Infections Flashcards
Pathogenicity
Microbes ability to enter a host and cause disease
Virulence
Degree of pathogenicity
Exogenous infection
A pathogen breaches the hosts external defense and enters sterile tissue
Endogenous infection
Normal flora enter sterile tissue
Opportunistic infections
Commensals take advantage of a change in the bodys environment that favors the microbe
Primary infections
Occur in healthy bodies
Secondary infections
Occur in body weakened by a primary infection
Local diseases
Restricted to a single area
Systemic diseases
Disseminate to organs and systems
Signs, symptoms, and syndromes
Signs are objective
Symptoms are subjective
Syndrome is a group of s/s that occur together
Stages of disease
Incubation period
Prodromal phase
Acute period
Decline phase
Convalescence phase
Incubation period
Time between entry of the microbe and symptoms appearance
Prodromal phase
Time of mild or nonspecific signs or symptoms
Acute period
Signs and symptoms are most intense
Decline phase
S/S start to subside
