Microbe-Human Interactions:

Infection & Disease

 MICROBIAL PATHOGENECITY
AND EPIDEMIOLOGY
PATHOGENECITY = is the ability of a pathogen to
cause diseases

EPIDEMIOLOGY =is the science that deals with the

frequency and distribution of diseases in order to
set guidelines for disease prevention and control.
= like detective work to determine the cause,
reservoirs, transmission, portals of entry/exit, etc.
2 terms used in pathogenecity:
a. INFECTION =is the invasion and colonization
of the body by pathogens.
b. DISEASE = occurs when an infection results in
any change from a state of health.
= is a disturbance in the state of
health wherein the body
cannot carry out all its normal
function.

Infection 3 lines of defense disease

Why disease does not always occur?
* The microbe may land on the wrong place
where it is unable to multiply because of lack
of nutrients.
* Presence of antimicrobial chemicals that
inhibit the growth of microbes like lyzozyme.
* The person may be immune to that particular
pathogen.
*Presence of WBC that engulfs pathogens.
* Presence of microbiota that inhibit the stay of
microbes.
 NORMAL MICROBIOTA
=also refers to normal microflora and microfauna as
a group.
=they are the microorganisms that establish more or
less permanent residence but do not produce
disease under normal condition.
= microbes that normally live in/on the body w/o
harm
Resident versus Transient
(always there) (only present for a short time or on and off)

No normal flora in the blood, lymph, brain and internal organs

1. Newborns are free of flora, but
established as infant is exposed to
organisms from vagina, air, food,
etc.

2. Colonization is a selective process

due to physiological conditions
in the body such as nutrients,
oxygen, pH and temperature

3. Takes about 12-18 months to fully establish normal flora

Symbiosis(different organisms living together)

1. Mutualism(both partners benefit)
E. coli: produces vitamins K & some B, and bacteriocins
(chemicals that ward off harmful species)

2. Commensalism (one partner benefits, other is neutral)

skin organisms live off of secretions/sloughed cells

3. Parasitism(one partner benefits while the other is harmed)

4. Opportunistic organisms (organisms that are
usually nonpathogenic, but that can become
pathogenic under certain circumstances)

1. when host health is compromised

2. when there is a reduction of normal flora

3. if an organism gets into a different habitat

(part of the body)

E. coli from gut to urinary tract

Klebsiella pneumoniae from gut to
respiratory
Factors contributing to PATHOGENECITY
a. # of organisms present in the host.
Infectious dose = minimum number of microbes
necessary to insure infection (ex: only 10-100
Shigella but 1,000,000 Salmonella)
b. Degree of resistance/host’s resistance
If the resistance of the host is low, the greater the
likelihood of disease.

c. The virulence of the organism

Virulence= the degree or intensity of pathogenecity
 MECHANISMS OF PATHOGENESIS
(DISEASE DEVELOPMENT)

Production of disease is actually a process of steps

1. Transmission to a susceptible host
2. Adherence to appropriate target tissue(s)
3. Invasion
4. Colonization
5. Damage to host while evading defenses
6. Exit from body
Transmission must be to the correct “portal of entry”
1. typically to exposed surfaces
such as skin or mucous membranes
2. entry aided by bites, cuts, abrasions and puncture

a. Gastrointestinal tract (via food and water)
viruses such as polio and Hepatitis A
protozoans such as Entamoeba and
Giardia

b. Respiratory tract (via air)

bacteria that cause strep throat, diphtheria,
viruses such as influenza, measles, mumps,
rubella, chickenpox and the common cold
fungi such as Histoplasma and Pneumocystis

c. Urogenital tract (most are STDs)

bacteria such as Neisseria, Treponema,
and Chlamydia
viruses such as papilloma and herpes
protozoans such as Trichomonas
fungi such as Candida
Adherence (attachment)
Ligands(projections of microbe that match host receptors)
ex. Spikes, fimbriae

Invasion (in order to establish infection)

Bacteremia= presence of bacteria in the blood
Viremia= presence of viruses in the blood

Colonization (when conditions are such that invading

microbes are successful enough to reproduce)
Septicemia= blood infection where bacteria are
reproducing
Cause Damage/Disease
Toxins (poisonous substances)
Toxemia= when in the blood

EXO=toxic soluble proteins secreted (botulism,

tetanus)
Hemolysins cause lysis of RBC’s

ENDO=cell wall components released when cell dies,

toxic to host (lipopolysaccharides in Gram-
negative cell walls)
Exit by means of
1. Sneeze/Cough
2. Diarrhea
3 Pus/ Blood
4. Insect bites
5. Sex
Symptoms
of a disease are subjective changes in body function
malaise aches pains sore throat
Signs
of a disease are objective (measurable) changes
fever
rash
lesion edema
s inflammation pus

Syndrome
is a group of symptoms/signs characteristic of a
certain disease.
Diseases are often classified in terms:
a. How they behave within a host:
Communicable diseases are spread from one person to
another
Herpes Measles Common colds

Communicable diseases are called Contagious if easily

spread
Chicken pox

Noncommunicable diseases that you cannot get them from

another person)
Botulism Tetanus
b. Frequency of occurrence:
Endemic = a disease that is always present in a
population (steady frequency)
COMMON COLDS
Sporadic= a disease that only pops up occasionally
at irregular intervals in random locales
CHICKEN POX
Epidemic= a lot of people get a disease in a short
time (increasing frequency)
DENGUE
Pandemic= a worldwide epidemic
AIDS
c. Severity or duration of a disease:
Acute diseases develop fast but for a short duration
influenza cold

Chronic diseases develop slow but for a long duration

Tuberculosis leprosy
Latent diseases may be inactive for long periods of time
Genital herpes
d. Extent to which the host’s body is affected:
Local infection (limited to point of entry)
boil

Systemic (infection that spreads to several sites

and the blood)
measles Chicken pox

Primary Infection is an acute infection that causes

the initial illness

Secondary infection is one caused by pathogen

after
the primary infection has weakened the
body’s defenses.
 Development of Disease
Incubation period (between infection and 1st
signs/symptoms).Depends on dose of microbes, which
microbes, virulence, host health
a. typhoid fever 10-14 days
b. AIDS 10 years! (allows more spreading!)

Prodromal period of 1-2 days follows incubation in

some diseases (= early, mild signs/symptoms such as
malaise, fatigue, muscle aches
Illness period when the disease is acute and
death most likely
a. Chills/ fever
b.  numbers of leukocytes (> 10,000/ml)
c. swollen lymph nodes
d. nausea/diarrhea
e. rashes/lesions
f. severe pains
Decline period (1-few days) when signs/symptoms
are subsiding BUT most susceptible to
secondary infections

C0nvalescent period needed to regain strength

 THE SPREAD OF INFECTION

RESERVOIRS of Infection
=a source can either be a living organism or an
inanimate object that provides a pathogen with
adequate conditions for survival and multiplication
and an opportunity for transmission.

=can either be human, animal or nonliving

 Human Reservoirs
= the principal living reservoir of human diseases is
the body itself (CARRIERS)
1. Asypmtomatic carrier is a person or other
organism that has contracted an infectious
disease, but who displays no symptoms.
2. Active carrier a person without signs or
symptoms of an infectious disease who carries
the causal microorganisms and can transmit the
disease to others.
3. Convalescent carrier is an individual who is
clinically recovered from an infectious disease but
is still capable of transmitting the infectious
agent to others.
4. Incubatory carrier is an individual who is
incubating the pathogen in large numbers but not
yet ill.
 Animal Reservoirs
= diseases that occur primarily in wild and domestic
animals can be transmitted to humans are called
ZOONOSES
ex. lyme dse, rabies

Nonliving Reservoirs
Soil , food and water
Ex. tetanus, salmonella, cholera
 TRANSMISSION OF DISEASE
A. CONTACT TRANSMISSION
=spread of an agent of dse by direct,
indirect
and droplet transmission
Direct Contact Transmission
= Physical, person-to-person
= “A portal of exit meets a portal of entry!”
touch kiss sex
Indirect Contact Transmission
=disease is transmitted from its reservoir to a
susceptible host by means of nonliving object
(FOMITES)
Droplet Transmission
= (small, dried up on dust, carried by air currents)
=microbes are spread in droplet nuclei that
travels only short distances. The droplets are
discharged into the air by sneezing, laughing,
talking.
B. VEHICLE TRANSMISSION
= is the transmission of disease agents by medium,
such as, water, food and air.
Waterborne Transmission
= pathogens are usually spread by water
contaminated with untreated or poorly treated
sewage.
Food borne Transmission
=pathogens are generally transmitted in foods that
are incompletely cooked, poorly prepared under
unsanitary conditions

Airborne Transmission
= spread of agents of infection by droplet nuclei in
dust that travel more than 1 meter from the reservoir
VECTOR TRANSMISSION
=animals that carry pathogens from one host to
another. The most important group of disease
vectors are the ARTHROPODS

Mechanical Transmission
=is the passive transport of the pathogens on the
insect’s feet of body parts.

Biological Transmission
=the arthropod bites an infected person or animal
and ingests some of the infected blood, then bites
another host
S
1st - The Infectious Agent

-any disease-causing
microorganism
(pathogen)
2nd - The Reservoir Host
-the organism in which the
infectious microbes reside
 3rd - The Portal of Exit
-route of escape of the
pathogen from the reservoir.

Examples: respiratory
secretions, blood
exposure, breaks in
skin
4th - The Route of Transmission
method by which the pathogen gets
from the reservoir to the new host
 5th - The Portal of Entry
-route through which the pathogen
enters its new host
Inhalation ingestion
Sexual contact

Breaks in Protective Skin Barr

6th - The Susceptible Host
-the organism that accepts the
pathogen

The support of pathogen life

& its reproduction depend on
the degree of the host’s
resistance