Veterinary Public Health - Infectious Disease and Pathogens

A set of 40 vocabulary flashcards covering pathogens, transmission modes, foodborne illnesses, and natural toxins based on veterinary public health lecture notes.

Zoonoses

Infectious diseases in veterinary public health that originate in animals, accounting for over 60% of human pathogens.

One Health framework

A collaborative framework where veterinarians act as the first line of defense to prevent pandemics, ensure food safety, and monitor antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

Prions

Abnormally shaped proteins found on nerve cells that cause degenerative brain diseases and lack nucleic acids like DNA or RNA.

Schistosomas

Multicellular flatworms, also known as blood flukes, that spread through contact with contaminated water and cause schistosomiasis.

Trichinella spiralis

A species of roundworm that causes trichinosis, historically contracted via undercooked pork but now linked to undercooked wild game.

Taenia saginata

A tapeworm ingested in undercooked meat that can live for years in the small intestine and reach up to $15$ feet in length.

Soil-transmitted helminths

A group of parasitic worms consisting of Ascaris lumbricoides, hookworm, and whipworm that account for a major global disease burden.

Trypanosoma brucei

The protozoan parasite carried by tsetse flies responsible for causing Sleeping Sickness.

Antibiotic Resistance

A global health threat involving infections that the CDC estimated caused over $35,000$ deaths annually in the U.S. as of 2019.

$$PrP^C$$

The normal version of the cellular prion protein that can be triggered to fold incorrectly by an infectious prion.

$$PrP^{Sc}$$

The abnormal, misfolded, and insoluble version of the prion protein that is resistant to degradation.

Vector

A living transmitter of disease, derived from the Latin word meaning "to carry."

Mechanical vector

An item or organism, such as a syringe or a housefly, that carries a pathogen to a host without being a biological host itself.

Fomite

An inanimate object, such as a toy or handkerchief, that facilitates the transmission of disease.

Droplet transmission

Transmission through closeness via coughing or sneezing, affecting diseases like diphtheria, pertussis, and measles.

Airborne transmission

Transmission in aerosols that does not require close proximity, as seen with Hantavirus (solid particles) or Tuberculosis.

Fecal-oral pathway

A pathway where sewage-contaminated water, soil, or hands transfer diarrheal diseases of fecal origin to a new host.

Non-typhoid Salmonella

A gastrointestinal pathogen common in poultry feces that contaminates meat and is rarely fatal.

Campylobacter species

A common gastrointestinal pathogen found in poultry feces with an estimated U.S. incidence of $17.12$ per $100,000$ population.

Listeria monocytogenes

A hardy foodborne pathogen that causes septicemia and meningitis, with a high case-fatality rate of approximately $12.9\%$.

Case-fatality rate

A measure calculated as $\frac{\text{number of deaths}}{\text{number of cases}} \times 100$ to compare mortality among reported cases.

Escherichia coli O157:H7

A Shiga toxin-producing bacterium often found in cattle intestines that can cause bloody diarrhea and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS).

Staphylococcus aureus

A bacterium found on human skin that produces a heat-resistant (heat stable) toxin, often spread by poor handwashing.

Clostridium botulinum

An anaerobic, spore-forming bacterium in soil that produces a potentially fatal neurotoxin which is denatured by adequate heating.

Scombroid poisoning

A condition caused by bacterial toxins in spoiled fish that are heat and cold stable, resulting in headaches and dropped blood pressure.

Danger zone

The temperature range of $40^\circ\text{F}$ to $140^\circ\text{F}$ where bacterial growth in food is most rapid.

Hepatitis E

A virus transmitted primarily through fecal-oral routes or by consuming undercooked meat from pigs, wild boar, or deer.

Biological vector

A host species, such as a mosquito or tick, that transmits disease to another host species via biological transmission.

Borrelia burgdorferi

The species of Borrelia bacteria that causes Lyme disease (Lyme borreliosis).

Ixodes scapularis

The scientific name for the black-legged tick that transmits Lyme disease among mammalian hosts.

Plasmodium falciparum

One of the two primary Plasmodium parasite species that pose the greatest life-threatening threat of malaria in humans.

Anopheles mosquito

The genus of mosquito responsible for transmitting the protozoal parasite that causes malaria.

Arboviruses

A group of viral diseases, including Dengue and Zika, typically acquired from the bite of blood-feeding arthropod vectors.

Rickettsia rickettsii

The bacterial pathogen that causes Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF), spread through the bites of ticks.

Biomagnification

The process by which toxins move up the food chain, such as dinoflagellates moving from herbivorous fish to larger carnivorous fish.

Red Tide

A phenomenon where dinoflagellates bloom in high concentrations, producing toxins that kill fish and accumulate in filter feeders.

Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning

A fatal illness caused by shellfish contaminated with dinoflagellate toxins that can be $1,000$ times more potent than cyanide.

Ciguatera Poisoning

Poisoning caused by eating tropical reef fish like barracuda or snapper contaminated with toxins from dinoflagellates.

Claviceps purpurea

Also known as "rye ergot fungus," it produces alkaloids that cause ergotism, hallucinations, and convulsions.

Aflatoxin

A potent carcinogen produced by mold on stored grains that can lead to hepatocellular carcinoma (primary liver cancer).