English Deutsch Français Italiano Español Português 繁體中文 Bahasa Indonesia Tiếng Việt ภาษาไทย
All categories

2006-10-10 03:42:35 · 5 answers · asked by ksb_hlb 1 in News & Events Media & Journalism

5 answers

"A pathogen or infectious agent is a biological agent that causes disease or illness to its host. The term is most often used for agents that disrupt the normal physiology of a multicellular animal or plant. However, pathogens can infect unicellular organisms from all of the biological kingdoms. The term pathogen is derived from the Greek παθογένεια, "birth of pain."

There are several substrates and pathways whereby pathogens can invade a host; the principal pathways are: air contact/respiration; water contact/ingestion or dermal contact; soil contact/dermal or ingestion; and animal(vectors) contact/bite or ingestion. All of these mechanisms have different episodic time frames, but soil contamination has the longest or most persistent potential for harboring a pathogen.

The human body has many natural defenses against some of the more common pathogens (such as Pneumocystis) in the form of the human immune system and by some "helpful" bacteria present in the human body's normal flora. However, if the immune system or "good" bacteria is damaged in any way (such as by chemotherapy, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), or antibiotics being taken to kill other pathogens), pathogenic bacteria that were being held at bay can proliferate and cause harm to the host. Such cases are called opportunistic infections.

Some pathogens (such as the bacterium Yersinia pestis, which may have caused the Black Plague, and the Variola virus) have been found to be responsible for massive amounts of casualties and have had numerous effects on afflicted groups. Plague is carried by fleas. Of particular note in modern times is HIV, which is known to have infected several million humans globally, as well as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). Today, while many medical advances have been made to safeguard against infection by pathogens, through the use of vaccination, antibiotics and fungicide, pathogens continue to threaten human life."


"Transmission of pathogens
Main article: Transmission (medicine)

One of the primary pathways of food or water become contaminated is from the release of untreated sewage into a drinking water supply or onto cropland, with the result that people who eat or drink contaminated sources become infected. In developing countries most sewage is discharged into the environment or on cropland as of 2006; even in developed countries there are periodic system failures resulting in a sanitary sewer overflow. This is the typical mode of transmission for the infectious agents of (at least):
Cholera
Hepatitis A
Polio
Rotavirus
[edit]

Transmission to vascular plants

In the case of terrestrial vascular plants, pathogenic infection can occur by contact with foliage, and also from root uptake of soil pathogens. The latter pathway explains why some plant families such as orchids are more disease resistant, since they rely upon fungal hyphae to supply nutrients rather than root structures, which have larger radii for conveying certain pathogens. For better info visit cdc.gov"

2006-10-10 03:45:57 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

i wonder did you mean what is pathogen?

Pathogen
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
A pathogen or infectious agent is a biological agent that causes disease or illness to its host. The term is most often used for agents that disrupt the normal physiology of a multicellular animal or plant. However, pathogens can infect unicellular organisms from all of the biological kingdoms. The term pathogen is derived from the Greek παθογένεια, "birth of pain."

There are several substrates and pathways whereby pathogens can invade a host; the principal pathways are: air contact/respiration; water contact/ingestion or dermal contact; soil contact/dermal or ingestion; and animal(vectors) contact/bite or ingestion. All of these mechanisms have different episodic time frames, but soil contamination has the longest or most persistent potential for harboring a pathogen.

The human body has many natural defenses against some of the more common pathogens (such as Pneumocystis) in the form of the human immune system and by some "helpful" bacteria present in the human body's normal flora. However, if the immune system or "good" bacteria is damaged in any way (such as by chemotherapy, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), or antibiotics being taken to kill other pathogens), pathogenic bacteria that were being held at bay can proliferate and cause harm to the host. Such cases are called opportunistic infections.

Some pathogens (such as the bacterium Yersinia pestis, which may have caused the Black Plague, and the Variola virus) have been found to be responsible for massive amounts of casualties and have had numerous effects on afflicted groups. Plague is carried by fleas. Of particular note in modern times is HIV, which is known to have infected several million humans globally, as well as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). Today, while many medical advances have been made to safeguard against infection by pathogens, through the use of vaccination, antibiotics and fungicide, pathogens continue to threaten human life.

2006-10-10 03:46:18 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

A pathogen is the cause of a disease.

2006-10-10 03:53:42 · answer #3 · answered by namsaev 6 · 0 0

a pathogen is a bacteria or virus that causes the body disease or illness.

2006-10-10 03:45:18 · answer #4 · answered by Sir Ed 4 · 1 0

apathoqen or a pathogen?

2006-10-10 04:57:56 · answer #5 · answered by Jep 3 · 0 0

fedest.com, questions and answers