11. Diseases Flashcards
Define: Disease
malfunction of body or mind which adversely affects the health of an individual
i.e condition that impairs normal functioning of an organism
Define: Pathogen
micro-organism that causes disease
4 types of pathogen
Bacteria
Virus
Fungus
Protoctista
How do bacteria harm the body?
Produce toxins –> cell damage –> causing symptoms
Secrete enzymes which allow pathogens to spread through tissues
How do viruses harm the body?
Damage host cells and tissues by invading specific target cells
Prevent tissue functioning normally
When sufficient viral particles produced, host cell is ruptured, releasing viral particles to invade new host cells
Some viruses bud off host cell and remain hidden from immune system in membrane bound sacs
What does viral nucleic acid inhibit?
normal call DNA, RNA and protein synthesis
How do fungi harm the body?
secrete enzymes which allow pathogens to spread through tissues
Define: Communicable Disease
Diseases which can spread between individual organisms
Describe what is meant by direct transmission?
Transmitted directly from infected person to uninfected person (e.g. droplets, sex, physical contact)
Describe what is meant by indirect transmission?
transmitted via an intermediate (e.g. air, water, food, vector)
3 Factors that affect the spread of communicable diseases
Overcrowding
Climate
Social factors (e.g. health care, health education)
Cause of Tuberculosis
Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Mycobacterium bovis
Transmission of Tuberculosis
Spread by droplet infection
uninfected person inhales infected droplets released by an infected person when they sneeze/cough
Transmission of Mycobacterium bovis
spread via contaminated meat and unpasteurised milk
First site of TB infection?
Lung tissues
Symptoms of TB primary infection?
Fever
Weight loss
Fatigue
Why is weight loss a symptom of TB primary infection?
Mycobacterium tuberculosis releases hormones which decrease appetite
What happens during the primary infection of TB?
Mycobacterium tuberculosis multiplies and destroys lung tissue
What should a healthy person’s reaction be to the primary infection of TB?
Immune system should deal with infection with no further complication
Who is likely to contract a TB secondary infection?
The Immune-compromised
What happens during the secondary infection of TB?
Phagocytic cells and other cells accumulate around infected cells forming a tubercle (granuloma)
Lung tissue damaged, sputum becomes blood stained
Symptoms of TB secondary infection?
Chest pains
Night Sweats
During TB secondary infection, what happens to
a) lung tissue
b) sputum
a) lung tissue becomes damaged
b) sputum becomes blood stained
Where can secondary TB spread to?
Immune system
Bones
Gut
Kidney
Risk Areas for TB
Homeless Poor housing Overcrowding Refugees Areas with high rate of tourism Areas with high rate of migration Malnutrition/Weakened immune system HIV positive patients
Why are HIV positive patients at risk of TB?
HIV reactivates dormant TB bacteria
How is TB diagnosed?
Microscopic analysis of sputum
Chest X-rays
How long can it take to diagnose TB?
Up to 2 weeks
Treatment of TB?
Isolation of patient for infected period (2-4 weeks)
Intensive care and extensive use of antibiotics
Treatment of pulmonary TB?
6 month course (taken every day) of isoniazid and rifampicin
Plus 2 month course (taken every day) of pyrazinamide and ethambutol
Why is a combination of 2 antibiotics used for the 6 months treatment of pulmonary TB?
to prevent multidrug resistance in bacteria
How long does treatment last if TB has spread to tissues outside the lungs?
12 months
Problems with treatment of TB?
Length - patients fail to complete course
Cost- each TB patient has a TB treatment assigned to them, expensive to isolate patients
High Number of MDR-TB bacteria
Some strains of XDR-TB bacteria
Difficulties in contact tracing
Difficult to detect carriers of TB
Latent TB can occur
Prevention of TB?
Reduce overcrowding Improve ventilation Improve health and nutrition Decrease air pollution Pasteurise milk BCG vaccine Routine testing of cattle DOTS (direct observation treatment, short coure)
How does decreasing air pollution prevent TB?
Decreases inflammation which decreases risk of infection
Define: notifiable disease
disease that has to be reported to the local health authorities if a new case arises
Why is data collected on notifiable diseases?
To allow: trends to be monitored awareness to be raised vaccination programmes to be improved and directed contact tracing to be carried out infected individuals to be isolated
What does HIV stand for?
Human immuno-deficieny virus
What causes HIV?
retrovirus (possesses RNA)
What does HIV use as its host cell?
T-helper cells (T4 helper lymphocytes), macrophages and brain cells
What does reverse transcriptase do in HIV?
creates double stranded DNA copy of virus genome from single stranded RNA once inside host cell
What happens when HIV invades body?
Virus enters T4 helper lymphocytes (host cell)
Reverse transcriptase creates double stranded DNA copy of virus genome for single stranded RNA
Provirus forms
Provirus is copied before T helper cell divides
Viral DNA activated which causes synthesis of viral RNA and viral proteins, producing more viral particles
T-helper cell ruptures