Biology – Chapter 27

- Over view of human microbial interactions

o Most microbes are not associated with disease
 Normal microbial flora (microbes that live on body)
 Microbes usually found associated with human body tissue
o Humans are colonized by microbes at birth
 Uterus is a sterile body site and does not have any microbes in it
o Pathogens: cause disease either by infection (growth of organism), intoxication (produce
a toxin that damages the host), or allergy
 Mycoplasm
o Pathogenicity: the ability to cause damage or disease
o Virulence: quantitative measure of pathogenicity
 The more virulence an organism is the easier it is for it to cause disease
o Opportunistic pathogen: cause disease only in the absence of normal host resistance
 Candida, HIV, T cell count
o Infection: growth of an organism
 Situation in which a microbe is established and growing in a host, whether or not
the host is harmed
o Disease: organism damages the host
 Damage or injury to the host that impairs host function
 Balance between our bodies immune system and the ability of pathogens to cause
disease
 Immune system goes down or come in contact with a virulent organism  likely
sick
o Animals provide a favorable environment for the growth of many microbes
o Infections frequently begin at sites in the animal’s mucous membranes because they can
bind there or at openings in skin
- Normal microbial flora of the skin
o The skin is generally a dry, acid environment that does not support the growth of most
microbes
o Most areas (sweat glands) are readily colonized by gram pos bac and other normal flora
of the skin
 Grow here because of nutrients
 Staph  gram pos cocci in clusters
o Body odor is actually from bacterial growth
o Human skin
 Outer layer  epidermis and one of the Staphylococci that are normal flora for the
ski is Staphylococcus epidermis
 Microorganisms are associated with sweat ducts and hair follicles
o The skin microflora (number and types or organisms found on the skin)
 Composition is influenced by
 Environmental factors
 Host factors
- Normal flora of the oral cavity
o The oral cavity is a complex, heterogeneous microbial habitat
o Saliva contains antimicrobial enzymes to keep microbial level
 But high concentrations of nutrients near surfaces in the mouth promotes localized
microbial growth
o The tooth consists of a mineral matrix (enamel) surrounding living tissue (dentin and
pulp)
o Organism can easily attach to tooth that will not be sloughed off as it would in mouth
lining
o Saliva contains enzymes that kill or inhibit some microbes
o Bacteria colonize tooth surfaces by first attaching to acidic glycoproteins deposited there
by saliva
 o Tooth enamel and along the gums makes great locations for bacteria to adhere to
colonize
o Extensive growth of oral microbes, especially streptococci, result in a thick bacterial
layer (dental plaque)
o As plaque continues to develop, anaerobic bacterial species begin to grow
o Dental plaque forms when the bac grow which creates an anaerobic environment for
anaerobic to grow in the very aerobic mouth
o As dental plaque accumulates, the microbes produce high concentrations og acid that
results in decalcifications of the tooth enamel (dental caries)
o The lactic acid bacteria Streptococcus sobrinus and S. mutants are common agents in
dental caries
 Converts sucrose into dextran which is very sticky and allows bac to adhere to
tooth
 As bac grow, produce lactic acid which decalcifies the tooth enamels and causes a
dental caries or cavity which is a result of dental bac infection
- Normal microbial flora of the gastrointestinal tract
o Human gastrointestinal (GI) tract
 Consist of stomach, small intestine (food digested and absorbed, anything that is
left is consumed by the normal flora bac), and large intestine
 Contain bac
 Responsible for digestion of food, absorption of nutrients, and production of
nutrients by indigenous microbial flora
 Contains 10^13 to 10^14 microbial cells
 Because of the low pH, no normal flora organism that live there
 Colon: gram neg rods that ferment lactose (coliforms)
 The microbial populations in the distinct anatomical areas of the GI tract are
influenced by diet and the physical conditions in each section
 The acidity of the stomach and the duodenum of the small intestine (~pH2)
prevents many organisms from colonizing it
 Functions and products of intestinal flora
 Intestinal microbes carry out a variety of essential metabolic reactions that
produce various compounds
o The type and amount produced is influenced by the composition of the
intestinal flora and the diet
o Compounds produced include: vitamins B12, and K, gas
- Normal flora of other body regions
o A restricted group of organisms colonizes the upper respiratory tract
 Staphylococci, streptococci, diphtheroid bacilli, and gram neg cocci, niceria
o The lower respiratory tract lacks microflora in healthy individuals
 Sterile body site  if bacteria are able to avoid macrophage and grow in lower
respiratory tract cause infection
 Few variety and number of organism
o Upper respiratory tract  Normal flora organism
 Larger variety of organism
o Urogenital tract
 The bladder is typically sterile in both male and females
 Sterile – no normal flora
 Altered conditions (such as change in pH) can cause potential pathogens in the
urethra to multiply and become pathogenic
 E coli and P mirabilis frequently cause urinary tract infections in women
 Bacteria are motile gram neg rods which swim up urethra and into bladder
 Get in by flagella or catheters
- Virulence
o Measuring virulence
  Vir can be estimated from experimental studies of the LD 50 (lethal dose) 
certain number of animals are injected with pathogens varying doses, wait to see
which one dies
 The dose of an agent the kills 50% of the animals in a test groups
 Highly vir path show little difference in the number of cells required to kill 100% of
the pop as compared to 50% of the pop
 More path = less bacteria it takes to kill
 Strep is more vir than salmonella = strep has a capsule
o Attenuation: the decrease or loss of virulence (weaker)
o Toxicity: ability of an organism to cause disease by means of a performed toxin that
inhibits host cells function or kills host cells
 Toxins can travel to sites within host inhabited by pathogens
 If organism makes a toxin it is virulent
o Invasiveness: ability of a pathogen to grow in host tissue at densities that inhibit host
function
 Can cause damage without producing a toxin
 Some bac produce toxins which cause damage to host cells and come path cause
damage just because they grow and increase in numbers and spread throughout
body
- Entry of the pathogen into the host
o Pathogens (cause disease) use various strategies to establish virulence
 Ability to cause disease is based on what types of virulence factors they have
o Virulence is the relative ability of a pathogen to cause disease
 Having capsules, toxin production, etc
o Pathogen invasion
 Starts at the site of adherence
 May spread throughout the host via the circulatory or lymphatic systems
o Specific adherence
 A path must usually gain access to host tissues and multiply before damage can be
done
 Bacteria and viruses that initiate infection often adhere specifically to epithelial
cells through macromolecular interactions on the surfaces of the path and the host
cells
 Certain path infect and cause disease in specific body sites because there are
receptors on these cells which allow the pathogen to adhere and colonize (grow)
o Bacterial adherence
 Extracellular macromolecules that are not covalently attached to the bacterial cell
surface
 Slime layer, capsule  important in bac attachment to host cells
 Fimbriae, and pili  attachment
- Colonization and Growth
o The availability of nutrients is most important in affecting path growth
o Path may grown locally at the site of invasion or may spread throughout the body
- Vir factors
o Pathogens produce enzymes that
 Enhance vir by breaking down or altering host tissue to provide access to nutrients
 Protect the pathogen by interfering with normal host defense mechanisms
- Exotoxins
o Proteins released from the path cell as it grows
o Three categories
 Cytolytic toxins – degrade plasma membrane
 Work by degrading cytoplasmic membrane integrity causing cell lysis and
death
o These toxins are called hemolysins  toxins that lyse red blood cells
o Staphylococcal a toxin kills nucleated cells and lyses erythrocytes
  AB toxin
 Consist of two subunits, A and B
 Work by binding to host cell receptor (B subunit) and transfer ring damaging
agent (A subunit) across the cell membrane
 Superantigen toxin
o Clostridium tetani and Clostridium botulinum produce potent AB exotoxins that affect
nervous tissue
o Botulinum toxin consists of several related AB toxins that are the most potent biological
toxins known (Figure 27.22); tetanus toxin is also an AB protein neurotoxin (Figure
27.23)
 Neurotoxins affect nerves
 The botulinum toxin results in flaccid paralysis; tetnus toxin results in tetani.
- Enterotoxins
o Exotoxins whose activity affects the small intestines
o Generally cause massive secretion of fluid into the intestinal lumen, resulting in vomiting
and diarrhea
 Cholera toxin  prevents the absorption of sodium and thus causes water to move
into intestines cause diarrhea
- Endotoxins
o Endotoxins: the lipopolysaccharide portion of the cell envelope of certain gram neg bac
which is a toxin when solubilized
o Generally less toxic than exotoxins
o Note: gram neg bac have outer membrane that has LPS and contains lipid A. When GN
cells die, they lyse and release endotoxin (lipid A) which causes decrease of blood
pressure)
o The presence of endotoxin can be detected by the Limulus amebocyte lysate (LAL) assay
- Host risk factors for infection
o Compromised host: one in whom one or more resistance mechanisms are inactive and in
whom the probability of infection is increased
o Age is an important factor for determining susceptibility to infectious diseases
 Very young and very old individuals are more susceptible
o Stress can predispose a healthy individual to disease
o Diet plays a role in host susceptibility to infection
o Certain genetic conditions can compromise a host
o Note: Health and disease is a balance between vir factors of the oath and our defense
mechanisms
- Innate resistance to infection
o Hosts have innate resistance to most path
 Natural host resistance
 Tissue specifically
 Physical and chemical barriers
o Innate resistance are factors that everyone has and was born with
- Physical, chemical, and anatomical barriers to infection
o Provide natural resistance to colonization and infection by pathogens
- Vocab, diagrams, questions