Infectious Disease Flashcards
What is disease?
A dysfunctional state of the body when some aspects in the structure of functions of the organism are deviated from the primary design of the given organism
What is congenital disease?
Anatomical and physiological defects present at birth
Caused by drugs, x-ray exposure or infections
What is a neoplastic disease?
Abnormal cell growth (tumour)
What is a latrogenic disease?
Caused by medical treatment or procedures
What is an idiopathic disease?
A disease of unknown cause
What is a nosocomial disease?
A disease acquired in a health care setting
What is epidemiology?
The study of occurrence, distribution and control of disease and etiological factors in populations
What is pathogenesis?
A set of actual mechanisms by which an etiological factor causes a disease
What is a parasitic association?
One organism (parasite) lives and benefits for the expense of another
What is symbiotic association?
Both organisms benefit from each other
What is commensal association?
One organism benefits from another without obvious harm for the last
What are the types of transmission of infectious agents?
Respiratory or salivary spread
Faecal-Oral spread
Venereal spread
Zoonoses
What is vertical and horizontal transmission?
Vertical is hereditary
Horizontal is within a population
What are true and opportunistic pathogens?
True pathogens overcome host defences and cause disease easily
Opportunistic pathogens cause disease in hosts with a weakened immune system
What is pathogenicity?
The ability of a pathogen to cause disease
What is virulence?
The extent of pathogenicity
What are the two general ways of pathogenicity?
Toxicity: Causing disease by different toxins that inhibit or kill host cells
Invasiveness: A pathogen grows in a tissue to such amounts of cell that inhibit host functions and cause disease
What is the progression of a disease?
Infection, incubation period, acute period then either decline period and convalescent period or death
What are the stages of pathogenesis in a microbial disease?
Entry
Attachment
Infection
Symptoms and signs of the disease
What are the ports of entry of microbes into the body?
Skin Respiratory tract Gastrointestinal tract Urinogenital tract Conjunctiva Placenta
What are the pathogen factors affecting pathogenesis?
Virulence factors
Special adaptations
What are the host factors affecting pathogenesis?
Age
Stress
Genetic factors
What are the environmental factors affecting pathogenesis?
UV
Temperature
Inorganic and organic substances
What are the pathogen virulence factors?
Extracellular proteins
Polysaccharide capsule
Toxins
What are exotoxins?
Toxic extracellular proteins secreted by gram +ve and -ve bacteria
What are enterotoxins?
Cause gastrointestinal distress when ingested, leading to vomiting and diarrhoea
What are endotoxins?
Toxins that are located inside of the bacterial cell
