The air is a complex mixture of dust, sediment, and airborne pathogens. Case study 49 dealt with the identification of unknown harmful pathogens that inhabit the upper respiratory tract. Haemophilus species, Bordetella species, and Corynebacteria diphtheria are common causative agents of upper respiratory illness and served as a lead for this investigation.…
Pertussis is a respiratory tract infection that is very contagious. It got its name because of the sharp high-pitched intake of air that makes a “whooping” sound that follows a fit of coughs. It was originally considered a childhood disease but now it affects those children that are too young to have completed vaccination and those who have slowly lost the immunity to it. This can cause death in infants, which is why pregnant women should be vaccinated against it. Whooping cough is caused by the bacteria called Bordetella pertussis. It produces many virulence factors including the pertussis toxin and since it can be transmitted through droplets, it can go from person to person making it highly contagious. When the infected person coughs or sneezes, the droplets in the air can be taken in by anyone nearby.…
B. pertussis is a very small, prokaryotic, coccoid bacterium, which does not make endospores. It is a gram negative bacterium which means the cell structure contains an outer membrane, an inner membrane, and a thin peptidoglycan layer. It metabolizes through aerobic respiration, is nonmotile and an encapsulated microorganism. It appears either in pairs or singly, cannot survive in the environment and only reside in human hosts, where it usually appears in the trachea and the bronchi. B. pertussis produces several virulence factors. These include pertussis toxin, which is secreted in the cell and extracellular fluid, and filamentous hemagglutinin, which is a “fimbrial-like structure on the bacterial surface” (Todar).…
Koch was the first scientist to prove that bacteria actually cause disease. He scientifically demonstrated that a disease is caused by a particular organism. He created four general guidelines to aid in identification of disease causing pathogens. These guidelines developed from his work with purified cultures of anthrax that had been isolated from dead animals. Koch also proved that the same disease could be passed from one organism to another. Pasteur proved that microorganisms could be present in non-living matter. Bassi preceded both Pasteur and Koch in the discovery that many diseases of both man and animal were caused by parasites. This was vital in the formulation of the germ theory, to which both Pasteur and Koch would later expound. Bassi and Pasteur, though their research was important to later research, did not discover the true cause of disease, nor were they able to isolate the causal organisms. Koch was not only able to isolate the causal pathogen, he was able to correlate a specific pathogen caused a specific disease. We use his postulates because, if followed, they provide accurate data.…
Whooping cough is a communicable disease. Due to the nature of whooping cough being highly contagious, an outbreak of the disease can be serious and affect a large amount of people in a…
It is often thought that whooping cough is an outdated disease, due to the many ways we now have to combat the pathogen, but every year almost 400,000 people die due to infection with Bordetella pertussis (1, 41). Bordetella pertussis is a gram-negative coccobacillus bacterium, which causes whooping cough in humans (1, 41). The bacterium is spread by air borne particles or mucus droplets and is highly contagious. Although there is no known reservoir for the pathogen humans can often be asymptomatic, due to vaccination or immunity, and can easily spread the disease from person to person through coughing or sneezing (1, 41). Once inhaled the pathogen enters the respiratory tract and attaches to the ciliated respiratory epithelium. There…
The outer membrane of Borrelia burgdorferi is composed of various unique outer surface proteins (Osp) and are thought to play a role in virulence. Osp A and Osp B are by far the most abundant outer surface…
Pertussis is a highly contagious bacterial disease that causes uncontrollable, violent coughing. The coughing can make it hard to breathe. A deep "whooping" sound is often heard when the patient tries to take a breath.…
Whooping cough is very contagious and is a severe threat for babies. People with whooping cough usually spread the disease by coughing or sneezing while in close contact with others, then breathe in the bacteria and causes the disease. Many babies who get whooping cough are infected by parents, siblings, or other people that have it. If you are pregnant, get vaccinated in your third trimester .Surround your baby with vaccinated family members and caregivers. Make sure your baby gets his all doses of his whooping cough vaccine. Pregnant Women need a Whooping cough vaccine.…
Pertussis (Whooping cough) is an extremely contagious, respiratory disease, which is caused by the bacterium Bordetella. It is estimated that around 200 infants under the age of 6 months who contract whooping cough will die from pneumonia or brain damage. The disease is spread by airborne droplets from the upper respiratory tract (when the infected person coughs or sneezes) and is highly contagious.…
The contributing factors that spread pertussis from person to person are lack of knowledge as well as lack of access to care. Some of the people in the community are not aware that pertussis spreads through droplets. The community must be educated on proper hygiene to prevent the spread of pertussis Proper hygiene includes: covering your mouth, washing your hands, and throwing used tissues away. Lack of access to care can be prevented by providing information for free clinics in the community. Additionally, those in the community have religious or cultural reasons why they may not want to get immunized. Providing education to the community about the risks and benefits will ensure the prevention of pertussis.…
More commonly known as whooping cough, Pertussis is a contagious infection of the respiratory tract caused by the bacteria Bordatella Pertussis. Thick mucus accumulates in the airways, provoking heavy coughing spells. Pertussis can be spread via droplet. The infected person may sneeze or cough and the tiny germ droplets may be inhaled by any bystander. Whooping cough was seen mostly in children before, but after the development of vaccines against it the infection is found in many teens or adults whose immunity has faded and babies. Although death from Pertussis is rare, it is important for pregnant women especially to be vaccinated against the infection.…
The bacteria bordetella pertussis attaches to the cilia in the respiratory tract causing it to release some sort of toxin. This toxin interrupts…
The mode of transmission is airborne, by way of an infected person sneezing or coughing. The droplets from the sneeze or cough contains the bordetella pertussis bacteria moving through the air within the environment making it easy to transmit to an uninfected person. The disease typically lasts 6 weeks, but can last as long as 10 weeks. It is important to understand pertussis so that if anything remotely relating to the symptoms of pertussis occur such as: common cold, severe coughing, whoop noise, runny nose, slight fever and or diarrhea the patient understanding will lead him or her to contact their health provider. In older children, the prognosis is usually very good, infants are the highest at risk (Kaneshiro & Zieve,…
Whooping cough is an infection that is caught by breathing in aerosolized droplets that contain the bacteria, Bordetella pertussis. The disease typically lasts anywhere from a month to almost three months. The incubation period lasts 7-21 days. Then the disease progresses through three phases. A catarrhal phase, paroxysmal phase, and convalescent phase. The symptoms of whooping cough present differently in the first two phases. The catarrhal phase presents symptoms that seem like a typical upper respiratory tract infection. However, in the paroxysmal phase presents a paroxysmal cough. This cough is a rapidly repeating cough, that sometimes causes patients to vomit. The coughing will always causes the patient to struggle taking deep breaths…