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Invertebrates spread bacterial, viral and protozoan pathogens by two main mechanisms. Either via their bite, as in the case of malaria spread by mosquitoes, or via their faeces, as in the case of Chagas' Disease spread by Triatoma bugs or epidemic typhus spread by human body lice. Many invertebrates are responsible for transmitting diseases.
A human pathogen is a pathogen (microbe or microorganism such as a virus, bacterium, prion, or fungus) that causes disease in humans. The human physiological defense against common pathogens (such as Pneumocystis ) is mainly the responsibility of the immune system with help by some of the body's normal microbiota .
An infectious disease agent can be transmitted in two ways: as horizontal disease agent transmission from one individual to another in the same generation (peers in the same age group) [3] by either direct contact (licking, touching, biting), or indirect contact through air – cough or sneeze (vectors or fomites that allow the transmission of the agent causing the disease without physical ...
A representation by Robert Seymour of the cholera epidemic depicts the spread of the disease in the form of poisonous air.. The miasma theory was the predominant theory of disease transmission before the germ theory took hold towards the end of the 19th century; it is no longer accepted as a correct explanation for disease by the scientific community.
Pathogenic bacteria are bacteria that can cause disease. [1] This article focuses on the bacteria that are pathogenic to humans. Most species of bacteria are harmless and many are beneficial but others can cause infectious diseases. The number of these pathogenic species in humans is estimated to be fewer than a hundred. [2]
These bacteria typically cause foodborne illness. The bacterial disease tuberculosis, primarily caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, has one of the highest disease burdens, killing 1.6 million people in 2021, mostly in Africa and Southeast Asia. [16] Bacterial pneumonia is primarily caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus ...
A zoonosis (/ z oʊ ˈ ɒ n ə s ɪ s, ˌ z oʊ ə ˈ n oʊ s ɪ s / ⓘ; [1] plural zoonoses) or zoonotic disease is an infectious disease of humans caused by a pathogen (an infectious agent, such as a bacterium, virus, parasite, or prion) that can jump from a non-human vertebrate to a human. When humans infect non-humans, it is called reverse ...
As bacterial and viral infections can both cause the same kinds of symptoms, it can be difficult to distinguish which is the cause of a specific infection. [11] Distinguishing the two is important, since viral infections cannot be cured by antibiotics whereas bacterial infections can. [12]