The portal of entry must provide access to tissues in which the
pathogen can multiply or a toxin can act. Often, infectious
agents use the same portal to enter a new host that they used
to exit the source host.
◦For example, influenza virus exits the respiratory tract of the
source host and enters the respiratory tract of the new host.
◦ In contrast, many pathogens that cause gastroenteritis follow
a so-called "fecal-oral" route because they exit the source host
in feces, are carried on inadequately washed hands to a
vehicle such as food, water, or utensil, and enter a new host
through the mouth.
◦Other portals of entry include the skin (hookworm), mucous
Susceptible Host
Successful parasitism
• the infectious agent must find a portal
of entry by which ti may enter the host,
eg., respiratory tract, alimentary tract
• On gaining entry into the host, the
organisms must reach the appropriate
tissue or site of election in the body of
the host where ti may find optimum
conditions for its multiplication and
survival
• The disease agent must find a way out of the body
(portal of exit) in order that it may reach a new host
and propagate its species. If there is no portal of exit,
the infection becomes a dead-end infection as in
rabies, tetanus
• After leaving the human body, the organism must
survive in the external environment for sufficient
period till a new host is found. In addition, a
successful disease agent should not cause the death
of the host but produce only a low-grade immunity so
that the host is vulnerable again and again to the
same infection.
Incubation
period
• the time interval between invasion
by an infectious agent and
appearance of the first sign or
symptom of the disease in question
• During the incubation period, the
infectious agent undergoes
multiplication in the host
• Median incubation period is
defined as the time required for 50
percent of the cases to occur
following exposure
Incubation period is of fundamental
importance in
• Tracing source of infection and contacts
• Useful for determining period of
surveillance
• Immunization
• Identification of point source
• Identifying prognosis of diseases
Secondary attack rate
◦It is defined as the number of exposed persons developing the
disease within the range of the incubation period, following
exposure to the primary case
◦Used to estimate to the spread of disease in a family,
household or other group environment.
◦ Measures the infectivity of the agent and the effects
of prophylactic agents (e.g. vaccine)

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DYNAMICS OF

◦Source is the person, animal, object or substance from

◦Carrier is an infected person or

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