1. Pathogen Interview

2. Viruses
Examples:
Rabies, polio, cold, influenza, herpes, hepatitis, chicken pox
Non-Exampes:
Hookworm, amoebas, E. coli

3. Virus Picture(s)

4. 1. How do you cause illness in people?
I can disrupt normal growth and division of host cells = tumors
I infect host cells, cause them to make many copies of me, & then kill the host cell by breaking it open to release my newly formed virus particles

5. 2. How can I protect myself from you?
You can produce interferon, which slows down my replication process
You can release antibodies to destroy me (if you already have them)
You can have special white blood cells phagocytize (eat) me
You can produce a fever, which slows down my replication process

6. 3. Why aren’t you alive? I am parasitic, I can’t survive on my own
I don’t metabolize food, grow, or develop

7. 4. Explain why I might not know that you infected me.
My lysogenic cycle is sneaky - I produce a provirus which can remain inactive for many years, it is quietly copied every time your host cells divide - eventually I am activated & produce disease symptoms but until then, you won’t know I’m there (unless you have had blood tests to detect my presence)

8. Bacteria
Examples:
Typhoid, Tetanus, TB, Salmonella, Strep throat, E. coli, Lyme disease, etc.
Non-Exampes:
Cold, flu, heartworm, athlete’s foot

9. Bacteria Picture(s)

10. 1. Are you always out to hurt people? Explain.
No, I do many wonderful things for people, such as:
Making foods
Vaccinations
Beer & wine
Leather Tanning
Nitrogen fixing - fertilize crops
Help with digestion
Produce human hormones via genetic engineering

11. 2. How do doctors know which antibiotics will kill you?
A Gram Stain can be used because some antibiotics are effective for Gram + bacteria, whereas others are more effective against Gram - bacteria.

12. 3. Why are you hurt by antibiotics but my cells are not?
You don’t have a cell wall but I do - antibiotics target my cell wall.

13. 4. Discuss the 2 ways in which your diseases can harm me.
I can interfere with normal functioning of body tissue and I can release toxins that directly affect my host.

14. Protists Examples: Malaria, African Sleeping Sickness, Amoebas
Non-Exampes:
Lyme Disease, Ebola, Tetanus

15. Protist Picture(s)

16. 1. Diatom, describe your potential for becoming a cancer drug.
I produce substances that prevent some human cancer cells from dividing.

17. 2. Oomycota, explain your role in the mass immigration of Irish people to America.
I (Phytophtora infestans), destroyed the potato crop which led to the Irish Potato Famine .

18. 3. Plasmodium, what disease do you cause & how do you affect human red blood cells?
I cause malaria - I multiply inside of red blood cells and then split them open to release toxins and my newly produced spores.

19. 4. Sporozoans, what do you have in common with viruses?
We are all parasitic - require a host.

20. Parasitic Worms Examples: Hookworm, Tapeworm, Flukes Non-Exampes:
Ringworm, Yellow Fever, Pneumonia

21. Parasitic Worm Picture(s)

22. 1. Ascaris, explain how you pass from one person to another.
My eggs are swallowed & hatch in the intestines - depending on my species, I mature in different areas of the body - my newly produced eggs may be released in feces or coughed out and are then swallowed by someone else.

23. 2. Hookworm, why do you make me feel so weak & tired?
I cause blood loss which is known as anemia = tired, weak, etc.

24. 3. Tapeworm, describe your adaptations for stealing my nutrients.
My scolex (head) has hooks & suckers on it which are designed to attach to your intestines & absorb your digested nutrients.

25. 4. Blood fluke, in order to infect me, you need another organism - can you tell me about it?
My larvae develop & asexually reproduce inside a secondary host, such as a snail - then they exit into the water & bore through the skin of a human, enter the blood stream, and move into the intestine to mature into adulthood.

26. 5. Trichinella, how can meat inspectors detect your presence?
Inspectors must take a meat sample & look for me under a microscope.

27. End