Do you know of any unusual diseases and their causative agents?

Question

I have to do a "disease" paper, and I don't want to do the usual suspects- HIV, Ebola, Influenza, etc. Give me something unusually virulent and not well known. Can be viral or bacterial, or caused by a fungus. It just has to be caused by mirobes.

Answer 1

Coccidioidomycosis - it's a fungal pneumonia that is endemic to the southwestern US.

Syphilis - STD caused by a spirochete (type of bacteria). Causes horrible brain damage and disfigurement.

Q Fever - Coxiella burnettii infection can cause mitral valve damage, endemic to the Mid East, is a class B bioterror reportable disease

Brucella - Livestock disease causes spontaneous abortions in sheep and cattle, also bioterror reportable

Anthrax - Live stock disease, been used in bioterror, sparked the bioterror craze, very durable spores live in the ground and must be purged with fire.

Botulism - Paralytic food poisoning caused by bacteria Clostridium botulimun. Also clears up forehead wrinkles.

Shigella - Highly infectious bacterial disease, causes high fevers and bloody diarrhea, spread fecal-orally (through contaminated food, or close contact, usually high among men who have sex with men)

Or my personal favorites: visceral larva migrans (caused by a VARIETY of parasitic worms, describes the condition where they start moving all over your body, including in your eyes and brain. creepy as hell!). Or listeriosis, a personal crusade of mine. Caused by Listeria monocytogenes.

** btw, props to the guy who said Leishmaniasis. That stuff's WACK!

Answer 2

one of the most horrible and deadly types of infection, which is fairly rare but can strike anyone, is a fungal infection of the nasal passages-once this is established, there is essentially no treatment for it, and eventually the fungal processes will eat away the skull around the nasal cavaties, and invade the brain. It usually hits people that are immune-deficient, but can be established in a person with chronic congested nose who is exposed to large amounts of fungal spores.

Answer 3

Cat Scratch Fever----No, it's not just a great Ted Nugent song!! My son had it---a cat gets bitten by a flea which transmits this bacteria----humans then get scratched or licked by the cat and BAM! about 10 days later you get this HUGE swelling of an adjacent lymph node, low grade fever, malaise and lack of appetite. My son had swelling at his armpit the size of a tennis ball!! NASTY!!

Answer 4

If you can do protozoa, do chagas' disease, which is a pretty interesting result of "inoculation" (the mosquito actually takes a **** on your skin while drawing your blood) of Trypanosoma cruzi parasite.

of the same family leishmaniasis is also pretty fun.

parasites are pretty interesting.

Answer 5

I would do any chromosome disease because they are usually unusual. Especially diseases that deal with the sex chromosomes.

Answer 6

Bird flu - in birds from China - maybe from wild birds first then to domestic.