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Basic scientific knowledge and definitions
Ø
Anthroponosis: Disease which is transmitted from
human to human.
Ø
Biological agent (according
to the definition
of the EU
directive 2000/54/EC): Microorganisms
including genetically modified
organisms, which can cause allergies, infections or toxic effects (viruses, bacteria, fungi, parasites, protozoa, algae, prions). These
organisms
can be very different in size. Human and animal cell cultures are also found
in the
group of biological agents, because they can potentially be infected
with the
mentioned agents.
Ø
Direct transmission (with
respect to humans): faecal-oral transmission (smear-infection); transmission
through the air (droplet infection); genital
transmission (during sexual intercourse); transmission
over
the skin (at
skin
contact?); diaplacentary
transmission (during
pregnancy);
perinatal transmission
(during
birth);
horizontal transmission; vertical transmission.
Ø
Disposition: State or specific circumstances of
the
individual host, which lead to a different severity of the disease.
Ø
Epidemic potential: Possibilities of the spread of a
disease in
a host population.
3 forms are
differentiated:
Epidemic: locally and
timely restricted (e.g. Salmonella)
Pandemic: locally
unlimited, timely restricted (e.g. Influenza)
Endemic: sporadic
returning disease in restricted
areas (e.g. early
summer-encephalomeningitis
(FSME)
Ø
FSMEFrühsommer-Encephalomeningitis
(FSME) ? Was ist das?
Sollte man das nicht das erste Mal ausschreiben?)
Ø
Ø
Genetically modified organisms (agents): organisms, whose
genetic material has been changed
through genetic processes in such a way, which can not occur
under natural
conditions such as breeding or recombination (ordinance
on the contained use [ESV], SR 814.912)
Ø
Contained systems: Installations, that
prohibit or diminish through physical barriers or through a combination
of physical,
chemical or biological barriers the contact with humans (incl. Workers)
or with
the environment. (ESV, SR 812.912)
Ø
Immunprophylaxis: Possibility to
suppress a disease through a vaccination. In general the effect is timely
restricted
and from time to time new vaccinations have to be done (Tetanus every 10 year?, yellow fever every 10 year, influenza
every
year). There
are
also active vaccinations, where the antigen stimulates the production
of a
specific antibody (e.g. hepatitis B-, tetanus-vaccinations). For
living
vaccines attenuated organisms are used (e.g. yellow fever-, polio-vaccines)., Recombinant
vaccines are
recombined in such a way with the help of molecular biology methods,
that they
are no longer virulent {die sich jedoch unter Umständen noch
vermehren
können: ist dieser Satz wichtig im Zusammenhang mit Immunprophylaxe?} (e.g. Orochol as cholera-vaccine). Dead
vaccines
contain destroyed organisms (e.g. whooping-cough vaccine). In development
are
most recently also DNA-vaccines.
Ø
Indirect transmission: Transmission through foodstuffs or
drinking
water; transmission through different, dead, contaminated objects or
liquids;
transmission through vectors (arthropods); transmission
through humans (e.g. through hands of
medical personal); transmission
through contaminated vehicles or devices.
Ø
Infection: Penetration of non-endogen pathogens (like
bacteria, viruses and other organisms; intake
through food, environment or from
other humans) into the host organisms,
reproduction and reaction of the host.
Ø
Dose of infection: minimal dose
necessary to elicit the disease (e.g. Francisella
tularensis [Tularemia through respiratory tract]: 10 cells; Salmonella
typhi
[Typhus through
digestive tract]:
105 cells; Escherichia coli
[diarrhoea through the digestive tract]: 108 cells; foot
and
mouth disease virus: approx. 10 virus
particles per cow; Bluetongue: 1 virus
particle per sheep)
Ø
Mode of infection/mode of transmission: Way of penetration of a pathogen
into an organism. Chain of
infection: Reservoir (Reproduction of a
biological
agent in an organisms without disease symptoms) ® transmission (e.g. through
insects [malaria]) ® host
species with of the disease.
Ø
Spectrum of infection/susceptibility: Sum of
species, which can be infected by a
biological agent. A
host species must be susceptible to the biological agent. Susceptibility
can be made by physical characteristics (e.g. receptors), circumstances
of
life or individual factors (e.g. mental state, constitution,
sex-linked
disposition, age
disposition, livestock
breeding
fro animal viruses etc.)
Ø
Time of incubation: Time interval from the
infection to the first symptoms of the disease: e.g. SARS:
5-11 days; foot and
mouth disease:
3-13 days..
Ø
Invasiveness / Infectiousness: The virulence of a
pathogen is dependent of the invasiveness and infectiousness, i.e. of
the
penetration into and reproduction in the host. Some
pathogens use receptors for the
penetration into the host (e.g. Bordetella pertussis infects
epithelial cells of the respiratory tract and induces whooping cough; Vibrio
cholerae
binds to
the
am epithelium
of
the intestine and causes cholera).
Ø
Lethality: Number of the people
that died of an illness with respect to he sum of all diseased people.
The
lethality rate is the ratio of the number of the deceased people with
respect
to the newly infected people (makes only sense with acute illnesses): e.g. SARS infection 14%;
West Nile
virus
infection: 14%.
Ø
Morbidity: Number of sick people
with respect to the whole population (e.g. 1000, 10000 etc.).
Ø
Mortality: Number of the people
that died of an illness with respect to the whole population.
Ø
Pathogenicity: Ability of a
biological agent to induce an
illness.
Biological
agents can be a pathogen for one organism but not for the other (e.g. certain
animal
pathogens like foot and mouth disease are totally harmless for humans).
Ø
Resistance: Certain biological agents can be
resistant
to traditional
drugs,
i.e. the drug have no effect (e.g. multi-resistant TB?=tuberculosis bacteria?).
Ø
Tenacity: Capability of surviving outside of
the host
organism (e.g. polio viruses can survive
up to
100 days in waste water; spores of Bacillus. anthracis almost
unlimited; foot
and mouth disease viruses can survive up to 6 months in the environment
etc.)z.
Ø
Toxicity: Dose-dependent
characteristics of chemical substances and physical factors. Symptoms of
certain pathogens (e.g. tetanus, diphteria) are not
solely dependent
on the reproduction of the pathogen, but also on the toxins that they
synthesize and secrete. Certain toxins can also be produced outside of
the host
organism, i.e. without a reproduction in the host (e.g. mycotoxins of Aspergillus,
Botulinum-toxin of Clostridium). Partly
these
toxins are very stable in the environment.
Ø
Virulence: The virulence determines
the severity of a disease.
Certain pathogens
can loose their virulence (e.g. attenuated vaccine strains). The
virulence is
determined by virulence factors such as invasiveness, infectiosity and
toxicity.
Ø
Zoonosis: Pathogens are transmitted from a
vertebrate
to a human (e.g. rabies, FSME, plague
etc.). A
difference
is made between the following zoonoses:
Direct zoonoses: Transmission
through direct contact with
secretion products (e.g. rabies, TB,
SARS);
Zyklozoonoses: several
vertebrates (intermediate-
and end-hosts)
are necessary for the development of the pathogen (e.g. echinococcosis);
Metazoonoses: Transmission
through biotic vectors (e.g. insects, bats, rodents) with
parallel
reproduction of the pathogen (e.g. West Nile
virus,
Nipah,
Hendra);
Saprorzoonoses: Transmission
through
abiotic vectors like food (e.g. hepatitis A or E,
Campylobacter);
Latent Zoonoses: Cause
no
diseases for animals but do that for humans (e.g. E. coli
178);
Food borne zoonosis: Food
sickness through microorganisms which are latently zoonotic.
Habe
die Begriffe noch alphabetisch geordnet.
Wie steht es mit den Begriffen der
Molekularbiologie? Sollten
diese nicht hier auch kommen? Oder gibt ein anderes Glossar?
Terms
of molecular biology
Ø
Amplicon: End product of a PCR (amplification product); specific
DNA
fragment of defined size (approx. 150 - 600 Base Pairs=bp), which
is
defined by the two primers.
Ø
Annealing:
Annealing
of the primers at
the hybridisation step of the PCR.
Ø
Chromosome: defined part of the entire
genome.
Ø
Denaturation: Melting of the hydrogen bonds of
the DNA double helix at temperatures above approx. 90°C. Single
stranded DNA is produced (first step in the
hybridisation technique with DNA-probes or in the PCR).
Ø
DNA-hybridisation: Forming of double-stranded DNA
from single strands (probes) through base pairing of complementary
sequences to
the target DNA.
Ø
DNA-concentration: The absorption of DNA in an
aqueous solution of 1.0 at 260 nm corresponds
to
a DNA-concentration of 50 μg/ml double-stranded DNA.
Ø
DNA-probe: Single-stranded DNA which is
connected to one or many marker molecules.
Ø
Extension:
Polymerisation
step of DNA
in the
PCR with the help
of Taq-DNA-polymerase.
Ø
mRNA:
The copy
of a gene is named messenger-RNA. Because of
the mosaic-like
structure of the eukaryotic genes, i.e. the presence of exons and
introns, the
primary transcripts also contain parts of sequences which do not code
for a
protein. The intron get exactly spliced out and the ends of the exons
(protein
coding sequences) are ligated. The process of the generation of
mature
mRNA from primary transcripts is called splicing.
Ø
Negative control: Control reaction without any
DNA template (water, buffer, medium) or with
DNA
of a species that will not react in the PCR.
Ø
Nested
PCR: PCR of an
amplicon with a further pair of
primers, which are located inside the amplicon of the first PCR. The
specificity
and sensitivity is clearly enhanced with that approach.
Ø
Nucleic
acids: Aliphatic macromolecules,
which serve to the storage and transfer of the genetic information. There is desoxyribonucleic
acid and ribonucleic
acid.
Ø
Nucleotide:
Base element
(desoxynucleoside
triphosphate)
for the synthesis of DNA.
Ø
Oligonucleotides: Specific pieces of single-stranded
DNA (for PCR and hybridisation)
Ø
PCR
(polymerase
chain reaction): Specific,
exponential amplification of a piece of DNA from a mixture of desoxyribonucleic acids.
Ø
Plasmid: Circular DNA-molecule; it
contains the genetic elements which allow
autonomous reproduction in bacteria or yeast cells.
Ø
Positive
control: Control reaction of added
target DNA (template)
or of the DNA of
the desired species.
Ø
RNA: Ribonucleic acids.