Theme 4 - Introduction to immunity Flashcards
what are the two major health threats in high income countries?
healthcare associated infections and antibiotic resistance
name three causative agents of healthcare associated infections
staphylococcus aureus, enterococcus and clostridium dificle
name three syndromes that can results from healthcare associated infections
nosocomial pneumonia, wound infection, device/implant related infection
what bacteria is involved in antibiotic resistance?
gram negative bacteria
what was the causative organism of the Black Death?
yerssina pestis
what is the causative organism of TB?
mycobacterium tuberculosis
what did Robert koch do?
developed the concept of infectious diseases, discovered causes of TB and anthrax
how can you prove a micro-organism causes a disease?
isolate from organism, culture, implant into another organism (causes disease) - if it can be re isolated it caused the disease
what are examples of classical bacteria?
staph aureus and eserischa coli
which bacteria are cell wall deficient and therefore live inside our cells?
mycoplasma and chlamydiae (pneumonia and UG infections)
what type of bacteria causes syphilis?
treponema pallidum (spirochete)
what do viruses consist of?
nucleic acid in a protein coat +/- a lipid capsule
examples of fungal pathogens
yeasts and moulds
what is the structure of yeast and how do they reproduce?
they are unicellular and reproduce by budding
what is the structure of moulds and how do they reproduce?
they are multicellular and reproduce by shedding spores
example of a mould
aspergillus fumigatus
what is a protozoa?
a unicellular eukaryote
what type of diseases to protazoa cause?
tropical and zoonotic
give examples of two diseases caused by protazoa
malaria and giardiasis
give an example of an infection caused by a helminth
African eyeworm
how many deaths worldwide are caused by infection?
1 in 3
what is an antigen?
a substance that triggers an immune response in the body
what is immunological tolerance?
a state of immunological non reactivity to an antigen
give three examples of antigens that the immune system to tolerant to
our own proteins (self antigens), environmental antigens (pollen/food), commensals
what is the result of a breakdown in immune tolerance?
autoimmunity and allergy
