Diseases vocab

Rick Class

Cytokines

diverse chemical reactors that communicates with other cells and anti-cancer & anti-viral defense

Opsonin

molecole that binds to antigen to promote phagocytosis

Compliment systems

responsive protein that opsonize pathogen and induces inflammation and fight infection

acquired immune system

Sophisticated system that responds to specific foreign chemical moieties (antigens) of invading parasites and foreign bodies.

innate immune system

response to pathogen from monocytes, netrophils, NK cells and inflammation

Degranulation

leukocytes release granules at cell surface to destroy pathogens

T-lymphocyte cell

cells that kill target cells and have tumor recognition (created in thymus)

B-lymphocyte

cells that Undergo clonal expansion to create specified antibodies (created in bone marrow)

disease

A reduction in fitness, as assessed by an absence of some measure of health or a decreased adaptability to change.

Health

A complex condition assessed by one or a combination of specific physical characteristics; also can be assessed by the adaptability of a host to change

Intensity of infection

avrg # of parasite/pathogen on infected

Pathogens

capable of causing injury or death to tissues or a host.

Parasite

An organism that lives in or on a host, from which it derives food and other biological necessities.  The parasite benefits by using host resources, often reducing the host’s survival or reproductive success.

Nidus

a location or a region with the ecological factors that allow the maintenance and transmission of a disease agent; a small local area or broad geographic region where transmission occurs (pathogen is “endemic”).

Definitive host

host that has parasite that has sexual repro

Intermediate host

host has parasite that can go through cycles but has to be asexual

Reservoir host

host that is required for maintenance cycle- required to keep pathogen on landscape

vectors

often an invertebrate moving pathogen from one host to another

Infection

colonization & repro of pathogen in host

infestation

colonization & repro of ectoparasite on host

Infectivity(ability to infect host) invasiveness (how likely/far the pathogen moves away from infection site  & pathogenicity (tendency to cause disease/damage where it is growing)

Anemia

low level of hemoglobin/ iron deficiency (Can be caused by malaria)

antibody

protein produced to respond to and counteract antigens

Incidence

\n The number of new hosts that become infected with a particular parasite during a specified time interval, divided by the number of uninfected hosts present at the start of the \n time interval.

Prevalence

The number of hosts infected with one or more individuals of a particular parasite species (or taxonomic group) divided by the number of hosts examined for that parasite

species.