Immunology Flashcards
What is immunology?
-concerns the immune system and how it protects the body.
-studies an organisms response to invasion by foreign microbes and their products
What is disease?
The body acting as a host to other living organisms
What organisms live on or in the body?
microbes such as fungi, protoctista and bacterial species.
how do organisms that live in/on the body cause disease in a parasitic relationship?
by secreting toxins
how do some organisms contribute to our health and defend us from disease?
in a symbiotic or mutualistic relationship
What is an example of an organism that that may contribute to our health?
Escherichia coli in the large intestine synthesises vitamin K, which is absorbed by the body.
How might E.coli benefit from humans?
human body provides E.coli with a safe, enclosed, and comfortable living environment in which the bacteria receive the required nutrients (sugars) for reproduction and growth.
What can suffer from infection and disease?
all organisms
How can DNA be infected?
by dna viruses called bacteriophages
What is susceptibility to pathogens?
a property of life, as one organism provides a habitat for another
What are the important diseases?
-Malaria
-Cholera
-TB
-Flu
-small pox
What is the site of infection and symptoms of cholera?
-Toxins affect the human gut lining causing a watery diarrhoea, severe dehydration and frequently death
What is the mode of transmission for cholera?
-Humans act as reservoirs/carriers and can contaminate water supplies with the pathogen.
-The pathogen=transmitted by drinking contaminated water, although it only multiplies in the human host.
What is prevention and control for cholera?
-Treatment of waste water, good hygiene and provision of clean drinking water.
-Vaccine (killed organism or possibly genetically engineered) may provide temporary protection
What is the treatment for cholera?
Antibiotic treatment is possible but oral rehydration is the main method of treatment
What is the site of infection and symptoms of TB?
-Most commonly affects lung and neck lymph nodes.
-Symptoms include coughing, chest pain and coughing up blood.
What is the mode of transmission of TB?
-can be spread rapidly in overcrowded conditions and is transmitted in airborne droplets through coughing and sneezing of infected individuals in close proximity.
(On the increase, partly due to the link with the HIV epidemic.)
What is prevention and control for tb?
BCG vaccination programme for children.
What is the treatment for TB?
A long course of antibiotics.
What is the site of infection and symptoms of small pox?
Small blood vessels of the skin, mouth, throat and lungs causing a rash and blisters.
30 to 60% fatality rate
What is the mode of transmission for smallpox?
Airborne droplets of infected individuals in close proximity.
What is prevention and control for smallpox?
-extinct due to immunisation programmes
-was possible due to low rates of antigenic variation/mutation.
-also there was no animal reservoir and people were keen to be immunised because of the devastating effects of the disease.
What is the treatment for small pox?
N/A
What is the site of infection and symptoms of influenza?
Upper respiratory tract, causing a sore throat, coughing and fever
What is the mode of transmission for the flu?
Airborne droplets through coughing and sneezing of infected individuals in close proximity.
What is the prevention and control for the flu?
-Quarantine and hygiene but difficult to control.
-Annual vaccination programmes, but due to new types this is not always effective.
What is the treatment for the flu?
-Antibiotics=ineffective against influenza and are only used to treat the symptoms of secondary bacterial infection.
-Rest, keep warm, drink plenty of fluids and take painkillers.
What is the site of infection and symptoms for malaria?
-Liver cells and red blood cells, causing them to burst when more parasites are produced.
-Symptoms=severe bouts of fever and flu-like illness, headache, muscle aches, and tiredness. Nausea, vomiting, and diarrhoea may also occur.
What is the mode of transmission for malaria?
By a vector - a female mosquito from the genus Anopheles when feeding on blood
What is prevention and control for malaria?
-Knowledge of life cycles. Nets, clothing & repellent.
-Vaccines difficult to develop.
-Drug treatment to reduce the chances of infection.
What is the treatment for malaria?
Drugs that affect Plasmodium outside cells are available but limited success and have side effects.
What is malaria in some sub tropical regions?
endemic
What is malaria caused by?
a single celled parasite called of the genus Plasmodium
What kingdom does the malaria parasite belong to?
protoctista
How many different species of plasmodium may cause malaria?
5 different species
What species of plasmodium causes the most deaths?
plasmodium falciparum
What species of plasmodium is also a major killer?
plasmodium viax
What is plasmodium transmitted by?
by a species of mosquito in from the genus anopheles (mosquito vector)
When does the transmission of plasmodium occur?
when the infected mosquito pierces the skin of a human to take a blood meal
Why are only the adult females vectors the plasmodium parasite?
as these feed on human blood and so can transmit the parasite from human to human.
What host is the adult female mosquito?
primary host but doesn’t suffer from the presence of the parasites
What host may humans be considered as and what symptoms of infection do they show?
-Secondary
-Severe bouts of fever and flu-like illness, headache, muscle aches, and tiredness. Nausea, vomiting, and diarrhoea may also occur.
Why are male mosquitos not vectors of the Plasmodium Parasite?
-Male mosquitoes feed on the nectar of plants to get sugar.
-Do not feed off human blood like females
What is the life cycle of malaria?
-infected mosquito takes a blood meal and the plasmodium parasite enters blood stream
-Plasmodium travels to, and then invades liver cells, where the parasite matures
-Liver cells rupture and release plasmodium parasites, then invade red blood cells and multiply asexually. RBC’s then also rupture, releasing more plasmodium, which invade other RBC’s. The rupture of red blood cells results in severe fever.
-If a female mosquito were then to feed on the blood of an infected individual the Plasmodium parasites infect the mosquito, which act as a vector to pass the disease onto another host.
What does prevention of malaria rely on?
knowledge of the life cycle of both the vector (mosquito) and the parasite (Plasmodium)
What are the preventative measures of malaria (responding to mosquito behaviour) ?
-Sleep under nets
-Nets are treated with the pyrethroid insecticide
-Spray indoor walls with insecticide
-Drain or cover stagnant water e.g. water tanks, ponds
-Film of oil on the water
What is the reason for effect for sleeping under nets?
Mosquitos feed at night, prevents mosquito biting
What is the reason for effect for nets being treated with pyrethoid insecticide?
Pyrethroid kills mosquitos (the vectors for plasmodium)
What is the reason for effect for spraying indoor walls with insecticide?
Kills mosquitos as they rest on walls after feeding
What is the reason or effect for draining or covering stagnant water e.g. water tanks, ponds?
Removes female mosquitos access to egg-laying sites
What is the reason for effect for putting a film of oil on the heater?
Prevents larvae piercing surface to obtain oxygen
What are the biological control preventative measures?
Fish introduced into water
Infecting mosquitos with bacterium
Male mosquitos sterilised with X-rays
What is the reason for effect for fish being introduced into water?
Larvae are aquatic: fish eat them
What is the reason for effect for infecting mosquitos with bacterium?
Bacteria infection blocks plasmodium development in the mosquito
What is the reason for effect for sterilising male mosquitos with X-Rays?
After they mate with females no offspring are produced
What type of treatment is available for malaria?
drug treatment, but mainly to reduce the chance of infection
Why have malaria vaccines been proved difficult to develop?
The Plasmodium parasite has high mutation rates and there are many antigenic types.
What are viruses outside of the host cell described as?
being inert, are essentially particles and have no metabolic pathways.
When can viruses only replicate?
once inside a host cell, where the enzyme machinery of that host cell is hijacked to make more viral copies
What are the two main types of reproduction cycle viruses can b grouped into?
lysogenic cycle or the lytic cycle.
What happens in the lytic cycle?
-viruses immediately reproduce using the host’s metabolism to copy their nucleic acid and synthesise new coat protein (capsid).
-new viral particles (virions) have assembled in the host cell cytoplasm
What happens once new viral particles have been assembled in the host cell cytoplasm?
they will leave the host cell (so they can then infect new cells) in one of two ways:
-Lysis of the host cell e.g. common cold virus
-Budding from the host cell surface (where the virus becomes enclosed by part of the host cell membrane) e.g. influenza virus
What happens in the lysogenic cycle (happens before last step of cell lysis)?
-following penetration of the host cell and shedding of the capsid, the viral nucleic acid is integrated into the host cell genome and may remain there for many cell generations with no clinical effect.
-virus then enter the lytic cycle at some time later. which is when symptoms are produced e.g. Herpes simplex virus. HIV virus.
How can viruses be pathogenic (sometimes resulting in death of the host cell)?
Cell lysis
Production of toxic substances
Cell transformation
Immune suppression
What is cell lysis?
when viruses escape from cells to infect other cells / organisms (shedding)
What is cell transformation?
-viral DNA can integrate into the host chromosome.
-If the DNA inserts into a proto-oncogene or tumour suppressor gene it can result in the cell undergoing rapid and uncontrolled cell-division i.e. becoming cancerous.