NATS 1670 Lecture : humanhealthanddisease.doc

• School: York University
• Department: Natural Science
• Course: NATS 1670
• Professor: Motti Anafi

Document Summary

Microbes are the leading causes of devastating epidemics in human history. Influenza for example, was the #1 cause of death during ww1 exceeding bullets and such. More examples are small pox, hiv and infections. Epidemic: a disease that affects a large group of people at the same time. Virulent microbe: a microbe that tends to cause a severe disease (very violent and infectious). Microbes-host equilibrium (the relationship between microbes and the hosting body) An infection occurs when the balance between virulent microbes and non-virulent microbes in the body is upset. Microbial diseases are often very severe (ebola and such). There are 2 different groups of these diseases: Tuberculosis & hiv vs . ebola virus & sars. Tb and hiv allows those infected to live a normal life without drugs for a longer period of time; symptoms often do not arise and are not noticed until the disease is close or in its full development. Successful pathogens; doesn"t kill the host immediately.