Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Protozoan infections are responsible for diseases that affect many different types of organisms, including plants, animals, and some marine life. Many of the most prevalent and deadly human diseases are caused by a protozoan infection, including African sleeping sickness, amoebic dysentery, and malaria.
Botulism is a rare and potentially fatal illness caused by botulinum toxin, which is produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum. The disease begins with weakness, blurred vision, feeling tired, and trouble speaking. This may then be followed by weakness of the arms, chest muscles, and legs.
C. botulinum is a Gram-positive, rod-shaped, spore-forming bacterium. [1] It is an obligate anaerobe, the organism survives in an environment that lacks oxygen.However, C. botulinum tolerates traces of oxygen due to the enzyme superoxide dismutase, which is an important antioxidant defense in nearly all cells exposed to oxygen. [7]
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to concepts related to infectious diseases in humans.. Infection – transmission, entry/invasion after evading/overcoming defense, establishment, and replication of disease-causing microscopic organisms (pathogens) inside a host organism, and the reaction of host tissues to them and to the toxins they produce.
The main species responsible for disease in humans are: [15] Clostridium botulinum can produce botulinum toxin in food or wounds and can cause botulism. This same toxin is known as Botox and is used in cosmetic surgery to paralyze facial muscles to reduce the signs of aging; it also has numerous other therapeutic uses.
Adaptation to microaerobic or anaerobic environments is essential for certain lifestyles of P. aeruginosa, for example, during lung infection in cystic fibrosis and primary ciliary dyskinesia, where thick layers of lung mucus and bacterially-produced alginate surrounding mucoid bacterial cells can limit the diffusion of oxygen.
Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae is a Gram-positive, catalase-negative, rod-shaped, non-spore-forming, nonacid-fast, nonmotile bacterium.Distributed worldwide, E. rhusiopathiae is primarily considered an animal pathogen, causing the disease known as erysipelas that may affect a wide range of animals.
Koch's postulates are used to establish causal relationships between microbial pathogens and diseases. Whereas meningitis can be caused by a variety of bacterial, viral, fungal, and parasitic pathogens, cholera is only caused by some strains of Vibrio cholerae. Additionally, some pathogens may only cause disease in hosts with an immunodeficiency.