🌘 Non-Communicable & Communicable Diseases 🐺

🐺 Alpha Definitions

• Communicable diseases are caused by pathogens and can be spread from one organism to another. Think of them spreading through the pack like wildfire.
• Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) cannot be passed between organisms. They are caused by lifestyle, genetics, or environmental factors.
• A pathogen is a microorganism that causes disease.

🐺 The Four Pathogen Types

There are four types of pathogen every wolf in the pack needs to know. Each one causes disease differently:

🐺 Spread Routes

• Direct contact — touching an infected person or bodily fluids (e.g. Gonorrhoea via sexual contact).
• Water — drinking contaminated water (e.g. cholera).
• Air — inhaling droplets from sneezes/coughs (e.g. Measles).
• Vectors — organisms that carry the pathogen without getting sick (e.g. mosquitoes carry Malaria).

🐺 Measles Virus

• Spread: Inhalation of droplets from sneezes and coughs.
• Symptoms: Fever, red skin rash.
• Complications: Can be fatal if complications develop (e.g. pneumonia, encephalitis).
• Prevention: Young children are vaccinated (MMR vaccine).

🐺 HIV Virus

• Spread: Sexual contact or exchange of body fluids (e.g. sharing needles).
• Effect: Attacks the immune system. Initially flu-like symptoms, then if untreated → AIDS (the immune system becomes so damaged it can't fight infections).
• Treatment: Antiretroviral drugs slow the virus down but don't cure it.
• Prevention: Condoms, not sharing needles.

🐺 Tobacco Mosaic Virus (TMV) Virus — Plants

• Affects: Many species of plants, including tobacco and tomatoes.
• Symptoms: A distinctive mosaic pattern of discolouration on leaves.
• Effect: Discolouration means less chlorophyll, so less photosynthesis → reduced growth.

🐺 Salmonella Bacteria

• Spread: Ingesting contaminated food (especially undercooked poultry/eggs).
• Symptoms: Fever, abdominal cramps, vomiting, diarrhoea — caused by the toxins the bacteria produce.
• Prevention: In the UK, poultry are vaccinated against Salmonella.

🐺 Gonorrhoea Bacteria

• Spread: Sexual contact (it is a sexually transmitted infection / STI).
• Symptoms: Thick yellow/green discharge, pain when urinating.
• Treatment: Used to be treated with antibiotics, but many strains are now antibiotic-resistant.
• Prevention: Using condoms and limiting sexual partners.

🐺 Rose Black Spot Fungus — Plants

• Spread: Wind or water spreading fungal spores.
• Symptoms: Purple/black spots on leaves → leaves turn yellow and drop off.
• Effect: Less leaves = less photosynthesis = less growth.
• Treatment: Fungicides, or removing and destroying affected leaves.

🐺 Malaria Protist

• Spread: By a vector — female Anopheles mosquitoes carry the protist and inject it when they bite.
• Symptoms: Recurrent episodes of fever, can be fatal.
• Prevention: Mosquito nets, insecticides to kill the vector.

🌘 What Are NCDs?

Non-communicable diseases are diseases that cannot be spread between organisms. They are often caused by lifestyle factors, genetics, or the environment. They are responsible for the majority of deaths worldwide.

🐺 Risk Factors for NCDs

A risk factor is something that increases the likelihood of developing a disease. Risk factors can be:

• Lifestyle: diet, smoking, alcohol, lack of exercise.
• Substances in the body: e.g. high cholesterol.
• Genetic: inherited genes that make you more susceptible.
• Environmental: exposure to carcinogens, ionising radiation, UV light.

🐺 Cancer

• Cancer is caused by uncontrolled cell division (mitosis).
• Changes in cells that lead to cancer are caused by mutations in DNA that affect how cells grow and divide.
• Benign tumours: growths of abnormal cells contained in one area. They do not invade other tissues. Not usually dangerous unless they compress vital organs.
• Malignant tumours: cancerous. They invade neighbouring tissues and can spread to other parts of the body in the blood, forming secondary tumours — this is called metastasis.

🐺 Cardiovascular Disease (CVD)

• CVD includes diseases of the heart and blood vessels, e.g. coronary heart disease (CHD).
• In CHD, layers of fatty material (plaque) build up inside the coronary arteries, narrowing them.
• This reduces blood flow to the heart muscle, so it receives less oxygen.
• Risk factors: smoking, high-fat diet, lack of exercise, genetics, high blood pressure.

🐺 CVD Treatments

• Stents: Small tubes inserted into narrowed/blocked arteries to hold them open — restores blood flow.
• Statins: Drugs that reduce blood cholesterol levels, slowing the rate of fatty deposits forming.
• Heart valves: Faulty valves can be replaced with biological (from donors/animals) or mechanical valves.
• Heart transplants: A donor heart replaces the failing heart. Risk of rejection by the immune system.
• Artificial hearts: Used as a temporary measure while waiting for a transplant, or to allow the heart to rest and recover.

🐺 Liver & Brain Disease

• Alcohol → liver disease (cirrhosis). The liver is damaged and can no longer filter toxins.
• Alcohol → brain damage and impacts on mental health.
• Smoking → linked to lung disease (COPD, bronchitis, emphysema).
• Obesity → type 2 diabetes. The body no longer responds properly to insulin.

🐺 The Pack Works Together (And So Do Diseases)

• Communicable and non-communicable diseases can interact:
• Viruses living in cells can trigger mutations leading to cancer (e.g. HPV → cervical cancer).
• Immune reactions from infection can trigger allergies like skin rashes or asthma.
• Severe physical illness can lead to depression and other mental health problems.
• Immune system disorders (e.g. from HIV) make the body more susceptible to other infections.
• Poor lifestyle choices (e.g. poor diet) can weaken the immune system, making infections more likely.