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You can use blood tests to test for pathogens

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How can something so small be so powerful?

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blood, urine, tissue, or saliva, depends on the test some are better than others.

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Pathogens can make us sick entering our bodies through our eyes, nose, mouth, ect, then they hijack our body's normal functions and immune system and damage them.

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I learned that viruses are very very small but very powerful and can be deadly.

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how are vaccines made and how do scientists ensure that they are effective against viruses?

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blood tests, throat/nose swab tests, urine/saliva test, etc.

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Sometimes bacteria multiply so rapidly they crowd out host tissues and disrupt normal function and this makes us sick.

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Humans produce a new generation every 20 years or so; bacteria do it every 20 to 30 minutes, and viruses even faster.

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When you get a vaccine is it just inserting a controlled version of the virus into your body so your immune system can adapt to it?

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For covid we have to take nose swab test, there are also mucus tests, blood tests, throat swab tests

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When our system is fighting infections we tend to get a fever which is a defense system in hope to inactivate the virus

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They are 20 to 400 nanometers small and need a host to survive and reproduce

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Viruses hijack a cells metabolic machinery to make copies of themselves

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Viruses hijack a cells metabolic machinery to make copies of themselves

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they cannot reproduce on their own

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Blood tests are a good way to test for viruses because the tests can often identify the pathogens in your blood and it is usually accurate.

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What determines how quickly a virus is able to mutate?

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Why do some vaccines require to get them annually while others you only need them at certain times in your life

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Blood test, nose swabs, & throat swabs, can be tested to find if one is sick with a certain pathogen

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The symptoms of sicknesses are caused when our immune system is fighting off the pathogen

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Viruses Need a host to reproduce

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is it possible to get a virus from the vaccine

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can be tested by heating up blood in order to break down cells

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they are spread airborne,  through fluids, and bodily contact

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virus’s can only grow in living cells

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How do vaccines prevent us from having symptoms, but not necessarily the pathogens itself?

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Blood tests are a good way to know if you currently have the virus or antibodies from having it in the past

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Symptoms occur when your immune system is fighting off the bateria/virus

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Viruses reply on the host to reproduce

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Can viruses change over time and become more/less harmful?

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Pathogens can be tested by taking a sample of someone's blood, urine, tissue, or saliva (depending on the test being done - there are many different tests). Doctors can look at known symptoms and take different substances from a person to test for what they believe the virus could be.

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I learned that pathogens make us sick by attacking our immune systems. They can mess with cell functions and can kill cells in our body. When our body tries to fight against the pathogens we experience symptoms such as fever, cough, rash, etc.

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I learned that a virus cannot reproduce on its own; it has to enter a host cell in order to reproduce. I also learned that this is because viruses are dormant particles.

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You can take blood and heat it with an enzyme in order to break down the cells and release genetic material.

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You can take blood and heat it with an enzyme in order to break down the cells and release genetic material.

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What is the time span for stopping a virus from being deadly/more harmful?

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What is the time span for stopping a virus from being deadly/more harmful?

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Pathogens enter our bodies through our mouth, eyes, nose, or urogenitals openings. We become sick once they multiply and spread throughout the body.

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Pathogens enter our bodies through our mouth, eyes, nose, or urogenitals openings. We become sick once they multiply and spread throughout the body.

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Viruses are very small and can fit on the head of a pin. Different viruses vary in size and shape.

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Viruses are very small and can fit on the head of a pin. Different viruses vary in size and shape.

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How long does it take for the virus to multiply and show symptoms and does that have anything to do with your immune system? and how healthy you are?

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How long does it take for the virus to multiply and show symptoms and does that have anything to do with your immune system? and how healthy you are?

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-desiree Burnett

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The Doctors first see/figure out what type of symptoms the patient is having to figure what kind of virus it is, they then test fluids of tissue(your blood) for bacterial, vial an the disease causing pathogens.

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The Doctors first see/figure out what type of symptoms the patient is having to figure what kind of virus it is, they then test fluids of tissue(your blood) for bacterial, vial an the disease causing pathogens.

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I learned how pathogens enters the body(mouth, nose, ears,eyes) and it is often created by infected or viruses that multiplied over time an attacks the body by trying to fight it and our body react by showing symptoms of that

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I learned how pathogens enters the body(mouth, nose, ears,eyes) and it is often created by infected or viruses that multiplied over time an attacks the body by trying to fight it and our body react by showing symptoms of that

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Desiree Burnett

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I learned that viruses is very dependent on the host since its living and the virus needs a living thing since it is un-living, (hi-jacking) in order to get into a cell which causes the effects  that we feel of the viruses.

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I learned that viruses is very dependent on the host since its living and the virus needs a living thing since it is un-living, (hi-jacking) in order to get into a cell which causes the effects  that we feel of the viruses.

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-Desiree Burnett

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How does each type of pathogen differ from one another?

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Scientists use PCR to test for the presence of DNA and RNA from specific disease-causing pathogens.

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I learned that pathogens usually enter the body through the mouth, eyes, nose, or other openings such as wounds.

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I learned that about half of all human DNA originated from viruses.

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Why do certain tests work for some pathogens but not others? Why can a catch-all test to detect ANY pathogens be made?

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Doctors first look at a person's symptoms and their physical traits, as well as any underlying health conditions. Then, once they have determined it is a pathogen causing the issue, they would test fluid and tissue samples of the patient for bacterial, viral, or other pathogenic presences.

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Pathogens make us sick by hijacking or otherwise interrupting our body's normal functions and damaging them as a result, as well as evading our immune system.

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Viruses are not living things, and are only active when they are hijacking living matter. This makes it more difficult to study viruses on their own, as they must be grown in living matter and cannot be artificially grown.

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If all pathogens are attacking the cells then what makes them have different symptoms? What makes some more deadly than others?

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You can take blood samples. This can tell you if there are antibodies for the specific pathogens you are looking for.

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Pathogens can reproduce and ruin tissue/disrupt the normal function. This makes it very toxic and makes it hard for the immune system to work.

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A virus particle has to go into the host cell so that it can go into action. That is where it is affects the function of the cell and it continues to reproduce.

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Antibody tests can be used to test if a person has had a specific virus either recently or in the past by testing for those antibodies in their blood. There are also viral antigen and viral DNA and RNA detection tests.

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Viruses need to be present in a host in order to reproduce. In order to be in host, the virus can enter through multiple ways like direct contact to infected skin or airborne transmission.

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When viruses or bacteria enter the body and then multiply, they harm the cells in the body by either killing them or disrupting their function which is when the signs of sickness will occur.

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how can they test something so small

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you can test the protein in the virus or their genetic material

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pathogens can be spread by direct or indirect contact

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only when it enters a host it goes into action

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-emma chael

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What does the actual process of a virus killing a cell look like? 

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What does the actual process of a virus killing a cell look like? 

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-emma chael

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Disease occurs from infection.  Infection is when viruses, bacteria, etc have access to your body by going inside.  Disease is the actual damage to the cells from the infection.Our body's immune response is what makes us sick.  It's the body's way of fighting off the disease.

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Disease occurs from infection.  Infection is when viruses, bacteria, etc have access to your body by going inside.  Disease is the actual damage to the cells from the infection.Our body's immune response is what makes us sick.  It's the body's way of fighting off the disease.

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-emma chael

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they only take action when they are present within a living organism.  its goal is to hijack cells and duplicate itself so it can take over the host 

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they only take action when they are present within a living organism.  its goal is to hijack cells and duplicate itself so it can take over the host 

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- emma chael

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Many of the symptoms that make a person suffer during an infection result from the activities of the immune system trying to eliminate the infection from the body.

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How does a vaccine block disease symptoms but not onward transmission of the pathogen?

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How does a vaccine block disease symptoms but not onward transmission of the pathogen?

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I learned that viruses can produce a new generation in fewer than 20 minutes.

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Pathogens can spread through contact, common vehicles, airborne or vectors.

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Pathogens can spread through contact, common vehicles, airborne or vectors.

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Infections occur when microbes enter your body & take over. So they mess up regular cell function and each body is effecting differently depending on how fast it can fight it off.

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Infections occur when microbes enter your body & take over. So they mess up regular cell function and each body is effecting differently depending on how fast it can fight it off.

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There is a large amount of genetic variation in micro organisms making them more  adaptable to new conditions

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There is a large amount of genetic variation in micro organisms making them more  adaptable to new conditions

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5 main viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and helminths and they all come in different shapes & sizes.

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5 main viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and helminths and they all come in different shapes & sizes.

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I learned that viruses cannot reproduce on their own and have to infect a host in order to do so. They "hijack" a cell and use it to reproduce themselves by using its metabolic functions

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I learned that viruses cannot reproduce on their own and have to infect a host in order to do so. They "hijack" a cell and use it to reproduce themselves by using its metabolic functions

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Antibody test, viral dna or rna detection test, viral antigen test.

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Antibody test, viral dna or rna detection test, viral antigen test.

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i learned many ways they could be spreaded

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i learned many ways they could be spreaded

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There is a close connection between microbes and humans. Experts believe about half of all human DNA originated from viruses that infected and embedded their nucleic acid in our ancestors' egg and sperm cells.
Microbes occupy all of our body surfaces, including the skin, gut, and mucous membranes. In fact, our bodies contain at least 10 times more bacterial cells than human ones, blurring the line between where microbes end and humans begin. Microbes in the human gastrointestinal tract alone comprise at least 10 trillion organisms, representing more than 1,000 species, which are thought to prevent the gut from being colonized by disease-causing organisms. Among their other beneficial roles, microbes synthesize vitamins, break down food into absorbable nutrients, and stimulate our immune systems.

The vast majority of microbes establish themselves as persistent "colonists," thriving in complex communities within and on our bodies. In many cases, the microbes derive benefits without harming us; in other cases, both host and microbe benefit.

And though some microbes make us sick and even kill us, in the long run they have a shared interest in our survival. For these tiny invaders, a dead host is a dead end.

The success of microorganisms is due to their remarkable adaptability. Through natural selection, organisms that are genetically better suited to their surroundings have more offspring and transmit their desirable traits to future generations. This process operates far more efficiently in the microbial world than in people. Humans produce a new generation every 20 years or so; bacteria do it every 20 to 30 minutes, and viruses even faster. Because they reproduce so quickly, microorganisms can assemble in enormous numbers with great variety in their communities. If their environment suddenly changes, the community's genetic variations make it more likely that some will survive. This gives microbes a huge advantage over humans when it comes to adapting for survival.

Types of Microbes

There are five major categories of infectious agents: Viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and helminths.

Viruses

Viruses are tiny, ranging in size from about 20 to 400 nanometers in diameter (see page 9). Billions can fit on the head of a pin. Some are rod shaped; others are round and 20 sided; and yet others have fanciful forms, with multisided "heads" and cylindrical "tails."

Viruses are simply packets of nucleic acid, either DNA or RNA, surrounded by a protein shell and sometimes fatty materials called lipids. Outside a living cell, a virus is a dormant particle, lacking the raw materials for reproduction. Only when it enters a host cell does it go into action, hijacking the cell's metabolic machinery to produce copies of itself that may burst out of infected cells or simply bud off a cell membrane. This lack of self-sufficiency means that viruses cannot be cultured in artificial media for scientific research or vaccine development; they can be grown only in living cells, fertilized eggs, tissue cultures, or bacteria.

Viruses are responsible for a wide range of diseases, including the common cold, measles, chicken pox, genital herpes, and influenza. Many of the emerging infectious diseases, such as AIDS and SARS, are caused by viruses.

Bacteria

Bacteria are 10 to 100 times larger than viruses and are more self-sufficient. These single-celled organisms, generally visible under a low-powered microscope, come in three shapes: spherical (coccus), rodlike (bacillus), and curved (vibrio, spirillum, or spirochete).

Most bacteria carry a single circular molecule of DNA, which encodes (or programs) the essential genes for reproduction and other cellular functions. Sometimes they carry accessory small rings of DNA, known as plasmids, that encode for specialized functions like antibiotic resistance. Unlike more complex forms of life, bacteria carry only one set of chromosomes instead of two. They reproduce by dividing into two cells, a process called binary fission. Their offspring are identical, essentially clones with the exact same genetic material. When mistakes are made during replication and a mutation occurs, it creates variety within the population that could-under the right circumstances-lead to an enhanced ability to adapt to a changing environment. Bacteria can also acquire new genetic material from other bacteria, viruses, plants, and even yeasts. This ability means they can evolve suddenly and rapidly instead of slowly adapting.

Bacteria are ancient organisms. Evidence for them exists in the fossil record from more than 3 billion years ago. They have evolved many different behaviors over a wide range of habitats, learning to adhere to cells, make paralyzing poisons and other toxins, evade or suppress our bodies' defenses, and resist drugs and the immune system's antibodies. Bacterial infections are associated with diseases such as strep throat, tuberculosis, staph skin infections, and urinary tract and bloodstream infections.

Other Infectious Agents

The other three major types of infectious agents include fungi (spore-forming organisms that range from bread mold to ringworm to deadly histoplasmosis), protozoa (such as the agents behind malaria and dysentery), and helminths (parasitic worms like those that cause trichinosis, hookworm, and schistosomiasis).

A newly recognized class of infectious agents-the prions, or proteinaceous infectious particles-consist only of protein. Prions are thought to cause variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans and "mad cow disease" in cattle. These proteins are abnormally folded and, when they come in contact with similar normal proteins, turn them into prions like themselves, setting off a chain reaction that eventually riddles the brain with holes. Prions evoke no immune response and resist heat, ultraviolet light, radiation, and sterilization, making them difficult to control.

Encountering Microbes

Microbes have inhabited the earth for billions of years and may be the earliest life forms on the planet. They live in every conceivable ecological niche-soil, water, air, plants, rocks, and animals. They even live in extreme environments, such as hot springs, deep ocean thermal vents, and Antarctic ice. Indeed microbes, by sheer mass, are the earth's most abundant life form and are highly adaptable to external forces.

New Meeting Places

Any changes that create new intersections between microbes and people pave the way for disease-causing agents to enter our species. One such change that has put us at risk is the global human population explosion-from about 1.6 billion people in 1900 to nearly 7 billion today. Humans have cleared forests for agriculture and suburbanization, leading to closer contact with environments that may harbor novel (or newly introduced) pathogens. Through much of the world's developing tropical regions, the massive expansion of roads and human settlements has also created transition zones filled with opportunities for contact with potential disease-causing agents.

Human travel and commerce have brought other risks. Almost 2 million passengers, each a potential carrier of infection, travel daily by aircraft to international destinations. International commerce, especially in foodstuffs, adds to the global traffic of disease-causing microbes. Because the transit times of people and goods are often shorter than the incubation periods of infection, carriers of disease can arrive at their destination before the infection they harbor is detectable. International trade and travel are associated with the emergence of such infectious agents as the SARS coronavirus and West Nile virus.

Changes in human demographics and behavior are linked with the emergence of infections such as AIDS and hepatitis C, through sexual activity and intravenous drug use. More broad-scale changes that raise the risk of infectious disease include the breakdown of public health systems, poverty, war, and famine.

Entering the Human Host

Microorganisms capable of causing disease-pathogens-usually enter our bodies through the mouth, eyes, nose, or urogenital openings, or through wounds or bites that breach the skin barrier. Organisms can spread-or be transmitted-by several routes.

Contact: Some diseases spread via direct contact with infected skin, mucous membranes, or body fluids. Diseases transmitted this way include cold sores (herpes simplex virus type 1) and sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS. Pathogens can also be spread by indirect contact when an infected person touches a surface such as a doorknob, countertop, or faucet handle, leaving behind microbes that are then transferred to another person who touches that surface and then touches his or her eye, mouth, or nose. Droplets spread by sneezes, coughs, or simply talking can transmit disease if they come in contact with mucous membranes of the eye, mouth, or nose of another person. SARS, tuberculosis, and influenza are examples of diseases spread by airborne droplet transmission.

Common vehicles: Contaminated food, water, blood, or other vehicles may spread pathogens. Microorganisms like E. coli and Salmonella enter the digestive system in this manner.

Vectors: Creatures such as fleas, mites, ticks, rats, snails, and dogs-called vectors-can also transmit disease. The most common vector for human infection is the mosquito, which transmits malaria, West Nile virus, and yellow fever.

Airborne transmission: Pathogens can also spread when residue from evaporated droplets or dust particles containing microorganisms are suspended in air for long periods of time. Diseases spread by airborne transmission include measles and hantavirus pulmonary syndrome.

HOW TINY ARE MICROBES?

Trichinella spiralis, the helminth that causes trichinosis, enters the body encased in cysts residing in undercooked meat. Pepsin and hydrochloric acid in our bodies help free the larvae in the cysts to enter the small intestine, where they molt, mature, and ultimately produce more larvae that pass through the intestine and into the bloodstream. At that point they are free to reach various organs. Those that reach skeletal muscle cells can survive and form new cysts, thus completing their life cycle.

Histoplasma capsulatum, a fungus that transmits histoplasmosis, grows in soil contaminated with bird or bat droppings. Spores of the fungus emerge from disturbed soil and, once inhaled into the lungs, germinate and transform into budding yeast cells. In its acute phase, the disease causes coughing and flu-like symptoms. Sometimes histoplasmosis affects multiple organ systems and can be fatal unless treated.

The protozoa that cause malaria, which are members of the genus Plasmodium, have complex life cycles. Sporozoites, a cell type that infects new hosts, develop in the salivary glands of Anopheles mosquitos. They leave the mosquito during a blood meal, enter the host's liver, and multiply. Cells infected with sporozoites eventually burst, releasing another cell form, merozoites, into the bloodstream. These cells infect red blood cells and then rapidly reproduce, destroying the red blood cell hosts and releasing many new merozoites to do further damage. Most merozoites continue to reproduce in this way, but some differentiate into sexual forms (gametocytes) that are taken up by the female mosquito, thus completing the protozoan life cycle.

Bacteria and viruses are almost unimaginably small. Bacteria are usually measured in microns (abbreviated "μm," 1 micron equals 1 one-millionth of a meter), while viruses are measured in the even more miniscule unit of nanometers (abbreviated "nm," 1 nanometer equals 1 one-billionth of a meter, or 1 one-thousandth of a micron). To give a sense of these measures, consider that the period at the end of this sentence is about 350 microns, or 350,000 nanometers, in diameter. If we magnify the period to one thousand times its actual size (see far left), a nearby Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the bacterium that causes hospital-acquired pneumonia and bloodstream infections, becomes visible. If, in turn, we magnify Pseudomonas 75 more times, or to 75,000 times its actual size, an adjacent influenza virus particle also becomes visible.

How Pathogens Make Us Sick

Infection does not necessarily lead to disease. Infection occurs when viruses, bacteria, or other microbes enter your body and begin to multiply. Disease, which typically happens in a small proportion of infected people, occurs when the cells in your body are damaged as a result of infection, and signs and symptoms of an illness appear.

In response to infection, your immune system springs into action. White blood cells, antibodies, and other mechanisms go to work to rid your body of the foreign invader. Indeed, many of the symptoms that make a person suffer during an infection-fever, malaise, headache, rash-result from the activities of the immune system trying to eliminate the infection from the body.

Pathogenic microbes challenge the immune system in many ways. Viruses make us sick by killing cells or disrupting cell function. Our bodies often respond with fever (heat inactivates many viruses), the secretion of a chemical called interferon (which blocks viruses from reproducing), or by marshaling the immune system's antibodies and other cells to target the invader. Many bacteria make us sick the same way, but they also have other strategies at their disposal. Sometimes bacteria multiply so rapidly they crowd out host tissues and disrupt normal function. Sometimes they kill cells and tissues outright. Sometimes they make toxins that can paralyze, destroy cells' metabolic machinery, or precipitate a massive immune reaction that is itself toxic.

Other classes of microbes attack the body in different ways:

These and many other ingenious pathways to causing disease demonstrate pathogens' rich evolutionary legacy and their continued inventiveness. In the next section, we look more closely at how some of these organisms have learned to thrive-often at humans' expense.

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There is a close connection between microbes and humans. Experts believe about half of all human DNA originated from viruses that infected and embedded their nucleic acid in our ancestors' egg and sperm cells.

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After reading the article above ADD NAME TO EACH POST:

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After reading the article above ADD NAME TO EACH POST:

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1. In the first column, post one thing you learned about viruses.

2. In the second column, post one thing you learned about how pathogens make us sick.

3. In the third column, resarch one way scientists can test for the type of pathogen (virus) is present?

4. In the last column,  add in any other questions you have or we should add to our driving question board.