Steve Ritchie Glossary

Question 1

microbe

Answer 1

a microscopic entity of viral, bacterial, fungal, protozoic, animal or plant origin

Question 2

pathogen

Answer 2

entity that can generate disease (usually a microbe)

Question 3

endemic

Answer 3

something generally found in a place

Question 4

epidemic

Answer 4

increased prev/incidence of illness than normal

Question 5

pandemic

Answer 5

epidemic that has spread to vast reaches

Question 6

infection

Answer 6

new presence of a microbe - colonisation but is subclinical disease

Question 7

infectious disease

Answer 7

SYMPTOMATIC illness caused by a pathogen

Question 8

endogenous

Answer 8

originates within an organism (appendicitis)

Question 9

exogenous

Answer 9

originated outside an organism (TB)

Question 10

subclinical

Answer 10

infectious disease that triggers the IS but doesn’t cause symptoms

Question 11

transmission

Answer 11

process of spreading a microbe

Question 12

flavivirus

Answer 12

a type of RNA virus that causes a wide range of diseases. Often spread by mosquitos i.e. yellow fever, dengue, zika, hep C

Question 13

arbovirus

Answer 13

virus spread by insect virus

Question 14

epidemiology

Answer 14

study of disease usually in populations

Question 15

fever

Answer 15

clinical measurement of the febrile response - poorly defined as an elevation of body temp

Question 16

antibody

Answer 16

immune protein (also called Ig) that binds to and disables an antigen

Question 17

serology

Answer 17

the study of blood (serum) to detect foreign antigens or antibodies specific for foreign antigen

Question 18

seroconversion

Answer 18

development of antibodies during an infectious disease

Question 19

PCR

Answer 19

polymerase chain reaction (know how this is performed)

Question 20

filter sterilisation

Answer 20

use filter to remove bacteria, yeast etc but NOT virus as too microscopic

Question 21

pcr

Answer 21

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a technique used in molecular biology to amplify a single copy or a few copies of a segment of DNA across several orders of magnitude, generating thousands to millions of copies of a particular DNA sequence.

Question 22

Whooping cough

Answer 22

• more in young
• bordetella pertussi infection
• less due to vaccine, sanitation, antibiotics
• paroxysms/attacks of coughing, whoop, apnoea, vomitting
• lasts 6 weeks
• tissue damage from bacterial infection is what is causing these symptoms

Question 23

lymphatics

Answer 23

Key organs of the immune system. They recognise changes in our own cells or stuff that comes into us and responds to try limit and resolve damage

Question 24

Why sweat

Answer 24

inflam reaction

Question 25

why swollen tonsils

Answer 25

responding to shapes on an infectious agent

Question 26

Why do you get heat in inflammation?

Answer 26

Increase in BF/hyperaemia

Question 27

What is the part of the antigen that actually gets recognised by antibodies/antigen binding receptors on lymphocytes called?

Answer 27

Epitopes

Question 28

Is a swollen lymph node always due to an infection?

Answer 28

no - if you don’t have a fever than it is not likely to be due to an infection