| Please note this course is for information purposes only. It’s designed for professional development purposes to ensure that child care staff can stay up to date with their understanding about the spread of illness in a childcare setting. It reviews content related to the following standards – NQS Standard 2.1 Each child’s health and physical activity is supported and promoted. – NQS Element 2.1.2 Effective illness and injury management and hygiene practices are promoted and implemented. |
How Infections Spread
Infectious diseases can spread in a variety of ways:
- Through the air
- From direct or indirect contact with another person (including from a mother to her unborn child)
- Soiled objects
- Skin or mucous membrane (the thin, moist lining of many parts of the body such as the nose, mouth, throat and genitals)
- Saliva
- Urine
- Blood and body secretions
- Through sexual contact
- Through contaminated food and water.
Airborne Droplets from the Nose and Throat
Some infections are spread when an infected person sneezes or coughs out tiny airborne droplets. The droplets in the air may be breathed indirectly by another person or indirectly enter another person through contact with surfaces and hands with the droplets on them.
Examples of airborne diseases:
- chickenpox
- common cold
- diphtheria
- Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) infection
- flu
- measles
- meningitis (bacterial)
- meningococcal disease
- mumps
- parvovirus infection
- pneumococcal infection
- rubella
- streptococcal sore throat
- tuberculosis (TB)
- a whooping cough (pertussis)
Urine
Some infections are spread when urine from an infected person is transferred from soiled hands or objects to the mouth.
Example of a disease spread by urine:
- cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection
- Faecal-oral
Some infections are spread when microscopic amounts of faeces from an infected person with symptoms or an infected person without symptoms (a carrier) are taken in by another person by mouth. The faeces may be passed:
- directly from soiled hands to the mouth
- indirectly by way of objects, surfaces, food or water soiled with faeces.
Examples of diseases spread from faeces:
- Campylobacter infection
- Cryptosporidium infection
- Giardia infection
- hand, foot and mouth disease
- hepatitis A
- meningitis (viral)
- rotavirus infection
- Salmonella infection
- Shigella infection
- Thrush
- Viral gastroenteritis
- Worms
- Yersinia infection
Blood or Body Fluids
Some infections are spread when blood or other body fluids from an infected person comes into contact with the mucous membranes (the thin, moist lining of many parts of the body such as the nose, mouth, throat and genitals) or bloodstream of an uninfected person, such as through a needle stick or a break in the skin.
Examples of diseases spread through blood/body secretions:
- hepatitis B
- hepatitis C
- human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection
- cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection
Skin or Mucous Membrane Contact
Some infections are spread directly when skin or mucous membrane (the thin, moist lining of many parts of the body such as the nose, mouth, throat and genitals) comes into contact with other skin or mucous membrane. Infections are spread indirectly when skin or mucous membrane comes in contact with contaminated objects or surfaces.
Examples of diseases spread by skin or mucous membrane contact:
- chickenpox
- cold sores (herpes simplex infection)
- conjunctivitis
- hand, foot and mouth disease
- head lice
- molluscum contagiosum
- ringworm
- scabies
- school sores (impetigo)
- Staphylococcus aureus infection
- warts
Sexually Transmitted Infections
These infections are most commonly transmitted by sexual contact. Sexual contact means:
- genital to genital
- oral to genital
- oral
- genital to anal.
Examples of sexually transmitted infections:
- Chlamydia infection
- genital herpes
- genital warts
- gonorrhoea
- hepatitis B
- human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection
- non-specific urethritis (NSU)
- pubic lice (crabs)
- syphilis
- trichomoniasis
Food or Waterborne Diseases
These diseases result from ingestion of water or a wide variety of foods contaminated with disease-causing microorganisms or their toxins. Often these infections are also spread by the faecal-oral route.
Examples of food or waterborne diseases:
- botulism
- Campylobacter infection
- cholera
- Cryptosporidium infection
- haemolytic-uraemic syndrome
- Listeria infection
- Salmonella infection
- Shigella infection
- typhoid and paratyphoid
- Yersinia infection
Saliva
Some infections are spread by direct contact with saliva (such as kissing) or indirect contact with contaminated objects (such as children sucking and sharing toys).
Examples of diseases spread by saliva:
- cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection
- glandular fever
- hepatitis B
Diseases Where Person-to-Person Spread Occurs Rarely, If Ever
Some infectious diseases are almost never spread by direct contact with an infected person. These diseases are usually spread by contact with an environmental source such as animals, insects, water or soil.
Examples of diseases spread by contact with animals:
- cat-scratch disease
- hydatid disease
- psittacosis
- Q fever
- rabies
- toxoplasmosis
Examples of diseases spread by insects and in the examples listed below, specifically by mosquitoes:
- Barmah Forest virus infection
- dengue fever
- malaria
- Ross River virus infection
Examples of diseases spread by contact with water or soil:
- amoebic meningitis
- legionella infection
- tetanus
