Concept explainers
Define pathogen.
To define: The term “pathogen.”
Introduction: Pathogens are the disease causing organisms that are able to invade the host immune system to establish a specific disease.
Explanation of Solution
Pathogen can be defined as anything that can cause diseases. The ability of a pathogen to cause a disease is known as pathogenicity and the process by which it occurs is called pathogenesis.
Most of the pathogens are microorganisms such as viruses, bacteria, fungi, and other parasites. Each of the pathogens has different life cycle and different strategies to invade host immunity.
Different types of pathogens are:
- Bacteria: These are the prokaryotic unicellular organisms that possess varying degree of body shapes and size. Bacteria are the most common pathogens of the human. Examples of some diseases caused by the bacteria are; typhoid fever, tetanus, cholera, plague, pneumonia and so on.
- Virus: These are the obligate intracellular parasite which cannot thrive outside the host organism. Examples of some diseases caused by the viruses are; AIDS, Hepatitis, common cold and so on.
- Fungi: These are the eukaryotic organisms that are a major threat to human health some fungal diseases of human are: candidiasis, athelete’s foot and so on.
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