SUBJECT: FUNDAMENTAL OF MICROBIOLOGY

SEMESTER: 2ND
LECTURE:1ST
INSTRUCTOR: MARYAM SIDDIQUE
TOPIC : Pathology, Infection, and Disease
 PATHOLOGY

• Pathology is the scientific study of disease (pathos = suffering; logos = science).

Pathology
 First concerned with the cause or etiology of disease.
Second, it deals with pathogenesis, the manner in which a disease develops.
Third, pathology is concerned with the structural and functional changes brought
about by disease and their effects on the body.
 INFECTION AND DISEASE

• Although the terms infection and disease are sometimes used

interchangeably,
• they differ in meaning.
• Infection: is the invasion or colonization of the body by pathogenic
microorganisms; disease occurs when an infection results in any change
from a state of health.
• Disease: is an abnormal state in which part or all of the body is
incapable of performing its normal functions.
• An infection may exist in the absence of detectable disease. For example, the
body may be infected with the virus that causes AIDS but experience no
symptoms of the disease.
• The presence of a particular type of microorganism in a part of the
body where it is not normally found is also called an infection—and
may lead to disease.
• For example, although large numbers of E. coli are normally present in
the healthy intestine, their infection of the urinary tract usually results
in disease.
 Normal microbiota
• Recent research indicates that normal and characteristic microbial
populations begin to establish themselves in an individual before birth
(in utero).
• The placental microbiome consists of only few different bacteria,
mostly Enterobacteriaceae and Propionibacterium.
• These bacteria are found in the newborn’s intestine.
 Microbiome of newborn
• Just before a woman gives birth, lactobacilli in her vagina multiply rapidly, and
they become the predominant organisms in the newborn’s intestine
• And lactobacilli colonize in the newborn’s intestine.
• More microorganisms are introduced to the newborn’s body from the
environment when breathing and feeding start.
• An individual’s microbiome changes rapidly during the first three years as the
personal microbiome becomes established.
• After birth, E. coli and other bacteria acquired from foods, people, and pets begin to
inhabit the large intestine.
• These microorganisms remain there throughout life
• and, in response to altered environmental conditions, may increase or decrease in
number and contribute to health and disease.
• Many other usually harmless microorganisms establish themselves
inside other parts of the normal adult body and on its surface.
• A typical human body contains 3 * 1013 body cells, and harbors as
many bacteria cells—an estimated 4 * 1013 bacterial cells.
 Human Microbiome Project
• The Human Microbiome Project began in 2007 to analyze microbial
communities called microbiomes that live in and on the human body.
• Its goal is to determine the relationship between changes in the
human microbiome and human health and disease
• Currently, researchers are comparing the microbiomes of healthy
volunteers and volunteers with specific diseases.
 Difference between normal microbiota and
transient microbiota
• The microorganisms that establish more or less permanent residence
(colonize) but that do not produce disease under normal conditions
are members of the body’s Normal Microbiota. Historically they
were referred to as normal flora*
• Transient microbiota, may be present for several days, weeks, or
months and then disappear. Microorganisms are not found
throughout the entire human body but are localized in certain regions
• Many factors determine the distribution and composition of the
normal microbiota. Among these are nutrients, physical and chemical
factors, the host’s defenses, and mechanical factors. Microbes vary
with respect to the types of nutrients they can use as an energy
source. Accordingly, microbes can colonize only those body sites that
can supply the appropriate nutrients. These nutrients may be derived
from dead cells, food in the gastrointestinal tract, secretory and
excretory products of cells, and substances in body fluids. A number
of physical and chemical factors affect the growth of microbes and
thus the growth and composition of the normal microbiota. Among
these are temperature, pH, available oxygen and carbon dioxide,
salinity, and sunlight.
Factors effecting Normal Microbiota

Many factors determine the distribution and composition of the normal

microbiota.
• nutrients
• physical
• chemical factors
• host’s defenses
• mechanical factors.
Nutrients:
• vary with respect to the types of nutrients they can use as an energy source
• microbes can colonize only those body sites that can supply the appropriate nutrients.
• nutrients may be derived from dead cells, food in the gastrointestinal tract, secretory and excretory
products of cells, and substances in body fluids.
Physical and chemical factors:

• temperature
• pH
• available carbon dioxide
• salinity
• sunlight
• Childhood exposure to microorganisms helps the immune system
develop. Indeed, it has been proposed that insufficient exposure to
microorganisms in childhood may interfere with the development of
the immune system and may play a role in increasing rates of allergies
and other immune disorders This idea, known as the hygiene
hypothesis.
Mechanical forces : Colonization
Certain regions of the body are subjected to mechanical forces that
may affect colonization by the normal microbiota.
For example
• the chewing actions of the teeth and tongue movements can dislodge
microbes attached to tooth and mucosal surfaces.
• In the gastrointestinal tract, the flow of saliva and digestive secretions
• various muscular movements of the throat, esophagus, stomach, and
intestines can remove unattached microbes.
• The flushing action of urine also removes unattached microbes.
• In the respiratory system, mucus traps microbes, which cilia then propel
toward the throat for elimination
other factors are
• age
• nutritional status
• diet
• health status
• disability
• hospitalization
• stress
• climate
• geography
• personal hygiene
• living conditions
• occupation
• lifestyle
 Germ free animals
• Animals with no microbiota
• Reared in the laboratory
• Research
• Breeding them in a sterile environment
On the one hand, research with germ-free animals has shown that
• microbes aren’t absolutely essential to animal life.
On the other hand, this research has shown that germ-free animals have
• undeveloped immune systems
• susceptible to infection and serious disease
• require more calories and vitamin
TABLE: NORMAL MICROBIOTA
 Relationship between the normal microbiota
and host
Benefit of normal microbiota
• microbial antagonism, or competitive exclusion: preventing the overgrowth of harmful
microorganisms.
• it involves competition among microbes.
• protect the host against colonization by potentially pathogenic microbes by
1. competing for nutrients, producing substances harmful to the invading microbes, and affecting
conditions such as pH and available oxygen.
• When this balance between normal microbiota and pathogenic microbes is upset, disease can
result.
For example,
Candida albicans (vaginal infection).
2. Bacteriocins: Another example of microbial antagonism occurs in the large
intestine.
E. coli cells produce bacteriocins, proteins that inhibit the growth Salmonella and Shigella.
A bacterium that makes a particular bacteriocin isn’t killed by that bacteriocin
but may be killed by other ones.
Bacteriocins are being investigated for use in treating infections and preventing
food spoilage.
3. host receptors unavailable:
C. difficile
This microbe is responsible for nearly all gastrointestinal infections that follow antibiotic
therapy, from mild diarrhea to severe or even fatal colitis (inflammation of the colon).
In 2013, a Canadian infectious disease specialist successfully treated C. difficile
infections with pills containing normal intestinal microbiota. The normal
microbiota were obtained from patients’ relatives.
• Symbiosis: a relationship between two organisms
• Commensalism: in which at least one organism is dependent on the other In the symbiotic
relationship called commensalism, one of the organisms' benefits, and the other is unaffected.
Many of the microorganisms that make up our normal microbiota are commensals; these include
Staphylococcus epidermidis bacteria that inhabit the surface of the skin, the surface of the eye, and certain
saprophytic mycobacteria that inhabit the ear and external genitals. These bacteria live on secretions and
sloughed-off cells, and they bring no apparent benefit or harm to the host.
• Mutualism: is a type of symbiosis that benefits both organisms.
For example, the large intestine contains bacteria, such as E. coli, that synthesize vitamin K and some B
vitamins. These vitamins are absorbed into the bloodstream and distributed for use by body cells. In
exchange, the large intestine provides nutrients used by the bacteria, allowing them to survive.
Recent genetics studies have found hundreds of antibiotic resistance genes in the intestinal bacteria. It
may seem desirable to have these bacteria survive while a person is taking antibiotics for an infectious
disease; however, these beneficial bacteria may be able to transfer antibiotic-resistance genes to
pathogens.
• Parasitism: one organism benefits by deriving nutrients at the expense of the other; this
relationship is called parasitism. (One get benefit and other get harm )
Many disease-causing bacteria are parasites.
 OPPORTUNISTIC MICROORGANISM
• Although categorizing symbiotic relationships by type is convenient, keep in mind that
the relationship can change under certain conditions.
For example, given the proper circumstances, a mutualistic organism, such as E. coli, can become
harmful. E. coli is generally harmless as long as it remains in the large intestine; but if it gains access
to other body sites, such as the urinary bladder, lungs, spinal cord, or wounds, it may cause urinary
tract infections, pulmonary infections, meningitis, or abscesses, respectively.
Microbes such as E. coli are called opportunistic pathogens. They don’t cause disease in their normal
habitat in a healthy person but may do so in a different environment. For example, microbes that
gain access through broken skin or mucous membranes can cause opportunistic infections.
Or, if the host is already weakened or compromised by infection, microbes that are usually harmless
can cause disease.
AIDS is often accompanied by a common opportunistic infection, Pneumocystis pneumonia, caused
by the opportunistic organism Pneumocystis jirovecii . This secondary infection can develop in AIDS
patients because their immune systems are suppressed. Before the AIDS epidemic, this type of
pneumonia was rare.
• Opportunistic pathogens possess other features that contribute to their ability to cause disease. For
example, they’re present in or on the body or in the external environment in relatively large
numbers. Some opportunistic pathogens may be found in locations in or on the body that are
somewhat protected from the body’s defenses, and some are resistant to antibiotics. In addition to
the usual symbionts, many people carry other microorganisms that are generally regarded as pat
• the pathogens that are frequently carried in healthy individuals are echoviruses (echo comes from
enteric cytopathogenic human orphan), which can cause intestinal diseases, and adenoviruses,
which can cause respiratory diseases. Neisseria meningitidis, which often resides benignly in the
respiratory tract, can cause meningitis, a disease that inflames the coverings of the brain and spinal
cord. Streptococcus pneumoniae, a normal resident of the nose and throat, can cause a type of
pneumonia.
• Cooperation among Microorganisms It isn’t only competition among microbes that can cause
disease; cooperation among microbes can also be a factor in causing disease. For example,
pathogens that cause periodontal disease and gingivitis have been found to have receptors, not for
the teeth, but for the oral streptococci that colonize the teeth