ANTHROP 2U03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Third Plague Pandemic, Infant Mortality, International Sanitary Conferences

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Anthropology
• Course: ANTHROP 2U03
• Professor: Hendrik Poinar

Document Summary

What is cholera? (cid:862)cholera(cid:863) = greek ter(cid:373) for gutter of a roof; lati(cid:374) for heat: quintessential disease of 19th century cities, appeared suddenly, spread mysteriously, killed violently. Cholera: acute infectious disease, affects small intestine, characterized by diarrhea syndrome, caused (cid:271)(cid:455) vi(cid:271)rio (cid:272)holera (cid:862)the (cid:272)o(cid:373)(cid:373)a (cid:271)a(cid:272)illus(cid:863, human specific: human intestine is the reservoir of infection. Pathogenesis: v. cholera colonize small intestine, secrete potent enterotoxin (poison, enterotoxin binds to cell channels in small intestine -> massive fluid loss, toxic effects last 20 - 24 hours: not reversible, symptoms abate 24 28 hours. Vibrio cholerae have viruses that code for different enterotoxins. Various strains (biotypes: ei tor biotype since 1961. Aggregate vibrios: phytoplankton, zooplankton, insect egg masses, exoskeletons and detritus. Main pathogenic forms are strain o1: (cid:862)classi(cid:272)al(cid:863, (cid:862)el tor(cid:863) Mechanisms of recombination or lateral gene transfer in bacteria. Conjugation: transfer of dna by a conjugative episome (i. e. a plasmid) Transduction: accidental transfer of bacterial dna by phage.