pathogen & prevention

• what is a pathogen?

  a pathogen is a disease causing organism

  • produces toxins (poisonous waste products)
  • has antigen with specific shape (substance on surface of all cells)

  examples of pathogens : bacteria, virus, fungi, protoctista
• what is a transmissible disease?

  a disease in which the pathogen can be passed from hot to another
• how does transmission happen?

  it can happen by:

  1. direct contact

  a)blood.body fluid

  b)skin-skin

  1. indirect contact (not from direct source)

  a)contaminated food/water

  b) contaminated air i.e.sneezing

  c) animal (vector aka middle man) i.e. mosquito, flies, rats
• what are 8 ways for prevention & treatment?

  1. boiling water
  2. pasteurising milk
  3. cooking food at high temperatures
  4. dishes and utensils uses
  5. purify drinking water
  6. Sewage treatment
  7. chlorine added to filtered water
  8. personal hygiene
• pathogen releases toxins to cause illness
• which method of transmission is more dangerous to transmit disease?

  indirect transmission as:

  • how the transmission happened is not clear so, difficult to prevent further transmission
  • thus, the disease may spread quickly (difficult to control)