BIOL 001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: West Nile Fever, Scrapie, Respiratory Tract
30 Jul 2020
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Document Summary
Viruses are best known for causing infectious diseases in plants and animals. Most common entry point: respiratory tract, open wounds. Coming in through mouth and nose, in foods, etc. Antibiotics work only against bacteria and not viruses! Anti-viral and prevention is the best treatment! Viruses lacks metabolism; thus, antibiotics have no effect. Controlled by preventing transmission (vaccines, antiviral drugs) Mis coded proteins which leads to misfolding of other proteins. Disease that have appeared in a population for the first time, or that may have existed previously but is rapidly increasing in incidence or geographic range. Not all of these are viruses but some important to consider. Cholera, plague, dengue, yellow fever, malaria, tuberculosis. Tend to have high mutation rates which makes it hard to keep up with their rate of change. Human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) is the causative agent of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (aids) Primary spread by sexual contact between infected and uninfected individuals.
