SB5d-e

Question 1

What is a pathogen?

Answer 1

Any microorganism that can cause a disease.

Question 2

What are 4 types of pathogens?

Answer 2

1. Viruses
2. Bacteria
3. Fungi
4. Protists

Check SB5d table (booklet).

Question 3

What are the characteristics of viruses?

Answer 3

1. Not considered living organisms
2. Do not have cellular structure (no cell membrane, no cytoplasm etc.)
3. They multiply by inserting themselves into a host cell
4. Insert their DNA into the DNA of the host and take over the cell’s DNA-copying processes
5. Their DNA undergoes transcription and translation making proteins to make the new viruses

Question 4

What are 6 ways pathogens can use in order to spread and how? Give examples.

Answer 4

1. Water (cholera, typhoid, dysentery)
   a. Drinking dirty/infected water
   b. Washing with dirty/infected water
2. Air (flu, Chalara dieback, Tuberculosis, cold)
   a. Sneezing and coughing sends droplets containing
   ‎ pathogen
   b. Certain pathogens can survive for long periods of
   ‎ time and when they get mixed with dust, the dust
   ‎ blows away and can infect others
   c. Spread as tiny spores
3. Food (salmonella)
   a. Enter the body through the mouth (oral route)
   b. Touching infected food/not washing hands after
   ‎ the toilet then touching your mouth
   c. Pathogens on the feet of flies that come from
   ‎ faeces and then sit on food‎
4. Vectors (malaria, dysentery)
   a. Malaria protist is carried into the blood of
   ‎ mosquitos that came from an infected person
   b. Mosquito injects pathogen directly into the blood
   ‎ of the other person
5. Body fluids (AIDS, Hepatitis)
   a. Viruses enter the body of people through mouth,
   ‎ nose, eyes, broken skin or through the exchange
   ‎ of body fluids of the reproductive organs
6. Direct contact
   a. Pathogens on surfaces get transferred on your
   ‎ hands by touching them, which then get
   ‎ transferred onto your face when touching it

Question 5

What are 4 ways to stop spreading pathogens and how?

Answer 5

1. Water
   a. Keep water clean
   b. Drink clean water
2. Air
   a. Wear a mask
   b. Use tissues when sneezing/coughing, throw them
   ‎ away and wash your hands
3. Food
   a. Cook food very well (e.g. meat)
   b. Wash fruits and vegetables thoroughly
   c. Store foods in the appropriate temperature
4. Vectors
   a. Kill mosquitos (with special sprays)
   b. Control spreading of disease by controlling
   ‎ spreading of vector