Chapter 12:
Pathogens and their diseases
Infectious disease
Terminology
A virus is a non-cellular pathogenic agent, containing either DNA or RNA, that
can only reproduce inside a living host cell. When a virus finds a host,
multiplies and spreads, it can become a disease. A disease is any condition
that interferes with how an organism, or any part of it, functions.
Example:
The official name for the virus
responsible for COVID-19 is the severe
acute respiratory syndrome
coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).
The official name for the disease
Shutterstock.com/nobeastofierce
caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus is
COVID-19 (coronavirus disease).
Infectious disease
Terminology
Diseases are described as infectious (communicable) if they are caused by an
invasion by a pathogen and can be transmitted from one host to another.
A pathogen is an infectious agent that causes disease.
A host is an organism infected with a pathogen.
An infection is occurring if a pathogen has entered a host, has established its
residence and is replicating.
Unwanted signs and symptoms usually result from damage to the tissues and
organs of the host.
A micro-organism or virus is not a pathogen (not ‘pathogenic’) unless it causes
disease.
Infectious disease
Koch’s postulates
Humans have attempted to identify, prevent and manage infectious diseases for
centuries.
To identify the specific cause of an infectious disease, scientists have (and still
apply) a series of postulates that were developed by Robert Koch.
1 The potential pathogen must always be present when the disease
occurs.
2 The organism can be isolated from the host and grown in pure culture.
3 When organisms from the pure culture are inoculated into a healthy,
susceptible host and the disease develops, this is further evidence for a specific
cause.
4 The organism can then be re-isolated, grown in pure culture and
compared with the organism first injected for confirmation.
Infectious disease
Pathogen types
A pathogen is an infectious agent that causes disease. There are several
different types of pathogens, but the four most common pathogen groups are:
• viruses
• bacteria
• fungi
• protists.
This chapters describes 10 infectious diseases that are caused by these four
types of pathogens.
Infectious disease
Ten infectious diseases and the types of pathogens
that cause them
Viral Bacterial Fungal Protist
• Influenza • Tuberculosis • Chytridiomycosis • Malaria
• Ross River fever/ (TB) (amphibian • Phytophthora
disease • Tetanus chytrid fungus dieback (jarrah
• Viral diseases of • Crown gall of disease) dieback
honeybees plants
• Australian bat
lyssavirus
disease
Alamy Stock Photo/Buiten-Beeld
Infectious disease
Transmission
Transmission is the passing of an infectious disease from an infected host to
another individual.
Pathogens have a variety of adaptations that enable transmission from host to
host in a number of ways.
Infectious diseases, such as TB, are caused by an agent that can be passed from
an infected host to a susceptible (future) host.
Diseases that are easily transmitted by close contact with an infected organism or
their secretions (body fluids) are called contagious.
A disease can be infectious but not contagious, as is tetanus.
Infectious disease
Zoonoses
Zoonoses are infectious diseases that can be transmitted from one vertebrate
group to another.
Humans, for example, can be infected with avian (bird) or swine influenza viruses.
Transmission is primarily through direct contact with infected animals. Direct
contact with an infected host’s saliva, mucous, faeces, blood or urine may happen
when handling birds or by being bitten or scratched.
Transmission may also happen through close contact, such as being near an
infected bird when it shakes its feathers. The virus may become airborne and
inhaled.
Indirect contact may occur when a susceptible host comes into contact with areas
where infected animals live or roam, where surfaces or objects have been
contaminated. Examples of contaminated materials include chicken coops, pet
food dishes and soil.
Infectious disease
Incubation period
Symptoms are the effects the pathogen has on the body of the host. For many
pathogens, symptoms of the disease do not appear immediately upon infection.
The time between infection and the onset of symptoms is known as the
incubation period.
Non-cellular pathogens
Viruses are non-cellular
Viruses are non-cellular pathogens.
Viruses consist of one or more strands of nucleic acid (RNA or DNA) inside a
protein coat. They maintain this structure during the inert phase of their life cycle;
that is, when they are not inside a host.
Viruses are NOT made out of cells and therefore are non-living. They possess no
metabolic machinery for processes such as cellular respiration.
Viruses cannot be classified as prokaryotes or eukaryotes, because they are non-
cellular. Instead of cellular features such as ribosomes and mitochondria, they
have some nucleic acid and a protective coat.
Non-cellular pathogens
Virus structural features
Non-cellular pathogens
Examples of diseases caused by a virus
Non-cellular pathogens
Viral disease example:
Ross River disease is also known as Ross River fever. Symptoms of the disease
include a rash on the limbs or trunk for 5–10 days; painful and swollen joints,
usually lasting for months; fever and headache.
The primary replication of
the virus occurs in skeletal
muscle cells before it enters
the blood. The virus also
replicates in the mosquito
vector.
Shutterstock.com/yurakrasil
Non-cellular pathogens
Viral replication in a eukaryotic host
Cellular pathogens
Bacteria
Bacteria are prokaryotic.
Bacteria are the most abundant and diverse group of organisms.
Only a relatively small number of bacteria cause disease.
There are billions of bacteria living on our skin and in our bodies that are not
pathogenic and are often beneficial.
Bacterium is the singular term for bacteria.
Cellular pathogens
Bacteria structural features
Cellular pathogens
Examples of diseases caused by a bacterium
Cellular pathogens
Bacterial disease example:
Crown gall is a plant disease caused by
the bacterium Agrobacterium
tumefaciens, which enters the host
through a wound. It involves the induced
growth of tumour-like galls around the
stem of plants. When the pathogen enters
a wound, it inserts a gene from its
plasmid into the genome of the host cell,
causing rapid cell growth and the
formation of galls. The galls are
malformed growths that become a barrier
Alamy Stock Photo/Nigel Cattlin
in the infected host plant’s transport
system for water and nutrients, causing
the plant to wilt and have stunted growth.
Cellular pathogens
Bacteria reproduction by binary fission
One cell splits into two identical daughter cells. Binary fission begins when the
DNA of the bacterium doubles in quantity then divides into two (replicates).
The bacterial cell then elongates and splits into two daughter cells, each with
DNA that is identical to that of the parent cell.
Science Photo Library/CNRI
Cellular pathogens
Bacteria classification
Bacteria can be classified according to their shape:
rod-shaped, known as
Science Photo Library/A Dowsett, Health
bacillus (plural bacilli)
Protection Agency
Science Photo Library/CNRI
spiral (plural spirilla)
Science Photo Library/CNRI
spherical, known as
coccus (plural cocci)
vibrio (not shown), like a comma.
Cellular pathogens
Fungi
The fungal world includes large organisms, such as mushrooms and toadstools,
as well as minute forms that were only revealed with the invention of the
microscope.
These microscopic fungi include unicellular yeasts and moulds.
They are plant-like organisms with cell walls, but their cell walls are not made of
cellulose and the cells do not contain chlorophyll.
Cellular pathogens
Fungi structural features
Cellular pathogens
Fungi structural features
This diagram shows the basic structural features of fungi: a optical microscope
image of a mycelium film showing a branched network of microfilaments
(hyphae); b schematic representation of a hypha composed of cells separated by
cross walls (septa), all enclosed within a cell wall; c schematic representation of
the cell wall – a layer of chitin that surrounds the cell
membrane
Cellular pathogens
Examples of diseases caused by a fungus
Cellular pathogens
Fungal disease example:
Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis live in
water or soil. They produce spores that
are motile in water, which means they can
swim through water. Individual
amphibians contract the disease when
their skin comes into contact with water
containing spores that have travelled from
infected amphibians.
The amphibian’s skin gets thickened and
hardens. Respiration becomes difficult
because significant gas exchange usually
occurs across the moist skin under
normal conditions. The amphibian can
become lethargic. Hind legs extend, and
the amphibian becomes sluggish and has
no appetite. These symptoms can lead to
death.
Cellular pathogens
Protists
Protists are a diverse and mostly unicellular group of eukaryotic organisms.
Of the 65 000 known species of protists, less than 24 species cause diseases in
humans, but these few infect hundreds of millions of people each year.
To date, we still do not have effective preventatives against many of
them, and the treatment drugs we have are limited in their effectiveness.
Some protists resemble animal cells, some resemble plant cells and some
resemble fungi cells.
A variety of specific, unique features set them apart.
Cellular pathogens
Protists structural features
Cellular pathogens
Examples of diseases caused by protists
*The Phylum Oomycota containing Phytophthora dieback has been removed
from the Fungi Kingdom and placed in the Protista Kingdom
Cellular pathogens
Protist disease examples:
Five species of Plasmodium cause malaria. The symptoms are fever,
headache, chills (shaking), sweating and vomiting. If left untreated and a host is
susceptible, complications such as anaemia and liver failure can develop, and
may lead to death.
Licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Scientific Reports, Springer Nature Ltd. CC-BY 4.0
Giardia lamblia is a relatively
common parasite that infects
travellers. This flagellated protist
can cause mild intestinal upsets,
such as diarrhoea, but may also
have more severe effects in the
young or the elderly. People
become infected if they drink
contaminated water. It is a major
problem in
many developing countries, where travellers are advised never to
drink water that is not bottled or boiled.
