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123 Cards in this Set

  • Front
  • Back
The ability to cause disease.
What is pathogenicity?
The measurement of pathogenicity.
What is virulence?
A pathogen that infects all hosts without any restrictions.
What is a primary pathogen?
A pathogen that infects only certain hosts because they are restricted by the host, like the immune system. For example, certain types of this pathogen can only infect people with weakened immune systems.
What is an opportunistic pathogen?
An example that helps explain this term, the measure of pathogenicity, would be as follows: one strain of the flu virus goes in your body and causes you to be sick for a day, but the other type of flu strain goes in your body and causes you to be sick for a week.
What is an example that shows a more virulent strain of the flu virus in comparison to a less virulent strain of flu virus?
This type of measure of pathogenicity is dependent upon a pathogen's structures.
What is the general term used to describe the parts on a pathogen that affect its virulence?
A lot of times, but not always, this type of pathogen is your own normal microbiota.
What are the microbes that are most often the case the opportunistic pathogens that end up infecting you?
The mode by which microbes enter the body.
What are portals of entry?
These organisms can enter the body through mucous membranes, skin, parenteral routes, or any combination of these three modes of entering the body.
What are the three portals of host entry that microbes use to enter the human body?
If microbes enter through this portal of entry, they are either inhaled, ingested, or they enter through the eyes.
What are the three modes of entry that microbes can use, if they enter the body through mucous membranes?
If microbes enter through this portal of entry, the can either enter through the hair follicles, the oil glands' openings, or the sweat glands' openings.
What are the three modes of entry that microbes can use, if they enter the body through the skin?
Although microbes can enter the body through any portal of entry and some even can enter through multiple portals of entry, they can only cause infection when they enter through this portal of entry.
What is the significance of a microbe's preferred portal of entry?
If microbes enter through this portal of entry it takes less microbes to cause infection.
What is the reason why microbes want to enter the body through their preferred portal of entry?
This type of portal of entry lines the tracts of the human body's upper respiratory system, the GI track, and your eyes.
What are the locations of the mucous membrane portal of entry in the human body?
Microbes can only enter the body through this portal of entry when they enter through skin that is not intact, like cuts or scraps.
What is the only time when microbes can use the parental route portal of entry?
It is a portal of entry that is a breach in the skin where microbes can enter the body, like a vaccine injection.
What is the parental route portal of entry?
Any portal of entry that allows pathogens to cause infection.
What is the preferred portal of entry?
Microbes can enter the body through these different modes.
What are portals of entry?
The ID50 measurement and the LD50 measurement measure this characteristic of a pathogen.
What are the two measurements that determine the degree of a pathogen's virulence?
This indicator determines the degree of a microbe's virulence by measuring the number of microbes that are required to enter the body through a portal of entry, which varies from portal to portal, and infect 50% of the test population.
What is determined by the ID50 and what is measured by the ID50?
This indicator determines the degree of a microbe's virulence by measuring the amount of toxin, produced from that microbe, that is necessary to kill 50% of the population.
What is determined and measured by the LD50?
This dose is the number of microbes required to infect 50% of the test population, which is measured by the ID50.
What is the infectious dose and what is the indicator that measures the infectious dose?
This dose is the number of toxins, which are produced from microbes inside the body, that is required to kill 50% of the test population, which is measured by the LD50.
What is the lethal dose and what is the indicator that measures the lethal dose?
Since E. coli's ID50 is this type of number in comparison to S. pnemonia's ID50 number, it is more virulent than S. pnemonia.
What is the more virulent microbe, E. coli with an ID50 number of 5, which is hypothetically lower than S. pnemoia's ID50 number of 10?
This indicator is not a measurement of the number of people that get infected by the infectious dose of the agent.
What is the measurement that is not indicated by the ID50 number?
This indicator is not a measurement of the number people that die from a lethal dose of toxins.
What is the measurement that is not indicated by the LD50 number?
The more effective a microbe is at causing infection, the fewer amount of microbes are required to enter the body through this type of portal of entry in order for that microbe to cause infection.
What is the relationship between a microbe's effectiveness at causing infection and the number of microbes that are required to enter the body through a microbe's preferred portal of entry in order for that microbe to cause infection?
Both of these virulence factors are structures that are present on the surfaces of microbes and their functions are to increase the microbes ability to bind to receptors on host cells, which increases the pathogen's pathogenicity because its easier for them to attach to host cells and harder to remove them from host cells.
What are adhesins and ligands and what are their functions, specifically, their actions and significances?
This microbe has a slime layer that is made of up glcocalyx (the substance that composes slime layers and capsules).
What is the type of adhesin or ligand that Streptococcus mutans has?
This microbe has fimbriae.
What is the type of adhesin or ligand that Escherchia coli has?
This microbe has M protein, a protein that is expressed in the cell wall of certain microbes like this one.
What is the type of adhesin or ligand that Streptococcus pygones has?
Glycogalyx (the substance that makes up slime layers and capsules), fimbriae, and M protein are examples of these two types of virulence factors.
What are three examples of adhsins or ligands?
This virulence factor increases a microbe's ability to adhere to surfaces inside the host because it has a slimy layer on the outside of its surface that acts as a barrier against the host's immune system by preventing the host's chemicals, enzymes, and the host's immune responses from penetrating to its center, which protects the centrally locate microbes that are within this structure. Additionally, the slimy layer allows other microbes to attach to this virulence factor. For example, plaque is not made up of a single type of microbe but a diverse amount of microbes including fungal, bacterial, and maybe even some viruses.
What is the function of biofilms, in regards to its function as a virulence factor, specifically, its action and significance?
This cell wall (and its a ligand or ahesin) component helps a microbe avoid hosts' defenses by helping a microbe bind tightly to a host cell, which resists phagocytosis.
What is M protein's method for helping a microbe evade host defenses and its significance?
This cell wall component helps a microbe evade hosts' defenses by inhibiting Helper T-cells, which importantly helps microbes avoid the cell-mediated branch of adaptive immunity.
What is Opa protein's method for helping a microbe avoid hosts' defenses, and its significance?
This cell wall component helps a microbe avoid hosts' defenses by resisting digestion of the microbe inside a phagoycytic cell, making it resistant to phagocytosis.
What is mycolic acid, a waxy lipid layer that makes up the cell wall of certain microbes, method for helping a microbe evade hosts' defenses and its significance?
This microbe evades hosts' defenses by using M protein in its cell wall.
What is Streptococcus pyogenes's cell wall component that is uses to avoid hosts' defenses?
This microbe uses Opa protein to avoid hosts' defenses.
What is Neisseria gonorrhoeae, a Gram negative cocci's, cell wall component that is uses to avoid hosts' defenses?
This microbe uses Mycolic acid, a waxy lipid layer that makes up the cell wall of certain microbes like this one, to avoid hosts' defenses.
What is Mycobacterium tuberculosis's cell wall component that it uses to avoid hosts' defenses?
This virulence factor enzyme, the one that coagulates fibrinogen, is used by some microbes to avoid hosts' defenses. That is, this enzyme is sued to clot blood around a microbe so that a microbe can embed itself within a newly formed blood clot, hide from hosts' defenses, and become inaccessible to phagocytic cells, a method that some microbes use to escape hosts' immune mechanisms.
What is coagulase and its function, specifically, its action and significance?
This virulence factor enzyme, the one that digests fibrin clots, is used by some microbes to avoid hosts' defenses.That is, this enzyme is used to dissolve blood clots so that certain microbes can better spread throughout hosts' bodies, a method used by some microbes to escape hosts' immune mechanisms.
What is kinases and its function, specifically, its action and significance?
This virulence factor enzyme, the one that hydrolyzes hyaluronic acid, is used by some microbes to avoid hosts' defenses. That is, this enzyme is used by certain microbes to dissolve the mortar or the cement like substance that binds all hosts' cells together, which causes gaps to form between hosts' cells that causes a tight barrier of host cells to become loosely held together like a crumbling brick house, so that microbes can better penetrate a barrier of host cells, in order to spread from the initial site of infection to the rest of the body, to reach the richly nutrient tissue behind the barrier cells, and to hide from hosts' defenses by colonizing behind the barrier cells, methods that are used by some microbes to escape hosts' immune mechanisms.
What is hyaluronidase and its function, specifically, its action and significance?
This virulence factor enzyme, the one that hydrolyzes collagen, is used by some microbes to avoid hosts' defenses. That is, this enzyme is used by certain microbes to break down the protein, collagen, which forms the connective tissue of muscles and of other organs and tissues, so that the microbes can more easily spread from the initial site of infection to the rest of the body, a method used by some microbes to escape hosts' immune mechanisms.
What is collagenase and its function, specifically, its action and significance?
This virulence factor enzyme, the one that destroys IgA antibodies, is used by some microbes to avoid hosts' defenses. That is, this enzyme is used by certain microbes to literally destroy IgA antibodies, the main antibody that the human body's immune system uses to protect mucosal surfaces, so that microbes can avoid the adherence of IgA antibodies to its surface, which avoids the process of being flagged down for phagoycytosis like in opsonization, a method used by certain microbes to escape hosts' immune mechanisms.
What is IgA proteases and its function, specifically, its action and significance?
Capsules, M protein, Opa protein, Mycolic acid are all examples from this group of virulence factors?
What are the examples of virulence factor capsules and cell wall components?
Coagulase, kinases, hyaluronidase, collogenase, and IgA proteases are all examples from this group of virulence factors.
What are examples from virulence factor enzymes?
Neisseria gonorrhoeae can avoid the adaptive immunity because it has this cell wall competent.
What is the microbe that can avoid the adaptive immunity because it has the cell wall component, Opa protein?
Coagulase, kinase, hyaluronidase, collagenase, all help pathogens perform this action, which helps them avoid hosts' defenses.
What are the enzymes whose action is to help pathogens escape hosts' immune mechanisms by increasing their ability to spread from the initial site of infection thus making them more virulent.
This type of virulence factor occurs when pathogens like viruses, bacteria, or protaoza, alter their surface proteins. For example, lets say certain viruses, bacteria, or portozoa have pili, which is made up of protein A, and then they change out the proteins on the surface of their pili from Type A proteins to Type B proteins. They would alter their surface proteins so that they no longer can be recognized by the antibodies that are made to only identify the specific epitopes of their former surface proteins, which in this case would be antibodies that are made to only recognize Type A proteins on the surface of pili structures as antigens.
What is antigenic variation and specifically, its action and significance?
The body responds to this virulence factor by changing out its own antibodies and primarily using new antibodies that recognize the pathogen's new antigens that developed form that pathogen modifying the proteins of one of its surface structures, to combat the pathogen, which in this example would be antibodies that can recognize the epitopes on the surfaces of Type B protein pili. These alterations that take place between pathogens and the antibodies will continue to occur until either the pathogen or the antibodies win out, which helps explain why there is a new flu shot every year.
What is the host's immune response to antigenic variation, and what is the relationship that forms between the host's immune responses and the pathogen's that have the virulence factor, antigenic variation?
A pathogen that can quickly change out its epitope is more virulent than a pathogen that takes a long time to modify its surface antigens, in regards to this type of virulence factor.
What is a more virulent pathogen capable of doing quicker than a less virulent pathogen, in regards to antigenic variation?
These substances are the virulence factors that are used by certain microbes, mainly pathogenic bacteria, to penetrate a hosts' cells' plasma membrane in order to later invade that host cell.
What are invasins?
This microbe is an example of a microbe that uses invasin to cause the ruffling of a host cell's plasma membrane.
What is the type of virulence factor that is used by Salmonella?
This virulence factor occurs when bacteria (that's right! bacteria) use the host cell's cytoskeleton to enter the cell. Thus, they become invisible to the host's immune mechanisms by hiding inside a host cell's plasma membrane, and ultimately, escape the host's immune mechanisms.
What is the function of bacteria causing ruffling of a host cell's plasma membrane, a virulence factor, and specifically, what is the bacteria's action and the significance in causing ruffling to occur?
These substances are the unintentionally produced by-products of microbial growth inside hosts that damages hosts' cells. Importantly, they are neither used by pathogens to spread from the initial site of infection nor are hte used by pathogens to escape hosts' immune mechanisms.
What are toxins and what are the two functions that are not performed by toxins?
The phagocytes that phagocytose the microbes with this type of toxin in their cell walls cause the release of this type of toxin into the host's body.
What are the type of cells that cause endotoxins to be released in the host's body?
Certain microbes inside a host's body secrete this type of toxin, which explains how this type of toxin enter a host's body.
What is the explanation for how exotoxins enter a host's body?
This type of toxin is found in the LPS layer of Gram negative bacterias' outer membrane of their cell wall.
What is the type of bacteria that contains endotoxin, and what is its structure that contains the endotoxin?
This type of toxin is made up of Lipid A.
What is the chemistry of endotoxins?
This type of toxin causes fever.
What is the human body's immune response to endotoxins?
This type of toxin neither can be neutralized by antitoxins or antibodies.
What are the two immune responses that cannot neutralize endotoxins?
This type of toxin has a relatively large LD50 number.
What is the endotoxin's relative LD50 number?
This type of toxin mainly comes from Gram positive bacteria.
What is the source of exotoxins?
This type of toxin is a by-product of growing cells.
What is the relation between exotoxins and its source, Gram positive bacteria?
This type of toxin is made up of proteins.
What is the chemistry of exotoxins?
This type of toxin can be neutralized by antitoxins and antiboides.
What are the two immune responses that can neutralize exotoxins?
This type of toxin has a relatively large LD50 number.
What is endotoxin's relative LD50 number?
It is the study of the cause and distribution of a disease in populations, the spread of pathogens.
What is epidemiology?
The symbiotic relationship between humans and microbes that benefits both organisms.
What is mutalism?
The symbiotic relationship between humans and microbes that benefits one partner without directly effecting the other partner in any way.
What is commensalism?
The symbiotic relationship between humans and microbes that benefits one partner while at the same time negatively effecting the other partner.
What is paraitism?
The type of microbiota that may be present on or within the host for days, weeks, or months.
What are transient microbiota?
The type of microbbiota that permanently colonize the host.
What are normal microbiota?
The relationship between microbiota and the host.
What is symbiosis?
The type of normal microbiota that will infect the host, if it suspects the host has a weakened immune system.
What are the normal microbiota that are also opportunistic pathogens?
It protects the host by taking up niches that pathogens must occupy in order to attach to the host, by making an unsuitable environment for pathogens' growth because it produces acid that raises the pH levels inside the host, and by producing bacteriocins, toxins produced to kill bacteria. In other words, it protects the host because of its competitive exclusion.
What are the three ways by which normal microbiota protect the host?
Its composition can change do to hormonal changes, like a hysterectomy, changes in the type of food consumed, like being a vegetarian, antibodies, like taking broad range antibiotics, or any combination of these changes.
What are the three ways to change the composition of the normal microbiota?
Live microbes that are applied to or ingested into the body with the intention of exerting a beneficial effect, like eating yogurt for its microbial content.
What is probiotics?
It is the entry and the colonization of a host, like the human body, by a pathogenic microbe.
What is infection?
"Departure from being healthy." It is the progression of an infection to more sever form of an infection because it damges the host to the point that the host is no longer considered to be healthy. Additionally, it is caused by the colonization within a host that now damages the host's system by producing toxins or by some other mechanism.
What is disease, and what is the cause of disease?
Things that you can observe or measure in your patient like edema or fever.
What are signs?
Things that you cannot observe or measure in your patients. Rather, they are things that are felt by your patient like pain, headaches, or nausea.
What are symptoms?
This term refers to the combination of symptoms and signs mixed in altogether.
What is syndrome?
A disease that can easily transfer from one person to another like the flu virus.
What are communicable diseases?
It occurs when a communicable disease is always present within the population of certain regions, but in small numbers. Different regions have different disease that make up this occurrence, like the Flu virus in North America or Yellow Fever in the South Pacific.
What is endemic and what are examples of endemics?
It occurs when a communicable disease spreads very quickly throughout a large number of the population within a certain geographical region and in a short amount of time. An example of this occurrence would be when 50% of the population of Columbus, OH got infected by the flu within one month.
What is an epidemic?
It occurs when a communicable disease spreads world wide by spreading across multiple continents. An example of this occurrence would be the bird flu spreading from China to America as a result of international airline travel.
What is a pandemic?
It is a type of disease where it progresses quickly, its symptoms develop rapidly, but it gets resolve within a short amount of time.
What is an acute disease?
It is a disease where it progresses slowly, its symptoms develop slowly, but they are felt, like a nagging cough, and it is hard to revolve, like allergies.
What is a chronic disease?
It is an intermediate disease between acute and chronic diseases because it has symptoms between acute and chronic disease.
What is a subacute disease?
It is a disease with a period of no symptoms and when the causative agent is inactive like when Chicken Pox infects the nervous system.
What is latent disease?
This type of infection occurs when pathogens are limited to a small area of the body.
What is a local infection?
This type of infection occurs when an infections takes place throughout the entire body.
What is a systemic infection?
This type of infection is a systemic infection that began as a local infection.
What is a focal infection?
Bacteria in the blood, like transient bacteria that are present in the blood.
What is bacteremia?
Growth of bacteria in the blood. That is, bacteria are actively multiplying in the blood.
What is Septicemia?
Toxins in the blood.
What is toxemia?
Viruses in the blood.
What is viremia?
If septicemia is not treated on time it leads to this condition where the body responds to bacteria actively multiplying within the blood by stimulating a systemic inflammatory response that usually leads to septic shock and the death of the patient.

The book gives this definition: "a toxic inflammatory condition arising from the spread of microbes, especially bacteria or their toxins, from a focus of infection" (which ever definition helps the most, use it, or a combination of both).
What is sepsis?
A type of disease where you are indeed infected but there are not noticeable signs or symptoms of the disease. Unlike a chronic disease, this disease's causative agent is active.
What is an inapparent or subclinical disease?
An infection that begins by itself like the rhino virus. This type of infection can also occur when you are infected and you feel the symptoms because of infection but you do not feel bad enough to stay home.
What is primary infection?
A bacterial infection that is brought on by the primary infection like a bacterial infection of your sinuses that develops from a flu virus infection causing fluid to accumulate in your sinus cavities.
What is secondary infection?
It is the first stage of disease development, where there are no signs or symptoms yet. During this stage, you have been exposed to the pathogen and it is trying to establish itself, but you have no idea that you are infected.
What is the incubation period?
It is the second stage of disease development, where there are mild signs and symptoms. During this stage, you feel sick and tired, but you do not know why you feel this way because inside of you the pathogen is multiplying.
What is the prodromal period?
It is the third stage of disease development, where the most sever signs and symptoms are apparent. During this stage, you know you are sick, and you are staying home and not even eating or drinking anything.
What is the period of illness?
It is the fourth stage of disease development where signs and symptoms are becoming less sever. During this stage you feel better because the number of pathogens are decreasing so you decide to eat some saltine crackers.
What is the period of decline?
It is the final stage of disease development, where the complete recovery and resolution of infection takes place.
What is the period of convalescence?
This type of reservoir for infectious agents has two examples. One, patients that are contagious because they are actively infected by a pathogen. Two, people that are carriers because they are still contagious even though they are not effected by the pathogen, since the carriers' immune systems are actively repressing the pathogen, and even though the carries show no signs or symptoms from being infected by the infectious agent.
What are the two types of human reservoirs for infectious agents?
Zoonotic disease are examples of disease that spread from this type of reservoir for infectious agents to humans, where they infect and cause disease in humans. Examples of zoonotic diseases are viruses like rabies and bacterial infections like the plague.
What is an example of a human disease that comes from non human reservoirs for infectious agents, specifically animal reservoirs for infectious agents?
Water and soil are the two main examples of this type of reservoir for infectious agents.
What are the two main examples of environment reservoirs for infectious agents?
It is the original source or habitat of infectious agents.
What is a reservoir of infectious agents?
This mode of transmission of pathogens occurs when two people physically contact each other like when people spread microbes by giving a handshake or by giving a kiss.
What is an example of the physical contact mode of transmission, a sub-category of direct contact mode of transmission.
An example of this mode of transmission occurs when people sneeze, releasing tons of virus or bacteria particles in the air because it can only effect people people in its direct vicinity.
What is the droplet mode of transmission and what is the explanation for why it is a sub-category of the direct contact mode of transmission?
An example of this mode of transmission occurs when microbes are transferred from person to person by coming in contact with an inanimate object or fomite, a non-living object that is involved in this mode of transmission of a pathogen.
What is an example of an indirect contact mode of transmission of pathogens?
Washing you hands is the best preventable measure at protecting yourself from this mode of transmission.
What is the best way to protect yourself from contact transmission?
It is the most effective mode of transmission because it is the hardest to control.
What are the two characteristics of the air mode of transmission of pathogens?
This mode of transmission of pathogens can already come contaminated with pathogens or it can become contaminated with pathogens do to improper handling.
What are the two characteristics of the food mode of transmission of pathogens?
This can become a mode of transmission of pathogens when it is not treated properly.
What is the explanation for why water can become a mode of transmission for pathogens?
An example of this mode of transmission occurring is when an Arthropod carries a pathogen on its feet like a fly.
What is an example of mechanical transmission, a sub-category of the vector mode of transmission of pathogens?
An example of this mode of transmission occurring is when a pathogen reproduces in a vector, like when mosquitoes spread Yellow Fever.
What is an example of biological transmission, a sub-category of vector transmission of pathogens.
Its two sub-categories are mechanical and biological transmission of pathogens.
What are the two sub-categories of vector modes of transmissions of pathogens?
People sometimes acquire this type of infection during their stay at a hospital for a long time, not just a simple visit, because they are in a hospital environment where microbes are abundant, they may have a compromised immune system, and hospitals enable the mode of transmission of infectious agents, like infectious agents or the normal microbiota of healthy people. For example, when a person becomes infected from the reuse of a catheter.
What are nonoscomal infections?
Urinary tract infections, surgical site infectious, lower respiratory infectous, bacteremia transmitted primarily by IV catheterizations, cutaneous infections, and other types of infections are all examples of this type of infection.
What are examples of nonsocomal infections?