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Virulence is a pathogen's or microorganism's ability to cause damage to a host. In most cases, especially in animal systems, virulence refers to the degree of damage caused by a microbe to its host. [1] The pathogenicity of an organism—its ability to cause disease—is determined by its virulence factors.
Genomic instability through various means such as DNA damage and epigenetic modifications [10] appear to be the basic causes of sporadic (non-familial) cancer. While infections have many effects, infectious organisms that increase the risk of cancer are frequently a source of DNA damage or genomic instability, as discussed below for oncogenic ...
Pathogenicity is the potential disease-causing capacity of pathogens, involving a combination of infectivity (pathogen's ability to infect hosts) and virulence (severity of host disease). Koch's postulates are used to establish causal relationships between microbial pathogens and diseases.
Multiple genetic elements of human-affecting pathogens contribute to the transfer of virulence factors: plasmids, pathogenicity island, prophages, bacteriophages, transposons, and integrative and conjugative elements. [13] [50] Pathogenicity islands and their detection are the focus of several bioinformatics efforts involved in pathogenomics.
Virulence factors (preferably known as pathogenicity factors or effectors in botany) are cellular structures, molecules and regulatory systems that enable microbial pathogens (bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protozoa) to achieve the following: [1] [2] colonization of a niche in the host (this includes movement towards and attachment to host cells ...
Viral disease is the sum of the effects of viral replication on the host and the host's subsequent immune response against the virus. [3] Viruses are able to initiate infection, disperse throughout the body, and replicate due to specific virulence factors. [2] There are several factors that affect pathogenesis.
These molecules activate genetic anti-viral defence programs that protect cells from infection and prevent spread of the virus. However, in 2000, Stojdl, Lichty et al. [57] demonstrated that defects in these pathways render cancer cells unresponsive to the protective effects of interferons and therefore highly sensitive to infection with VSV ...
Virulence (the tendency of a pathogen to cause damage to a host's fitness) evolves when that pathogen can spread from a diseased host, despite that host being very debilitated. An example is the malaria parasite, which can spread from a person near death, by hitching a ride to a healthy person on a mosquito that has bitten the diseased person.