Agents of Disease

Microbiology
The study of very small organisms

Virus
Bacteria
Parasites
Fungi

Is It Alive?

What does it mean to be alive?

All living things are composed of cells
All living things reproduce
All living things make or digest food
All living things respond to stimuli

Bacteria
Most bacteria are prokaryotic cells.
Unicellular with no nucleus or organelles
Three basic shapes of bacteria
coccus

bacillus
spirillum

Shapes of bacteria
Cocci or coccus- circle
or round shaped
bacteria

Coccus

Shapes of bacteria
Bacillus-rod shaped

Shapes of bacteria
Spirillum-spiral
shaped

Bacteria
E.Coli on
surface of
human skin
and hair
follicle.

Bacteria
Vibrio parahaemolyticus-rod
bacterium that causes
foodborne illness-seafood
poisoning

Bacteria
Cyanobacteria-salt-water,
unicellular prokaryote

Bacterial Cell Structure

Bacteria have a cell wall
Bacteria have a cell membrane
Bacteria have cytoplasm that contains their
genetic information-prokaryotic

Cell membrane

Cell Wall

Cytoplasm

Two kingdoms of Bacteria

Archaebacteria-most bacteria in this group
survive without oxygen, live in extreme hot
or cold
Eubacteria-all other bacteria fall into this
group-need oxygen

Review:

What are the three main types or shapes of

bacteria?

Bacteria Reproduction
Binary Fission-form of asexual
reproduction, the doubling of cells without
a partner
This is how bacteria reproduce. Given a
certain time each single bacteria will divide

Video of Bacteria Reproducing

Example of bacterial growth rates

for a type of bacteria that takes
30mins to reproduce-copy chart
Time

Number of Bacteria

0 min

30 min.

1h
1.5 h
2h
2.5h
3h
3.5h

Example of bacterial growth rates

for a type of bacteria that takes
15mins to reproduce-finish the chart.
Time

Number of Bacteria

0 min

12

15 min.
30 min
45min
1hr
1 hr 15 min
1 hr 30 min
1 hr 45 min

Preventing and treating disease

Antibiotics-kill bacteria
Your bodies own immune system fights
bacteria via white blood cells.
Washing of hands-perhaps the best way to
prevent disease is to wash your hands and
to keep your hands out of your mouth, nose,
and eyes.

White blood cell chasing bacteria

Bacterial Resistance
Bacteria build up a resistance to antibiotics.
Overuse of antibiotics, hand sanitizer, and
disinfectants has help to speed resistance

Review:
If a bacteria culture starts with 100 bacteria
cells, how many bacteria cells will you have
at 8 hours if the bacteria double each hour?

Viruses
A virus is a particle that consists of a
nucleic acid (DNA) that requires a living
(host) cell to invade in order to reproduce.
They cannot reproduce on their own

Viruses are not alive

They cannot reproduce on their own

They are not cells, only a form of DNA
They do not respond to stimuli
They do not use energy

Video of how Viruses replicate

Viral Replication
Viruses reproduce the following way
1. attaches itself to a healthy cell
2. injects its own DNA into the healthy cells
nucleus
3. uses the cells own cell cycle to create more of
itself
4. creates more and more viruses until the healthy
cell bursts and they escape to find more cells to
invade

Virus
HIV in
human
lymph
tissue

Viruses
Herpes

Bird Flu and

Swine Flu

Smallpox

Mutagens
Changes the genetic material, usually DNA,
of an organism.
All viruses are mutagens because they
change the DNA of the host cell.

Review
1. Why is a virus not considered to be
alive?
2. How does a virus reproduce?

Antivirals vs. Viruses

Your doctor only gives you medicine to
make the symptoms of a virus less. They
are not killing the virus, only your immune
system can do that.
Antiviral drugs only reduce the number of
viruses that are made in a host cell, they do
not kill virus.

How are viruses and bacteria spread

Disease-any change that disrupts the normal
function of your body
Non-infectious disease-diseases that are
inherited or develop over time and cannot be
spread to other organisms
Birth defects
Heart disease
cancer

 Pathogen-any virus or bacteria that causes a

disease
Infectious disease-any pathogen that can be
spread
Contagion-diseases spread to another
organism
All viruses and bacteria are contagious

How do diseases spread?

Vector-is an organism that helps to spread a disease
Insects are the most common
Mosquitoes -spread malaria, yellow fever, and West Nile virus
Flies- in Africa spread the African Sleeping Sickness, puts
you in a coma
Fleas- transmit bubonic plague
Ticks- spread lyme disease
Bats-when infected with rabies can spread it when bite
humans

Rabies

Malaria
Malaria Video

Carriers
Carrier-is an organism that is infected with
and can transmit a disease-causing microbe
to another organism without even knowing
they are sick

Contagious Disease
Is a disease that can be spread from one
person to another through direct or indirect
contact

Direct Contact
Shaking hands
Sneezing or coughing near
someone
Breathing very closely to someone
blood

Indirect Contact
Touching a door knob
Using the same glass
Touching the table youre sitting at

Review
1. What is the difference between a noninfectious disease and a contagious disease?
Give one example of both.
2. What is the primary way a vector will
spread its disease? Give one example.
3. What is an example of a carrier?

Epidemic
A widespread occurrence of an infectious
disease in a community at a particular time.
H1N1 small areas have had high number of
cases.

Pandemic
A widespread disease that has infected
many people all over a country or the entire
world.
Bubonic plague spread by fleas carried by
rates killed of Europes population.
The 1918-1919 Spanish Flu killed 50
million people world wide.

Parasites
Parasites-are organisms that derive
nourishment or habitat from the tissues or
fluids of other host organisms or host cells
Tape worms-live in the intestines of animals

Show African Sleeping Sickness

Video

Fungi
Parasitic in nature
multicellular or unicellular
CANNOT make their own food, feed on
host organisms
digest matter in the environment
Mushrooms and athletes foot are parasites
and a type of fungus

Fungi

Fungi Reproduction
Produce sexually and asexually depending
on the environment they are in
Spread by spores-microscopic offspring that
ride animals or wind to new locations and
grow into new fungi

Fungus
Human
eyelash
with
fungus
infection

Fungi
Tree lichen

Fungi
mushrooms

Preventing and treating disease

Vaccines-small or inactive part of a disease
that allows the body to develop an immunity
to a disease
Antibiotics kill bacteria
Washing of hands-perhaps the best way to
prevent disease is to wash your hands and to
keep your hands out of your mouth, nose,
and eyes.

How does a vaccine work?

Antibiotics vs. Viruses

Antibiotics have no effect on a virus.
There is no cure once you have a virus.
This is why vaccines are so important, your
body can learn to fight the virus before you
get it. Once you have a virus you only have
your bodys own immune system to battle
it.

Antibiotics vs. Viruses

Your doctor only gives you medicine to
make the symptoms of a virus less. They are
not killing the virus, only your immunes
system can do that.
Antiviral drugs only reduce the number of
viruses that are made in a host cell, they do
not kill the virus.

Resistance
Viruses mutate and learn how to infect new
cells. Doctors have to then create new
vaccines.
Bacteria build up a resistance to antibiotics.