Midterm 1 Flashcards
Interaction of Host and Infectious agent(s); Non-specific Defenses; Acquired Immunity
Prions
“slow viruses” - protein folding problem. Spongiform encephalitis.
Kuru,Creutzfeldt-Jakob, scrapie in sheep, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in
cattle.
single proteins but have the capacity to wreck havoc on brain cells of an individual. Prions have many similarities with viruses which is what confuses people.
Prions are pathogens discovered by Stanley Prusiner. These are infectious agents that cause many neurodegenerative diseases such as transmissible spongiform encephalopathy. Surprisingly, prions are made up of harmless proteins that are found in mammals and birds. But these proteins are in abnormal form and once they enter human brain, they are capable of severe brain infections. Normally these prions are ingested but they also get formed through mutation of a gene that contains this protein. One thing that seperates them from viruses is that they lack nucleic acids (RNA and DNA).
As soon as prions find their way into brain, they cause normal proteins to turn into abnormal ones. They soon multiply causing severe infection. Holes appear inside the brain that can only be treated by incineration.
Viruses
genetic material (RNA or DNA, never both), protein, lipid.
Commandeer host metabolic machinery to replicate.
Polio, small pox, chicken pox, herpes, AIDS
(HIV), measles.
Viruses are made up of proteins and nucleic acid and lipids. These nucleic acids (RNA and DNA) contain the genetic code that helps these viruses to grow and reproduce once they find their way into a living organism. The nucleic acid remains covered in a protective covering called capsid. Before invading a living thing, viruses are in extracellular form and are known as virions. These virons, once they find a host cell transform into an intracellular form when the capsid gets removed and only nucleic acid remains. Viruses take help of the building materials of the host to grow and reproduce.
Bacteria -prokarotes (before nucleus) -
lack internal organelles. Single cells.
About 30 genera cause disease. Strep., Staph, TB, gonorrhea, RMSF, etc.
Eukaryotes (true nucleus)
Fungi
- saprophytes - single cell or multicellular or one to the other: yeast to
mycelial phases. Athlete’s foot, “yeast” infections. Not all bad, some make beer
and wine!
Eukaryotes (true nucleus):
Animals
protozoa - single cell animals. Malaria, Montezuma’s revenge,
Giardia.
- Multicellular - flat worms (tapeworm); round worms (schistosomiasis).
Study of the Host (Us) responses to infection:
Non-specific:
tears, skin, flow of liquids out, phagocytes
Study of the Host (Us) responses to infection:
Specific:
Immunity = Immunology
Humoral (blood) = antibody; protein molecules that bind to foreign material
and inactivate it.
Cellular (cell-mediated immunity) = cells interact with foreign material to
kill also control immune response. CD4+, CD8+, etc.
Humoral (blood) =
antibody; protein molecules that bind to foreign material
and inactivate it.
Cellular (cell-mediated immunity)
cells interact with foreign material to
kill also control immune response. CD4+, CD8+, etc.
History of Medical Micro
longterm or short term & eg
is very long from organism’s point of view. “Germs”
(Hollywood term) have been around for millennia.
Bacteria - Tuberculosis in 5,000 yr old mummies. TB, a disease of the lung, is also
known as consumption, the white plague, or wasting disease.
Many diseases described by the ancients are hard to nail down. e.g. leprosy (Bible)
was probably a fungal disease, not leprosy. Others are dead certain.
Black Plague:
Yersinea pestis.
The great black death. Bubonic and pneumonic
plague. Changed history. The first pandemic occurred in 500 AD, altered the
Roman Empire. The 2nd pandemic occurred in 1250 - 1350 AD. Knocked Europe
out of the dark ages. 25% of the population killed.
Bubonic plague -
spread by bite of rat flea. Swollen lymph nodes, black (buboes).
Spreads to entire body, especially lungs, leading to a characteristic wheezing
snuffle. Ugly red/black spots occur on the skin as blood leaks into skin. The victim
becomes very morose and turns blue/black from lack of oxygen, becomes prostrate,
70% die within 7 days.
Pneumonic plague -
spread by aerosol droplets from patient with lung infection.
Droplets are inhaled, they infect lung. Ninety percent of the people with pneumonic
plague die within 24 hours. Physicians came to treat and clergy came to give last
rites - they died from pneumonic plague before the patient did. Wiped out the
educated classes and resulted in physicians refusing to make house calls (ha, ha!).
brought small pox to he New World
1500 - Cortez brought small pox to he New World. The first Indian epidemic
occurred in 1520, reaching the Rio Grande in 1527. Estimates of Aztec deaths range udd, RC, El Med Micro, page 3
from 20-50% of the population. The Indian population had never seen this disease
(no premunition). The officers Amherst and Bouquet were the first to use small pox
as a biological warfare agent during the French/Indian wars (circa 1760). It appears
that the US government used small pox to subdue native Americans in the 1800s.
1650 - Antonie van Leeuewenhock invented
1650 - Antonie van Leeuewenhock invented compound microscope and saw
“animicules”.
1798 - Edward Jenner
1798 - True Vaccination.xxxxx described immunization with cow pox
(vaccinia) to prevent small pox (variola).
1854 Snow
1854 - Contagion - Snow recognized cholera was spread from the Broad Street
pump in England
Robert Koch and Louis Pasteur
Two rivals, much as Germany and France. Both
National Heros. Pasteur was flamboyant, lots of press, serendipity. Koch Teutonic,
meticulous.
Koch -
Koch - pure culture technique, solid media. First used potato slices to grow TB,
then gelatin, but too many bacteria liquify gelatin so he used an extract of the sea
weed Agar agar, to solidify media. He developed staining techniques and studied
TB, anthrax and cholera, to name but a few of his accomplishments.
Pasteur -
Pasteur - “Father of Microbiology” - developed attenuated vaccines for anthrax and
chicken cholera. He produced the first viral vaccine for rabies (saved boy, became
guard for Pasteur Institute in Paris - killed in line of duty). Amazing dude.
Hx
1890’s - Eli Metchnicoff - Russian who developed cellular immunity studies
Thanatology.
1900 - Bacillus Calmette-Guérin - TB vaccine.
1904 - Plague spreading worldwide.
1930s - Vaccines for tetanus, diphtheria.
1943 - Chain and Fleming - penicillin - antibiotic age began.
1950s - Salk polio vaccine, then Sabin.
1960s -70s - viral vaccines - measles, mumps, etc.
1980s - Microbiological Revolution: Immunology, recombinant DNA
technology (molecular biology). AIDS
1990s - Chicken pox vaccine. Cancer (genes), transgenic mice, gene therapy,
transplantation, new drugs (AZT, ddl, protease inhibitors), new antibiotics, etc.
Absolute explosion of knowledge. Decade of STDs. Use of bacterial or fungal
products e.g. streptokinase, coagulase, Protein A and G (even shark immune
molecule to fight cancer). Cloned products: Factor 5 - hemophiliacs; Interferon
- anti-cancer; Insulin; vitamins; Cyclosporin - fungal transplantation drug.
2000- Era of genetic miracles. Gardasil - HPV vaccine
Extremely relevant today:
Extremely relevant today: Most common infectious disease? Dental caries; Judd, RC, El Med Micro, page 4
athlete’s foot; ascariasis. Most common life threatening? Tuberculosis and malaria.
Second most common? Schistosomiasis.
Current disease problems:
Staphylococcus aureus - first completely drug resistant bacteria.
Escherichia coli 0157:H7 - enterohemorrhagic diarrhea.
Streptococcus pyogenes - “flesh-eating” bacterium.
Bordetella pertussis - whooping cough. Recent outbreaks in Idaho, MT.
Salmonella typhimurium - milk-born outbreaks in Illinois, Wisconsin and
Minnesota. Associated with fowl.
Giardia lamblia - giardiasis - western MT streams.
Brucella abortis - disease in bison leaving in Yellowstone Park.
Mycobacterium tuberculosis (and related species) - tuberculosis - AIDS
epidemic has spawned a TB epidemic.
Vibrio cholerae - cholera - Rwanda, Peru, Brazil, India.
Pasteurella pestis - plague - India. Potential bio-terror agent.
Borrelia burgdorferi - Lyme Disease.
Bacillus anthracis - zoonose and a bio-terror agent.
Sinomber virus - “hanta-like virus” - respiratory disease.
Human immunodeficiency virus - AIDS.
Ebola virus
Encephalitis viruses
Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) - prion. Mad cow disease.
Norwalk-like viruses; Rotaviruses
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)
Asian bird influenza
Human papilloma virus (HPV); a new vaccine - Gardasil.
Influenza HIN 1
Infection v disease
Infection is not necessarily disease; disease is damage to the host mediated by the
infectious agent; pathology is the disease (i.e. damage) caused by the infectious
agent; virulence is a quantitative measure of the ability of an infectious agent to
cause disease. Pathogenic - potentially disease-causing.
Disease can be due to a toxin (poison); damage to cells or host tissues; nutrient
depravation, blockage of vessels etc.




