Pathology is the medical study of the nature and cause of disease. It ranges from diagnostic testing and observing chronic diseases to genetic research and blood transfusion technologies. It has been said that "Medicine Is Pathology." Pathology is used throughout all stages of life from pre-conception to post mortem.
Exotoxins and Endotoxins
Exotoxins are usually secreted by bacteria. They are usually proteins that stimulate a variety of host responses. Exotoxins are usually secreted by living bacteria during growth. Also virulent strains of bacteria do produce the toxin. An example is tetanus and diphtheria.
Endotoxins are cell associated substances that are a structural component of bacteria. They usually act in the vicinity of bacterial presence. They are part of the outer membrane of the cell wall of Gram-negative bacteria. Some examples are Salmonella and E. Coli
Antibiotic Resistance
Antibiotic resistance is a worldwide public health problem. It occurs when strains of bacteria in the human body become resistant to antibiotics because of the improper use and abuse of antibiotics. Most physicians are prescribing antibiotics fro viral infections and most patients don't finish the full dosage so it might leave some bacteria alive and resistant to future antibiotic treatment.
Bacteria In History
Black Death(Plague)
The Plague wiped out complete villages in Europe in the 14th century. Then it came to America in the twentieth century. It involves fleas, rodents, and humans. The pest control was low at this time because of the time of hunger so desperate rats would go looking for food in the houses of people and die which made their fleas find a new victim. Also rats would travel on the ships and that's what brought it to America. They tried different ways of getting rid of it like disinfection plans, which most of them made it spread faster because it brought rats out of hiding. The plague still exists to this day but they can treat it with antibiotics but now there are resistant strains coming into play.
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis has claimed many people throughout history but it reached epidemic proportion in North America during the 18th and 19th Century. The first person to work with tuberculosis was Theophile Laennec. Throughout years more people worked on it and then Clemens von Pirquet developed a skin test. Then in the late 19th and early 20th century they developed the treatment for tuberculous. The signs and symptoms of tuberculosis is bloody cough, fever, pallor, diarrhea, and swollen neck glands. The way they treat TB is through antibiotics to kill the bacteria. TB is still found today.
1. http://www.rcpa.edu.au/pathology.htm
2.http://textbookofbacteriology.net/proteintoxins.html
3.http://www.acponline.org/patients_families/diseases_conditions/antibiotic_resistance/
4.http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/dm00bu.html
5.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16949809
6.http://www.news-medical.net/health/Tuberculosis-Treatment.aspx
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