Routes of infection Flashcards
how many ways can a person be infected ?
5
what’s the 5 ways ?
person to person oral - food contaminated water vector fomites
within the person to person category there is 3 ways this can occur , what are they ?
direct contact
contaminated body fluids
vertical transmission
describe direct contact ?
Direct contact occurs when there is a physical contact between an infected person and a susceptible person
describe contaminated body fluids ?
this is when a person becomes infected by being exposed to contaminated blood e.g Ebola. Or body fluids such as STD’s. Also can occur due to saliva. An example of this can be when someone sneezes and releases contaminated droplets into the atmosphere.
describe vertical transmission ?
This is when a variety of pathogens are transmitted from a mother to her foetus.
give an example of how one infection can make you more susceptible to another another ?
Herpes simplex virus type-2 may increase a woman’s susceptibility to HIV-1, this is carried out below:
- initiation of a clinical or subclinical mucosal inflammatory response
- alteration of innate mucosal immunity
- weakening or breaching the protective genital epithelia
list 3 infections that can be vertically transmitted ?
septicemia
pneumonia
gram negative bacilli
describe oral transmission ?
Food can be contaminated with a variety of organisms such as parasites, bacteria and viruses.
when food has been infected can this be traced back to the source ?
it can be traced back to the source normally.
describe contaminated water ?
Oral ingestion or by bathing/swimming in contaminated water can lead to the transmission of infections.
what is the water normally contaminated with ?
faeces
in children if diarrhoea occurs what does this make them more vulnerable to ?
diseases and malnutrition
how is the schistosome transmitted?
by contaminated water and the water snail
what organism of the life cycle penetrates the host skin to transmit the infection ?
the cercaria
where do the cercaria come from ?
the infected snail
the adult worm releases eggs into the water , what do these go on to form ?
miracidia which contain cilia to help them swim to the snails to infect them
what occurs once the miracidia are within the intermediate host of the snail ?
they undergo development to complete it’s life cycle.
what are vector borne diseases?
infections transmitted by the bite of infected arthropod species, such as mosquitoes, ticks, triatomine bugs, sandflies, and blackflies, fleas.