Key Concepts in Pathology, Infectious Diseases, and Immunology

Vitamin C

Acts as an antioxidant, contributes to collagen formation.

Zinc

Performs as signaling molecule for immune response, enhances cytokine production, stimulates development of T and B cells, protects immune system from oxidative stress.

Pathology

The study of disease.

Etiology

The cause of a disease.

Pathogenesis

The development of disease.

Pathogenicity

The ability to cause disease.

Virulence

The degree of pathogenicity.

Infection

Invasion or colonization of the body by pathogens.

Disease

An abnormal state in which the body is not performing normal functions.

Koch's postulates

Used to prove the cause of an infectious disease.

Koch's postulate 1

The same pathogen must be present in every case of the disease.

Koch's postulate 2

The pathogen must be isolated from the diseased host and grown in pure culture.

Koch's postulate 3

The pathogen from the pure culture must cause the disease when it's inoculated into a healthy, susceptible laboratory animal.

Koch's postulate 4

The pathogen must be isolated from the inoculated animal and must be the originally inoculated species.

Symptoms

Changes in body function that are felt by a patient as a result of disease.

Signs

Changes in a body that can be measured or observed as a result of disease.

Syndrome

A specific group of signs and symptoms that accompany a disease.

Communicable disease

A disease that is spread from one host to another.

Contagious diseases

Diseases that are easily and rapidly spread from one host to another.

Noncommunicable disease

A disease not spread from one host to another.

Incidence

Number of people who develop a disease during a particular time.

Prevalence

Number of people who develop a disease at a specified time, regardless of when it first appeared.