Understanding Pathogens and Antibiotics: A Comprehensive Study

IMRaD Project

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
1.1 Characteristics of viruses, bacteria, protoctista and fungi.....................................................3
. .2 Key methods by which pathogens spread..............................................................................3
DISCCUSSION...............................................................................................................................4
Immunity and immunisation........................................................................................................4
Antibody formation resulting from artificial and natural exposure to antigens..........................5
Effects of the use of antibiotics in the control of disease............................................................7
Long term effects of overuse of antibiotics on pathogen resistance............................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
1.1 Characteristics of viruses, bacteria, protoctista and fungi
It is important for people to understand the difference between virus, bacteria, fungi and
protoctista so that they can take medicines accordingly. It is known that antibiotics are being
taken for bacterial infection not in the cases of viral infection. But some people take antibiotics
when they have viral infection and it can affect their health. So, protecting against side effects
and improving health, it is important to know characteristics of virus, fungi, protoctista and
bacteria.
Virus is simplest of germs and when it enters into human body then it can hijack their
cellular machinery to produce clone of itself (Woolhouse and Brierley, 2018). Cold and flu are
some viral infections. HIV/AIDS, covid-19 and Ebola are some chronic viral infections that
happen because of viruses. Vaccination is the best way of protecting people against viral
infections.
Bacteria are bigger as well as complex than viruses as they can spread through air. They
can reproduce and spread anywhere on its own and it is the reason it is called dangerous. It
produces toxins and weaken immune system to kill bacteria and in such cases, people are being
prescribed with antibiotics. Urinary tract infection, sore throat of some types, tuberculosis are
some bacterial infections.
Fungi are complicated organisms than both viruses and bacteria as they have cells. This
fungi infection is being caused by overgrowth of commensal fungus (Liu and et.al., 2018).
Valley fever, yeast infection and meningitis are some health diseases and fungi infections.
Protoctista are eukaryotic organism. More protists are aquatic and some can found in
damp environment. They show autotrophic as well as heterotrophic nutrition.
. .2 Key methods by which pathogens spread
Speaking in relation with pathogen, they are being referred as an organism that leads to
diseases. The human body is full of microbes. Nevertheless, all these microbes cause an issue
only in the situation when the immune system of an individual is weak or if they managed to step
in a normally sterile section of the human body. There are varied types of pathogens and can
cause disease though entering the human body (Peng, Chen and Liu, 2020). There are varied
methods through which the pathogens can be spread and transmitted based on their type. They
can usually spread through skin contact, bodily fluids, contact with feces, airborne particles and

through touching the surface touched by an infected individual. The explanation of the methods
by which the pathogens spread is being elaborated in the subsequent section:
 Direct contact – Pathogens can be spread through direct contact through person to person
contact wherein the infected person might touch the surface area or the bottle of
handwash and the other person touches the same bottle again. There is one more direct
method such as droplet spread which involves spray of droplets which is being spread
during sneezing as well coughing (Rothstein and et.al., 2021).
 Indirect contact – Other than direct contact, there are different methods though which
pathogens can be spread and the most common among them are airborne transmission
and contaminated object. The type of viruses, fungi and bacteria are also pathogens
which can spread and make an individual ill.
DISCCUSSION
Immunity and immunisation
The present atmosphere is full of potentially harmful pathogens like viruses, parasites,
bacteria and fungi. All this might enter into the body of humans and can cause serious illness and
diseases. These pathogens enter into the body and begin to multiply. However, the human body
protects itself by different defence mechanism right from physically preventing the pathogens
from entering to killing them. The most important defence system of the body is immune system
which helps in determining an incursive creature and supports in destroying them. On the other
hand, immunization helps in preventing the disease through allowing the body to more rapidly
react to the attack and improves the immune reaction of a specific organism (Agrawal, Singh and
Yanow, 2020). Thus, it can be said that immunity is being defined as the capability of the
organism to defend by own against any pathogen and immunisation is the process that happens
which might result into killing of pathogen. Talking in relation with the immunity, there mainly
two types of immunity that is innate immunity and acquired immunity. Innate immunity means
the immunity which is present in the body from birth. It activates immediately as soon as the
pathogen attacks. It also involves certain barriers as well as defence mechanism that helps in
keeping the foreign bodies out of the human body. In contrast, acquired immunity is defined as
that immunity which is being acquired or gained by the body with passage of time. This is not