B.

SIGN AND
SYMPTOMS OF
INFECTIOUS DISEASES
Infectious diseases
are disorders caused by organisms —
such as bacteria, viruses, fungi or parasites.
Many organisms live in and on our bodies.
They're normally harmless or even helpful.
But under certain conditions, some
organisms may cause disease.

Signs and symptoms vary depending

on the organism causing the infection, but
often include fever and fatigue. Mild
infections may respond to rest and home
remedies, while some life-threatening
infections may need hospitalization.
 Many infectious diseases, such as
measles and chickenpox, can be prevented
by vaccines. Frequent and thorough hand-
washing also helps protect you from most
infectious diseases.

Each infectious disease has its own

specific signs and symptoms. General
signs and symptoms common to a number
of infectious diseases include:
•Fever
•Diarrhea
•Fatigue
•Muscle aches
•Coughing
 Sign and Symptoms of the 5 common
Infectious Diseases

Hepatitis B
When you’re first infected, the warning
signs include:

•Jaundice- Your skin or the whites of the eyes

turn yellow, and your pee turns brown or
orange.)
•Light-colored poop
•Fever
•Fatigue that persists for weeks or months
•Stomach trouble like loss of appetite, nausea,
and vomiting
•Belly pain
 Malaria
A malaria infection is generally
characterized by the following signs and
symptoms:
•Fever
•Chills
•Headache
•Nausea and vomiting
•Muscle pain and fatigue

Other signs and symptoms may include:

•Sweating
•Chest or abdominal pain
•Cough
 Some people who have malaria
experience cycles of malaria "attacks."
An attack usually starts with shivering and
chills, followed by a high fever, followed by
sweating and a return to normal
temperature.
Malaria signs and symptoms typically begin
within a few weeks after being bitten by an
infected mosquito.
  Hepatitis C

An acute Hepatitis C infection do not

experience any symptoms or show signs of the
infection. If Hepatitis C symptoms do occur,
they usually appear within two weeks to six
months after being exposed to the Hepatitis C
virus (HCV).
If you do develop symptoms related to
Hepatitis C, they’re generally mild and flu-like
and may include:
•Feeling very tired
•Sore muscles
•Joint pain
•Fever
•Nausea or poor appetite
•Stomach pain
•Itchy skin
•Dark urine
•A yellow discoloration of the skin and whites
of the eyes, called jaundice
.
Since most people with acute Hepatitis
C go on to develop chronic Hepatitis C –
meaning the virus has remained in your
body for 6 months or longer – and still have
no Hep C symptoms, it’s common to have
the infection for 15 years or longer before
being diagnosed.
 Dengue
Symptoms, usually begin four to six days
after infection and last for up to 10 days, may
include:
•Sudden, high fever
•Severe headaches
•Pain behind the eyes
•Severe joint and muscle pain
•Fatigue
•Nausea
•Vomiting
•Skin rash, which appears two to five days
after the onset of fever
•Mild bleeding (such a nose bleed, bleeding
gums, or easy bruising)
  Tuberculosis

Signs and symptoms of TB include:

•Coughing that lasts three or more weeks

•Coughing up blood
•Chest pain, or pain with breathing or
coughing
•Unintentional weight loss
•Fatigue
•Fever
•Night sweats
•Chills
•Loss of appetite
 Tuberculosis can also affect other parts of
your body, including your kidneys, spine or
brain.
When TB occurs outside your lungs, signs and
symptoms vary according to the organs
involved.

For example:
Tuberculosis of the spine may give you back
pain, and Tuberculosis in your kidneys might
cause blood in your urine.
D. VIRULENCE
AND
VIRULENCE
FACTORS
Virulence

-is a measurable
characteristic of the ability of the
microorganism to cause disease.
-the severity or harmfulness
of a infectious disease caused by
pathogens.
Virulence Factors

-Factors that are produced by a

microorganism and evoke disease
are called virulence factors.
-Virulence factor refers to the
components or structure of
microorganism that helps in
establishment of disease or
infection.
Examples of virulence factors
are:
•Attachment factors/ Adhesins.
•Anti-phagocytic factors.
•Spreading factors and enzymes.
•Toxins; exotoxin and endotoxin.
Attachment factors/ Adhesins:

•Pathogenic microorganisms have

structure that helps in attachment of
microorganism to skin or mucus
membrane to establish infection. Such
structural components are known as
attachment factors or adhesions.

•Different microorganism utilizes

different structure for attachment.
For examples:
Staphylococcus mutans attaches to
the surface of teeth by its sticky
capsule.

Other bacteria such

as coli, Neisseria spp, Shigella attaches
with the help of pilli.
Antiphagocytic factors:

-Once microorganism enters the

body, it is immediately killed by Phagocytic
cells of host. In order to survive and cause
disease microorganism must resist killing
by phagocytosis.

Capsule is an important antiphagocytic

factor for some bacteria. For example
capsulated Pneumococcus is virulent and
causes pneumonia but non-
capsulated Pneumococcus is non-virulent.
Some other examples of capsulated
bacteria are;
Haemophilus influenza, Klebsiella
pneumonia, Bacillus anthracis,
Spreading factors and enzymes:

-After infection microorganism needs

to spread locally or generally to whole
body but host defense mechanism,
ie.blood clot prevent spreading of
microorganism.
Pathogenic microorganisms such as
Streptococcus spp produces fibrinolysin
that dissolve clot and helps in spread of
bacteria.
Examples of spreading factors:

•Fibrinolysin
•Deoxyribonuclease
•Hyaluronidase
•Collagenase
•Protease
Toxins:

-Some microorganism
produces toxic chemical.
Toxins have two types; exotoxin
and endotoxin
Exotoxin:
Toxins which are released
outside the bacterial cell is called
exotoxins

Exotoxin is protein in nature.

In general, exotoxins are highly toxic

and lethal dose is low.

Both Gram Positive and Gram

Negative bacteria produces exotoxin.
Some examples are:

Neurotoxin: Botulinum toxin; produced

by Clostridium botulinum, tetanus toxin;
produced by Clostridium tetani
Enterotoxin: cholera toxin; produced
by Vibrio cholerae, heat stable and heat
labile toxin; produced by coli
Cytotoxin: Dephtheria toxin; produced
by Corynebacterium dephtheriae
Hemolysin: lyse RBCs
Leucosidin: lyse WBCs
Endotoxin:
Toxins which are not released outside of
bacteria cell is called endotoxin.
Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) present in
outer membrane of Gram Negative
bacterial cell wall is an example of
endotoxin.
Endotoxin is less toxic than exotoxin
and lethal dose is high.
Endotoxin causes infection or disease by
inducing fever, blood poisoning and
septic shock