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Illnesses

Infectious Diseases

Infectious Diseases
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 4 to 6
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   8.04

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    antiviral, individually, infectious, malaria, parasitic, pathogen, protozoan, protozoans, ringworm, single-celled, sinus, tetracycline, identify, production, disease, tuberculosis
     content words:    United States

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Infectious Diseases
By Jennifer Kenny 		  
1     What is an infectious disease? It is any disease caused by something that has invaded the human body. Maybe it was passed from person to person. It could come from food. It might come from an animal. It could come from something around you. All of these things are called pathogens, or agents that cause disease.
 
2     Bacteria are one example of a pathogen. Bacteria can't be seen without a microscope because they are single-celled. Some bacteria cause disease. Many of them, though, are harmless and actually helpful like the ones in your mouth or intestine. The bacteria that are harmful, however, can cause tuberculosis, tetanus, and sinus infections.
 
3     Viruses can also cause disease. They don't live freely on their own. Instead, they take control of cells in your body and have them make new ones. The new ones attack other cells and have them make new ones, too. The cold, the flu, chickenpox, and measles are all caused by viruses.

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