Communicable Disease

• Pathogens are microorganisms that enter the body and cause disease.
• Pathogens cause communicable diseases which are disease that can easily spread
• Both plants and animals can be infected by pathogens
• Bacteria are very small cells which can reproduce rapidly inside your body.
• Bacteria can make you feel ill by producing toxins that damage your cells and tissues
• Viruses are not cells, they reproduce rapidly inside your body.
• Viruses live inside your cells and replicate themselves using the cells' machinery to produce many copies of themselves where the cell then bursts, releasing the virus.
• Viruses' cell damage makes you feel ill
• Protists are single celled eukaryotes
• Some protists are parasites which live on or in other organisms and can cause them damage. They are often transferred to an organism by a vector, which isn't infected itself.
• Fungi may have a body made up of hyphae which can grow and penetrate human skin and plants, causing disease.
• The hyphae can produce spores, which can be spread.
• Pathogens are spread by:

  Water

  Air

  Direct Contact