Whether from bacteria, insects or viruses, infectious diseases can be difficult to diagnose and treat. MultiCare’s infectious disease specialists offer diagnosis and treatment for a variety of infectious diseases.

Our team has extensive training and experience in managing diseases ranging from the coronavirus and the flu to HIV, tuberculosis, antibiotic-resistant infections and other complex conditions. Our doctors work closely with primary care providers and specialists to design treatment plans tailored to meet your unique needs.

Types of infectious diseases

Infectious diseases generally fall into one of the following categories:

• Bacterial infections: Caused by single-celled organisms that multiply and include strep throat and tuberculosis
• Foodborne diseases: Often caused by bacteria, such as salmonella and E. coli
• Fungal infections: Caused by fungi, such as mildew, mold and yeast, and include blastomycosis, histoplasmosis and ringworm
• Insect-borne diseases: Caused by bacteria, viruses or parasites and include Lyme disease (spread by ticks) and Saint Louis encephalitis and malaria (spread by mosquitoes)
• Parasitic infections: Can spread through food, water, insects and many other ways and include Chagas disease, malaria, giardia and toxoplasmosis
• Tropical diseases: Infections, including cholera, Ebola, rotavirus and yellow fever, that are caused by bacteria and viruses prevalent in the tropics
• Viral infections: Caused by viruses, which contain genetic material and change, damage or kill your body’s cells, and include HIV/AIDS, mononucleosis and herpes

How MultiCare treats infectious diseases

If you are concerned you or someone you love may have an infectious disease, an infectious disease specialist can let you know for sure. They can also recommend next steps for treatment, which is important because different types of infectious diseases need different forms of treatment. For example, bacterial infections respond to antibiotics, but viral infections do not.