Lesson 1: INFECTION

INFECTION

• - IT IS A CONDITION
IN WHICH
PATHOGENS SUCH
AS BACTERIA,
VIRUSES, FUNGI,
AND PROTOZOANS
ENTER THE BODY
AND MULTIPLY
- The infection may result to tissue injury
and even progress into a disease
- Once pathogens, invade the body,
infection occurs
- Infection with a pathogen does not always
leer or progress to a disease, disease will
only occur when the infection damages
the cells in your body and the signs and
symptoms of the disease are seen.
Sometimes, pathogens have entered the
body and you may not even notice.
PATHOGENS
- These are disease-causing
microorganisms
- When a particular
pathogen enters the
body, the immune system
comes to work.
Did you know?

Many of the symptoms that we suffer during infection are NOT caused
by a pathogen but by our immune system?

An infected person usually suffers from fever, headache, malaise, or

skin rashes. These are results of our immune system’s action of getting
rid of or fighting the infection

When pathogens are too numerous, they become resistant to our

body’s defense system and eventually give us an ill condition
STAGES OF
INFECTION
1. Incubation Stage
2. Prodromal Stage
3. Acute Stage
4. Declining Stage
5. Convalescent Stage
INCUBATION
STAGE
- IT IS THE TIME BETWEEN THE
EXPOSURE TO A PATHOGEN
AND THE APPEARANCE OF
SYMPTOMS
- INCUBATION PERIODS VARY
DEPENDING ON THE TYPE OF
PATHOGEN
PRODROMAL
STAGE
IT IS THE TIME WHEN THE SIGNS
AND SYMPTOMS OF A DISEASE
START TO APPEAR

DURING THIS STAGE, THE BODY

REACTS TO THE PRESENCE OF
PATHOGEN
ACUTE STAGE
• - IT IS THE PERIOD WHEN
THE DISEASE IS AT ITS
PEAKS AND THAT THE
SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS
CAN BE CLINICALLY USED
OR TESTED TO DIAGNOSE
THE DISEASE
DECLINING
STAGE
- IT IS THE PERIOD WHEN
SYMPTOMS START TO SUBSIDE
AND THE SEVERITY OF THE
DISEASE DECLINES.
- THE PATIENT FEELS AN
IMPROVEMENT BUT STILL CAN’T
RETURN TO DOING NORMAL
ACTIVITIES.
CONVALESCENT
STAGE
• - IT IS THE STAGE IN
WHICH THE SYMPTOMS
OF THE DISEASE BEGIN TO
FADE AND THE PATIENT
RECOVERS HIS/HER
HEALTH AND STRENGTH
 Lesson 2:
MORBIDITY AND
MORTALITY
Morbidity
• Refers to the disease state or
the “quality of being
unhealthful” of an individual.
• It is also used to describe how
often a disease occurs in a
specific area
 • Refers to a condition of
being subject to death
Mortality • This may also refer to the
number of deaths in a
population