Pathogens are organisms that cause disease. Viruses, bacteria, protists and fungi are all pathogens. Pathogens cause communicable diseases. Diseases can be communicable or non-communicable. What is a communicable disease? Communicable diseases spread between people. Non-communicable diseases cannot be spread between people. An example of a non-communicable disease is heart disease. Examples of viral diseases Ebola…
We’ve heard a lot about viruses recently, but how do they work? Viruses cannot live for long without a host. Viruses consist of either a DNA or RNA genome ( genetic code ) and a protein coat, some also have an extra fatty envelope to protect their genetic material. They cannot reproduce without being inside…
When we talk about bacteria and viruses making us ill, we might also hear them referred to as pathogens. A pathogen is a general term for any microorganism that can cause disease. This post looks at how bacteria are different from viruses and includes a comparison table of viruses and bacteria. What is a pathogen? Bacteria, viruses, protists and fungi can all be pathogens. Differences between…
Vaccines are a way to prevent disease. Vaccines introduce an inactive or altered form of a pathogen into the body. The altered pathogen contains the same antigen ( protein on the surface ) as the real disease causing agent. White blood cells produce antibodies specific to the antigen in the vaccine. If a vaccinated person…
We made these virus models to show how different viruses have very different structures. They are also different sizes ( our models are not to scale ) and infect different types of hosts. At a very basic level each virus consists of genetic information in the form of either DNA or RNA surrounded by a…
A virus is a very tiny organism that can only live and reproduce inside another living cell. The cell the virus invades is called the host cell. The virus basically turns the cell into a factory to make more viruses which then invade more cells. Viruses consist of a stand of genetic information ( DNA…
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