Module 7 Infectious Diseases Flashcards
Define ‘pathogen’
A causative agent of infectious diseases. E.g. disease-causing microbes, viruses, and parasites.
Define ‘infectious disease’
A disease that can be spread from one organism to another and is caused by a pathogen.
Define ‘non-infectious disease’
A disease that is not caused by pathogens. It is caused by genetics, the environment, and/or malfunctions within cells.
Define ‘disease’
Any condition that disrupts the normal functioning of an organism. It usually causes symptoms ranging from mild to severe.
Define ‘health’
The overall well-being of an individual.
Define ‘zoonotic’
Disease transferred between humans and animals.
What are the causes of well-known infectious diseases?
Infectious agents such as bacteria, parasites, fungi, viruses, and protozoa.
Microorganisms
Bacteria (most are not pathogenic, pathogenic bacteria causes many diseases e.g. food poisoning, plant disease, whooping cough, prokaryotic),
Fungi (eukaryotic, causes skin infections), protozoa (unicellular, causes disease in plants and animals)
Macroorganisms
Tapeworms, fleas, nematodes, etc.
What are non-cellular pathogens?
Non-living agents that require host cells to reproduce, use the reproductive mechanism of the host cell to replicate themselves, made up of nucleic acids, protein, or both
Steps of a virus (6)
Attachment, penetration, undistinguished, release, assembly, biosynthesis.
What’s ‘transmission’?
The way a pathogen spreads disease from one host to the next.
What’s ‘direct transmission’?
Contact between the reservoir or infected host and a new host e.g. sexual contact, biting, and fighting
What is ‘indirect transmission’?
Requires an intermediate between one host and the next. E.g. air
What are vectors?
Mosquitoes, fleas, ticks, and flies. Some pathogens require a vector to complete their life cycle and reach maturity in an intermediate host.
