Pathogen is a term for any disease-causing microorganism. Pathogens include viruses, rickettsiae, and many bacteria, fungi, and Protozoans. Research Pathogen
Black Baron was the alias of one Christopher Pile, an English man born in 1969, who in the mid-1990's wrote a series of computer viruses employing an advanced polymorphic technique he called 'SMEG'. In all three variants of SMEG were developed and distributed; Pathogen, Queeg and Smeg 3.. After leaving school at the age of sixteen with a handful of CSE's and a burning desire to be a commercial airline pilot he learned to drive, passed his driving test and settled down to several years unemployed. After reading Ross M Greenberg's comments about computer virus authors, which was very scathing and critical of people who write computer viruses, describing them as 'slime buckets' and challenging them to write a virus that he couldn't disarm, the Black Baron decided to take up the challenge and produce a computer which would spread widely, and which would be immune to Mr Greenberg's anti-virus software. The
Black Baron was subsequently arrested and sentenced to eighteen months in jail. Research Black Baron
Amoebic dysentery is an illness caused by the pathogen Entamoeba histolytica which is transmitted by the faecal-oral route. Cysts are excreted in the faeces of an infected individual or carrier and ingested through faecally-contaminated food, water, objects, etc. After excystation, the trophozoites penetrate the walls of the large intestines causing ulceration and frequently causing the symptoms of dysentery. Involvement of the liver and other organs may occur if the protozoan invades the blood. Research Amoebic dysentery
The human body is continually exposed to disease producing organisms, called pathogens, and other harmful substances in the environment. The immune system is the body's defense against these harmful invaders. The body's ability to counteract the effects of pathogens and other harmful agents is called resistance and it is dependent on a variety of defense mechanisms.
The immune system is made up of billions of special cells called white blood cells, lymphocytes, unique proteins called antibodies, chemicals that mediate immune response, and special organs that replenish and integrate the whole immune process. All of these defense mechanism must act together and are designed to react rapidly to provide protection against disease-producing organisms and their toxins. There are two aspects of the immune system's response to disease: innate and acquired. Natural, or innate, immunity is present from birth and is the first line of defense against the vast majority of infectious agents. Innate immunity involves barriers that keep harmful material from entering the body. The skin provides an impenetrable barrier. The eyes use fluids, such as tears, and the presence of enzymes, such as lysozyme, that destroy bacteria. The respiratory system utilizes cilia, mucus, and coughing to get rid of foreign materials. If infection-causing organisms gets past these defenses, the body produces fever, inflammation, and other reactions designed to conquer the unwelcome invader.
Inflammation causes an increase in the local blood supply so that large numbers of white blood cells can be brought to the area to fight the infection. Some of these white blood cells are phagocytes and macrophages that literally eat the invading microorganism. In most cases of minor infection, these cells solve the problem. If the pathogen succeeds in passing this barrier, a more complex process, involving other cells of the immune system, is necessary. When a virus enters the body an immune response begins automatically. A scavenger macrophage will eat the virus and display the viral antigen on its surface. Anything that can trigger an immune response is called an antigen. An antigen can be a germ such as a virus, or even a part of a virus. Other white blood cells in your body called 'helper T-cells' will see the viral antigen and produce toxins that will destroy it. The helper T- cells then send chemical messages that activate lymphocytes called B-cells which make antibodies that recognize the viral antigen. These cells ' remember' the specific disease organism and divide into many more cells. The resulting 'clone' of identical cells starts producing very large numbers of antibodies that bind to all the organisms of that disease and destroy them. This process is called acquired immunity. It is a learning process of the immune system that develops either through exposure to microorganisms. It is estimated that the body has more than 100 million different kinds of antibodies, each one custom-built to identify a particular pathogen. If the body is exposed a second time, no symptoms occur because the organism is destroyed quickly - the bofy is immune to that particular pathogen. Research The Immune System
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Pathogen
