Pathogen

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to navigationJump to search
For other uses, see Pathogen (disambiguation).
In biology, a pathogen (Greek: πάθος pathos "suffering", "passion" and -γενής
-genēs "producer of") in the oldest and broadest sense, is any organism that can
produce disease. A pathogen may also be referred to as an infectious agent, or
simply a germ.

The term pathogen came into use in the 1880s.[1][2] Typically, the term is used to
describe an infectious microorganism or agent, such as a virus, bacterium,
protozoan, prion, viroid, or fungus.[3][4][5] Small animals, such as certain kinds
of worms and insect larvae, can also produce disease. However, these animals are
usually, in common parlance, referred to as parasites rather than pathogens. The
scientific study of microscopic organisms, including microscopic pathogenic
organisms, is called microbiology, while the study of disease that may include
these pathogens is called pathology. Parasitology, meanwhile, is the scientific
study of parasites and the organisms that host them.

There are several pathways through which pathogens can invade a host. The principal
pathways have different episodic time frames, but soil has the longest or most
persistent potential for harboring a pathogen.

Diseases in humans that are caused by infectious agents are known as pathogenic
diseases. Not all diseases are caused by pathogens, other causes are, for example,
toxins, genetic disorders and the host's own immune system.

Contents
1 Pathogenicity
1.1 Context-dependent pathogenicity
1.2 Related concepts
1.2.1 Virulence
1.2.2 Transmission
2 Types of pathogens
2.1 Algae
2.2 Bacteria
2.3 Fungi
2.4 Prions
2.5 Viroids
2.6 Viruses
2.7 Other parasites
3 Pathogen hosts
3.1 Bacteria
3.2 Plants
3.3 Animals
3.4 Humans
4 Treatment
4.1 Prion
4.2 Virus
4.3 Bacteria
4.4 Fungi
4.5 Algae
5 Sexual interactions
6 See also
7 References
8 External links