Lecture 4: Colonization, Invasion and Clinical Disease Flashcards
What is mutualism
Host and microbe benefit
What is commensalism
Microbe benefits, host is neither helped nor harmed
What is parasitism
Microbe benefits, host is harmed
What is the normal microbiota
Stable polymicrobial communities in skin, conjunctiva, respiratory, urogenital and GI tracts
What symbiotic relationships does the normal microbiota have and what do they do
Mutualists and commensals that help prevent colonizations by pathogens
Describe the opportunistic pathogen example of Fusobacterium necrophorum
F. Necrophorum is typically a commensal bacteria in the rumen but with lactic acidosis it enters blood stream, travels to liver and causes lesions
What is pathogenicity
Ability of a microbe to damage a host- produce disease
What is virulence
Relative capacity of a microbe to cause damage in a host
What is transmissibility
Relative ease with which an infectious agent spreads between hosts
How far can large infectious droplets travel
1-3 ft
How far can small infectious droplets travel
3-5ft
How far can infectious droplet nuclei travel
5-160+ft
What is infectivity
Capacity of a microbe to become established in a host
What is a virulence factor
Traits that confer pathogenicity: ex: toxins
What mechanism do genes use to spread virulence factors
Horizontal gene transfer
Modes of transmission: natural transformation, transduction, conjugation
What is the consequence of horizontal gene transfer
A virulent strains acquire virulent genotype/phenotype
Virulence factors help pathogens to do what things
Colonize hosts, evade host defenses, grow, invade, cause damage
What are the 3 major categories of virulence factors
Adhesins, capsules, toxins
What are adhesins
Macromolecules that bind bacteria to host cells or tissues
Where are adhesins located and what are some examples
Located on bacterial surface structures
Ex: fimbriae, glycocalyx
Adhesins bind to ___
Complementary receptor molecules found on target host cells/tissues
T or F: adhesins are highly specific receptor-ligand interactions
True
Adhesin attachment specificity helps bring about what 2 things
- Tissue tropism
- Host specificity