In some parts of Newfoundland, people got beriberi every spring. Beriberi can make people too weak to work. When that happened, a fisherman might "lose his summer." He would be too weak to catch enough fish to buy food for the next winter. The whole family would go hungry.

When people do not eat well, their bodies can not fight infectious diseases. Children are not as strong as adults. A hungry child gets sick easily and stays sick longer. As we have seen, poor living conditions, unclean food and dirty water helped to spread infectious diseases. Now, we will look at some of these diseases.

Section Four
Looking Ahead: Catching Your Death

What Is An Infectious Disease?
Deficiency diseases like rickets and beriberi can not be caught. Diseases that can be caught are called infectious diseases. They are caused by bacteria or viruses that live and grow in our bodies. The flu is one infectious disease that almost everyone gets at some time. Mumps, measles, chicken pox, whooping cough and scarlet fever are also infectious diseases. Cholera, dysentery and tuberculosis are more serious infectious diseases. Diphtheria is a dangerous disease that is spread by coughing and sneezing. Children now get shots to protect them from diphtheria, mumps, measles and whooping cough.

How do Infectious Diseases Spread?
Some infectious diseases, like tuberculosis, are not easy to catch. A healthy person can live with someone who has tuberculosis without getting sick. But many infectious diseases are caught easily when sick people cough or sneeze or share food.

This is not the only way these diseases get around. Many of the bacteria that cause infectious diseases can live outside of people's bodies. These bacteria are happy just about anywhere that is warm and damp. We have already seen that milk can be a good place for bacteria to grow. Garbage is too. So is water that is not moving.