Understanding Ourselves

Pathogens
 Pathogens
• Any organism that causes disease in
another.
Most pathogens have to get inside our
body to spread infection. Once they are
inside, the body provides ideal living
conditions - plenty of food, water and
warmth.
 Diseases.
Microorganism Disease
Fungi Athletes food
Virus Influenza
Protozoa Malaria
Bacteria Tuberculosis
 Bacteria
TB is caused due to bacteria inside the
lungs . It may lead to death of a person

Antibiotics
are used to
cure
disease
caused by
bacteria
E.Coli (scanning electromicrograph)
Cholera
Tetanus
Gangrene – caused by bacteria
Influenza - flu
Measles – caused by a virus.
Chickenpox!
Bread mold spores
Athletes Foot – caused by fungi
Thrush – caused by fungi
Infected Nails – caused by fungi
What ways do we stop pathogens
getting in?
Vectors
• What is Malaria?
• Malaria is a parasitic infection transmitted to humans
through the bites of infected female Anopheles
mosquitoes. The resulting disease in humans can be
devastating. After spreading rapidly through the
bloodstream to the liver, the parasite emerges again
into the blood stream, finally to settle in the red blood
cells, where it multiplies and emerges in bursts of new
organisms. These parasites, because of their large
numbers, can cause particular damage to the nervous
system, liver, and kidney.
 Parasite

• an animal or plant that lives in or on a host

(another animal or plant); it obtains
nourishment from the host without
benefiting or killing the host
 Host
• an animal or plant that nourishes and
supports a parasite; it does not benefit and
is often harmed by the association
• Microbes use different means of
access to our bodies. One type
hitches a ride on or inside another
organism, called a vector.
 •

• For example, malaria gets into humans through

the bite of a mosquito. As the mosquito feeds by
boring a hole through the skin and sucking blood,
the malarial parasite hitches a ride through the
mosquito’s saliva into our blood stream.
• Knowledge of how vectors spread disease
helps us to control the infection.
• Vaccines contain either:
• live pathogens treated to make them
harmless
• harmless fragment of the pathogen
• dead pathogens or the antigen on the
pathogen
Vaccination
• Vaccinations are an effective
way of stimulating the body’s
own defences so that we need
not suffer the infectious
diseases, such as measles,
mumps and whooping cough,
that used to be a common
feature of childhood.
 Antibiotics
Antibiotics are substances produced by one
type of microorganism that kill or stop the
growth of another kind of organism.

• Antibiotics are
used to treat
bacterial and
fungal
diseases.