1 minute read
Key Takeaways
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Diseases vary in their communicability and contagiousness. • There are certain stages to an infectious disease. • Bacteria have certain virulence factors that enhance adhesion, increase infectivity, and protect the bacterium from the immune system. • Viruses exhibit increases in adhesion and antigenic shift that increase their ability to infect the host organism. • Fungi have many virulence factors, including toxins, which cause symptoms in the host. • Protozoans and helminths also have virulence factors that increase infectivity. • Epidemiologists study infectious and noninfectious diseases. • There are different types of sources of an infection, depending on when and where the source comes from and the infectiousness of the persons who get the disease. • Observational studies are more ethical than experimental studies but they might not adhere to Koch’s postulates.
Advertisement