Immunology Introduction Flashcards
What does the immune system do
Protects us from infection, if its not functioning it can result in disease such as autoimmunity, allergy and cancer
What is an infection
Infection describes when an organism replicates inside the body resulting in disease, it can occur within cells whilst some replicate in organs
Pathogenic definition and examples
Definition- any small organism such as a virus or a bacterium that can cause disease.
E.g- bacteria, viruses, fungi, prions, parasites, protoctists
Explain the pathogen bacteria and give examples
Bacteria are prokaryotes and cause illness due to the toxins they produce, bacterial infections are treated with antibiotics
-chlamydia
-gonorrhoea
-tuberculosis
Explain the pathogen virus and give examples
Viruses are akaryotes because they are not proper cells, many treatments that work against cellular pathogens will not work with viruses, antibiotics are not effective
-common cold
-mumps
-measles
Explain the pathogen fungi and give an example
Fungal infections can be from unicellular flinging (yeast) or multicellular fungi. Other fungal skin infections include toenail fungus and athletes foot.they are known as mycoses in medicine
-yeast infections (thrush)
Explain the pathogen prion and give an example
They are non living pathogenic proteins that can act as an infectious organism. The mutant form of a prion protein, when ingested, can cause normal proteins to change shape- this damages the nervous system and leads to death
Example- creudtzfeldt-Jakob disease
Explain the pathogen protoctists and give an example
Protoctists are eukaryotes and usually unicellular (but some simple multicellular forms exist). examples include Protozoa, algae and slime moulds. Some varieties cause diseases
Malaria is an example
Explain the pathogen parasites and give an example
Parasites are organisms that live off another organism either externally or internally, they can be multicellular and can also include Protozoa
Toxoplasmosis is an example
