SB5d Pathogens Flashcards
AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome)
When HIV has damaged a person’s immune system, so they are more likely to get secondary infections.
chalara dieback
A communicable disease of ash trees caused by a fungus. It produces lesions of the trunk and branches, and dieback of the top of the tree.
cholera
A communicable disease caused by a bacterium, which causes extreme diarrhoea.
diarrhoea
Loose or watery faeces.
haemorrhagic fever
A disease that includes a fever (high body temperature) and internal bleeding, such as caused by the Ebola virus.
host
An individual or species that can be infected by a certain pathogen.
HIV (human immunodeficiency virus)
A virus that attacks white blood cells in the human immune system, often leading to AIDS.
malaria
A dangerous disease, caused by a protist, that causes serious fever, headaches and vomiting and can lead to death.
protist
A kingdom of eukaryotic and mainly single-celled organisms (also called ‘protoctists’).
secondary infection
An infection due to the immune system being weakened previously by a different pathogen.
tuberculosis (TB)
A communicable bacterial disease that infects the lungs.
ulcer
A sore area in the stomach lining which can be caused by a bacterium. (heliobacter)
virus
A microbe that multiplies by infecting a cell and taking over the cell’s DNA copying processes. Virus particles have no cellular structure and so are not true organisms. (NOT LIVING)
white blood cell
A type of blood cell that forms part of the body’s defence system against disease.
