BPK 140 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Immune System, Smallpox, Bacilli
21 May 2020
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The interaction of these 3 factors that determines if someone gets infected w disease. Agent - actual infection, what causes our illness. Some pathogens are more infectious than others. Host - actual person/thing infected w disease. More useful when you"re trying to reduce the transmission of the disease. Reservoir - location where the pathogen lives and reproduces. How the illness is passed from one person to the next. Eg. viral particles landing on phone, doorknob when sneezed. Sometimes bac aren"t harmful but produce a toxin that causes illness. Not a cell, but contain some genetic info encased by protein. Takes over a cell and uses that cell to make more copies of itself. Can mutate, that"s why the flu vaccine is diff every year. Primitive plant form (eg. mushrooms, yeasts, molds) Only 50 types of fungi that grow on humans. Alternate b/w pathogenic + non-pathogenic state (cause disease and don"t) thru activation.
