Communicable Diseases Flashcards
What is giardia?
A microorganism that infects the digestive system.
What’s an epidemic?
A disease outbreak that affects many people in the same place and at the same time.
What’s a pandemic?
A global outbreak of an infectious disease
Define the three-step process of the mutation of pathogens.
- Pathogens invade the body and cause illness.
- Antibiotics attack the pathogens.
- The pathogens that survive the antibiotics reproduce, creating a new generation of drug resistant pathogens.
What is an emerging infection?
A communicable disease whose occurrence in humans have increased within the past two decades or threatens to increase in the near future.
Name the two kinds of barriers that help protect you from infections.
Physical and chemical
Define the immune system.
A network of cells, tissues, organs, and chemicals that fight off pathogens.
What is the inflammatory response?
A reaction to tissue damage caused by injury or infection.
What is a phagocyte?
White blood cells that attack invading pathogens.
What are antigens?
Substances that can trigger an immune response.
Define immunity
The state of being protected against a particular disease
What is a lymphocyte?
A specialized white blood cell that coordinates and performs many functions of a specific immunity
What is an antibody?
A protein that acts against a specific antigen
What is a macrophage?
A type of phagocyte that make antigens recognizable to white blood cells.
