Viruses & other Pathogens

By
Diana L. Duckworth
Rustburg High School
Campbell County
 What are the characteristics of
living things?
• Cellular organization
• Reproduction
• Metabolism
• Homeostasis
• Heredity
• Responsiveness
• Growth & Development
 Structure of Virus
• Protein Capsule
– Surrounds genetic material
• DNA
• RNA
• No means of independent
http://library.thinkquest.org/C0123260/basic%20k
metabolism or growth nowledge/DNA.htm

• No means of independent
reproduction
– Dependent on host life
form
– Can evolve or change over
time http://www.laportecounty.org/departments/ani
mal_shelter/rabie_virus.html
 Entry into Host
Cell
• Three ways
– Plants – through tear http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic-
in cell wall of cell art/101396/698/Adsorption-to-and-entry-into-a-cell-of-an-
enveloped

– Bacteria – punches
hole and injects DNA
or RNA
• bacteriophage
– Animals – Endocytosis
– cell engulfs bacteria

http://bio-microscope.blogspot.com/2008/03/article-virus-structure-and-syste
 http://bioserv.fiu.edu/~biolab/labs/Genetics/phage_lab.htm

Lysogenic Cycle Lytic Cycle

 Two Types of Viruses
• Cells have two types of genetic information –
DNA and RNA
• Viruses may contain either DNA or RNA
• A DNA virus injects its DNA into the host cell,
and the DNA can control the cell directly
– Examples – HPV; Herpes; Epstein-Barr
• A virus with RNA is called a retrovirus –
retroviruses inject their RNA into a host cell and
force the cell to make new viral DNA, which may
then be integrated into the cell’s normal DNA
– Examples – HIV, rhinovirus (common cold and flu)
 Virus as Pathogen – disease
causing agent

Mumps
http://www.southlakeland.gov.uk/Default.aspx?page=1466

Measles
Chicken Pox http://www.ndsc.ie/hpsc/A-
Z/VaccinePreventable/Measl
http://www.vaccineinformation.org/photos/vari es/Factsheet/
aap005.jpg

AIDS Rabies Cold Hanta

Hepatitis Flu Polio SARS
Hemorrhagic Fever Yellow Fever Small Pox

http://www.indiana.edu/~pirt/bioterrorism/diseases-smallpox.html
 Mode of Transmission
• Insects – ticks, mosquitoes
• Exchange of body fluids – sex, kissing,
even oral sex, sometimes sweat
• Airborne – coughing, sneezing puts viral
particles out in aerosols
• Direct contact – touching; many viruses
such as flu and cold are long lived on
surfaces
 Host Cell
Specificity

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/hanta/hps/noframes/phys/printtechsection.htm

• Many can only infect certain tissues or

types of cells (must have proper receptors)
– Hepatitis – liver cells
– Many cancers – human papilloma virus – cells
of the cervix (opening of uterus)
– Influenza, Hanta virus – lung tissue
– Tobacco Mosaic Virus – only plant cells
 Combating Viral Pathogens
• Vaccines – A substitute host such as
fertilized chicken egg is infected
– Eggs produce antibodies to combat virus
– Virus is heat killed & antibodies are injected in
a vaccination
– Jenner – cowpox injected to combat small pox
• Class of drugs called interferons work by
hindering the uptake of viral particles in
cells – commercial - Tamaflu
 Uses for Viruses
• Non – pathogenic viruses
– Used in genetic engineering to transfer
genetic material

• Pathogenic viruses
– Biological Warfare
• Smallpox http://incontiguousbrick.wordpress.com/2007/05/17/911-truth-virus/

• Ebola and other hemorrhagic fevers

Prions – mad cow
disease - bse
• Bovine spongiform
encephalopathy
• Incorrectly folded proteins
• Cause normal proteins to fold
in such a way as to be not
functional

http://biomed.brown.edu/Courses/BI108/2006-
108websites/group09artificialblood/index.htm

http://www.biophys.uni-duesseldorf.de/research/prions/index.html
http://www.bioquest.org/bedrock/problem_spaces/prion/background.php
 What are the characteristics of
living things?
• Cellular organization NO
• Reproduction with help from host cells
• Metabolism NO
• Homeostasis NO
• Heredity with help from host cells
• Responsiveness limited
• Growth & Development NO