How the host can infected ?

Infection
pathogenesis

Pathogen
microbials
HOST
 INFECTIOUS PROCESS
1. CONTAMINATION
2. INTERACTION
3. COLONIZATION
4. INVATION
5. INFECTION
6. TRANSMISSION
7. CARRIER
 1. CONTAMINATION

A condition of being exposed to harmful agents,

making an object potentially unsafe
 Indigenous flora
• Indigenous flora = normal flora =usual flora
• Microorganisms that are commonly found on or in body
sites of healthy persons
• Plays an important role in both health and disease
 Resident microbial flora
• Microorganisms that colonize an area of the
body for months or years

Transient flora
 Microorganisms that are present at area of the
host body for temporarily
 True Pathogen
• An organism that can cause infection in
individuals with normal host defences (healthy
immune-competent)
• Ex : Microbacterium tuberculosa
 2. INTERACTION

process among host and infectious agents

acting on each other.
 Symbiosis mutualism
• Symbiosis mutualism: a biological relationship
between two or more organisms where both get
benefit from one another
• Ex : Probiotic bacteria
 Commensalism
• Commensalism : a relationship where the
organisms benefit, but there is no beneficial or
harmful effect to the host
• Ex : Normal flora on human hand
 Parasitism
• Parasitism : a relationship where the microbe get
benefit from the host and causing harmful effect
to the host
• Ex : Helicobacter pylori
 Opportunistic pathogen
• An organism that can cause infection in individuals with abnormal
host defences . (their habitat is damage, disturbed,immune system is
weakened or compromised)
• Commensals may be opportunistic pathogens.
 3. COLONIZATION
The presence of bacteria on a subject surface (like on
the skin, mouth, intestines or airway) without causing
disease in the person.
 4. INVASION
The process whereby bacteria, animal parasites, fungi, and viruses
enter host cells or tissues and spread in the body.

Entry into the Host

Must access and adhere to host tissues, penetrate or evade host defenses,
and damage tissue to cause disease.
Portals of Entry
The three main portals of entry are:
 Mucous membranes
 Skin
 Parenteral
 Mucus Membranes
• A. Respiratory Tract
– microbes inhaled into mouth or nose in droplets of
moisture or dust particles

– Easiest and most frequently traveled portal of entry

• B. Gastrointestinal Tract
– microbes gain entrance thru contaminated food & water or
fingers & hands

– most microbes that enter the G.I. Tract are destroyed by HCL
& enzymes of stomach or bile & enzymes of small intestine
 Skin
Unbroken skin is impenetrable by most microbes.

 Some microbes gain access through hair follicles and sweat

glands.
 Nectator americanus (hookworm) can bore through intact
skin.
 Certain fungi (dermatophytes) grow on skin and produce
enzymes that break down keratin.
Parenteral Route
Microbes are deposited directly into the tissues
beneath the skin or mucous membranes.
– Examples: Injections, bites, cuts, wounds, surgery,
punctures, and splitting due to swelling or drying.

Preferred Portal of Entry

Many microbes have a preferred portal of entry which is a
prerequisite to cause disease.
– Example: Streptococcus pneumoniae that are inhaled can
cause pneumonia; if swallowed generally don’t cause
disease.
 5. INFECTION

• Multiplication of pathogenic microorganisms in

a bodily part or tissue, which may produce
subsequent tissue injury and progress to overt
disease through a variety of cellular or toxic
mechanisms.
How do Bacterial Pathogens
can make infection?
 Phatogenicity and Virulence Factor
• Pathogenicity : the ability of a microbe to produce
disease in a susceptible individual

• Virulence factor: the quantitative ability factor of

a microorganism to cause diseases
• Ability to resist phagocytosis
• Adhesion
• Ability to survive intracellularly and proliferate
• Ability to produce toxins and enzymes
 Ability to resist phagocytosis
• Pathogens have surface factors that impede phagocytosis
• S.pneumoniae, N.meningitidis; many other bacteria have
polysaccharide capsules.
 Adhesion
• Adhesion (Adherence, attachment): The process by which
bacteria stick to the surfaces of host cells.
• Pili and Fimbriae help mediate adherence of the bacteria to
host cell surfaces
• The interactions between bacteria and tissue cell surfaces in the
adhesion process are complex.
 Ability to survive intracellularly and proliferate
• Some bacteria (eg, M tuberculosis,Brucella, Legionella ) could live
and grow in the polymorphonuclear cells, macrophages, or
monocytes
• They may be resistant to lysosomal enzymes and survive within
the phagolysosome.
 Ability to produce toxins and enzymes
• Toxins produced by bacteria are generally classified into
two groups: exotoxins and endotoxins
 Enzymes
• Many species of bacteria produce enzymes that are not intrinsically
toxic but do play important roles in the infectious process

Tissue-Degrading Enzymes
 Many bacteria produce substances that are cytolysins—ie, they dissolve red
blood cells (hemolysins) or kill tissue cells or leukocytes (leukocidins).
 6. TRANSMISSION

 Transmit → Transmission :
a passage or transfer ( as of a disease) from
one individual to another
 Airborne transmission
 Human to human, No Direct Contact

Aerosol, Dust particles

Droplet,

Airborne Diseases :
Tuberculosis, Influenza, swine flu
Food and water transmission
 Human to human, No Direct Contact

Pathogen causing Food and Water Borne Diseases :

E.coli, Vibrio cholera, Salmonella spp, Shigella spp
 Close Contact
 Human to human, Direct Contact

• Herpes simplex virus

• Wart -Human papiloma
virus
• Gonorrhoea
• Syphilis

Kissing, touching Breast milk

 Blood transmission
 Human to human, No Direct Contact

Blood Borne Diseases (ex : HIV, Hepatitis, Syphilis)

Cut and Bite from Animal Source Directly
• Non human to human

RABIES
 Animal Vector
• Non human to human, Insects, Arthropods

DHF,Malaria, Relapsing fever, Lyme disease

 ZOONOSES
• Via Animal Excreta

AVIAN FLU
 Soil Source
 Non Human to human

Tetanus
 Water source
• Non human to human

Leptospirosis
 On an object/surface
Non human to human

Transmission from medical instruments

Multi Transmission
Auto Transmission
 7. CARRIERS
• Some pathogenic microrganisms establish
themselves in a host without manifest symtoms
• Ex : Salmonella typhi, Hepatitis B
 SUMMARY

Pathogenesis is a multi-factorial process which

depends on the immune status of the host,
the nature of the species or strain (virulence
factors) and the number of organisms in the
initial exposure.