Pathogens and Disease
Key Words: Pathogen, communicable, bacteria, virus, water, contact
Starter: 1. Make a subtitle called “How Pathogens are Spread”.
2. Make a list of how they are spread using the pictures to help
you
1. Through Contaminated F _ _ d
2. Passed by another Ani_ _ l
3. Through dirty W_ _ er
4. Through the A _ r
5. By direct physical Conta_ _
1. Through Contaminated Food
2. Passed by another Animal
3. Through dirty Water
4. Through the Air
5. By direct physical Contact
Pathogens and Disease 29/12/2023
Key Words: Pathogen, communicable, bacteria, virus, water, contact
Starter: Lets do a quiz to test our prior knowledge.
Quiz
1. Name a factor that might affect your health.
2. Name another.
3. Name the group of diseases caused by pathogens that pass from one
person to another
4. State a consequence of malnutrition.
5. True or false: Does your ethnic group have an influence on your health
6. Communicable diseases are diseases that a) kill you b) spread c) fight
infections
7. Communicable diseases caused by ______
8. Cardiovascular disease is a) communicable b) non-communicable
9. Influenza is a a) communicable b) non-communicable disease
10. Food poisoning (salmonella) is a) communicable b) non-communicable
LOb: Understand pathogens and how they cause disease.
Learning Outcomes:
Keywords: Pathogen, ➢ Recall what a pathogen is and
communicable, bacteria, communicable and non-
virus, water, contact communicable disease
➢ Describe the differences
between bacteria and viruses
➢ Explain how pathogens cause
disease
Did you know… viruses are the
smallest thing that causes disease.
Here are some potentially deadly
examples.
There are two types of diseases:
Communicable Non- Communicable
Communicable diseases are spread/passed on from one organism to
another by pathogens.
Communicable diseases are caused by
What are the causes of four main things: VIRUS, BACTERIA,
Communicable disease? FUNGI and PROTISTS
Communicable diseases are caused by the pathogens
themselves or toxins they produce.
Some diseases are mild some are more likely to kill you.
Spanish HIV
Chickenpox Rabies Flu Bubonic
Ebola Smallpox
1918 plague
TASK: Rank these diseases from deadliest to harmless.
Review
Ebola 50%
Spanish Chickenpox
Rabies 100% Flu 0.001%
1918
2.5%
Bubonic
HIV 99% plague 50%
Smallpox 95%
Some communicable diseases infect animal only. Some
can pass between animals and humans like…
Is a viral disease that is passed on by the sharing
of bodily fluids. Common transmission is
between infected animals but the virus can infect
humans. 14% of animals infected survive.
Rabies 100%
There are 6 species of Ebola. The most dangerous
being 4 that infect humans. Reston ebolavirus
does not infect humans but does cause severe
illness in non-human primates. Ebola is a virus with
fever, headache, joint and muscle pain, sore throat
and intense weakness as symptoms. Diarrhoea and
Ebola 50% vomiting may be significant, leading to death.
LO: Understand pathogens and how they cause disease.
Success Criteria:
Keywords: Pathogen, ✓ Recall what a pathogen is and
communicable, bacteria, communicable and non-
virus, water, contact communicable disease
➢ Describe the differences
between bacteria and viruses
➢ Explain how pathogens cause
disease
Did you know… viruses are the
smallest thing that causes disease.
Here are some potentially deadly
examples.
All communicable diseases are caused by pathogens.
Pathogen: Microorganisms that causes disease.
BACTERIA VIRUS FUNGI PROTIST
Reproduce rapidly Live & reproduce Multicellular Microorganisms that
inside the body. inside human cells organisms that have features
Release toxins causing damage. prefer damp/moist belonging to plants
that make us ill. Rapidly reproduce. environments. animals and fungi.
Activity 1: Read the
information about viruses and
bacteria as you read
Highlight the important
information.
Bacteria Virus
Activity 2: Use the
information to complete the
table comparing the
differences between bacteria
and viruses
❑ Viruses are the smallest type
of microbe. About 20 – 250
nanometres. A million of them
lined up would fit in a
millimetre of length.
❑ Viruses are the bad guys of the
microbe world. Only recently
have we started to discover how
they can be good for us to use.
❑ Virus have no nucleus,
mitochondria or any other cell
organelles. They do have DNA
or RNA.
cell
virus
Virus
reproduces
HOW THEY REPRODUCE virus inside of
Virus
Viruses can not reproduce outside of the cell
enters
cells as they don’t have the cell cell
machinery. They use the machinery of
other cells to reproduce and then
Leave the cell to go and infect new
cells. They can be classed as non-
living as they don’t do things cells do.
This diagram shows what it is like when a virus leaves a
cell. Just like the balloon has burst, when a virus leaves a
cell the cell bursts which destroys the cell.
When this happens to a lot of the cells in our body it
makes us feel unwell.
The flagella helps the
cell wall cytoplasm
bacteria to move
around
flagella
A Single-celled
Strands of plasmid
organisms DNA
1 micrometre in size
by itself Type of
Disease pathogen
Gonorrhoea
Salmonella
HIV
Even though viruses can’t move they
are found everywhere on the planet and
can enter the body of any living thing.
Measles
They are picky about which cells they
can enter though. Not all virus make us ill.
Bacteria are varied just like viruses. Bacteria
are much more important to the ecosystem
than viruses. Bacteria come in beneficial and
harmful forms. Bacteria are really useful
in your digestive system to
help break food down and keep
us healthy.
Bacteria reproduce by . which is
shown below. This produces cells that are identical to
the parent cell. They reproduce independently.
Bacteria produce toxins. When there are many bacteria in our
bodies releasing toxins this makes us feel ill!!!!
Differences between bacteria and viruses. Complete
your sheet as you follow these slides.
Bacterial cells are small.
This is the head of
a needle
You could fit over 100,000 of these
bacteria on the head of a needle
bacterium
Viruses are very small. Many viruses could fit on one
bacterium.
Structure of a typical bacterium:
They lack organelles and an organised nucleus.
Not found on every
bacteria but help
them move cell wall cytoplasm
flagella
Strands of plasmid
DNA circular pieces of DNA
that are easily passed
from one bacteria to another
Bacteriophage Virus Coronavirus
Head
DNA
Sheath
Base
plate
How they reproduce:
Bacteria reproduce
using binary fission.
How they reproduce:
cell
virus
Virus
virus reproduces
inside of
Virus the cell
enters
cell
How they make us feel ill:
As the virus particles escape they destroy the cell. When this
happens to lots of our cells we feel ill.
Bacteria get past our natural defences and enter our body.
DIVIDE
Bacteria start to divide rapidly
DIVIDE DIVIDE
But why do more bacteria
in our body result in us being
more sick?
Bacteria release toxins into our body which make the body
feel unwell.
More pathogens → More toxins → More unwell
LOb: Understand pathogens and how they cause disease.
Learning Outcomes:
Keywords: Pathogen, ✓ Recall what a pathogen is and
communicable, bacteria, communicable and non-
virus, water, contact communicable disease
✓ Describe the differences
between bacteria and viruses
➢ Explain how pathogens cause
disease
Did you know… viruses are the
smallest thing that causes disease.
Here are some potentially deadly
examples.
Activity: Around the room are different sheets with
diseases. Complete your table to show different diseases
their symptoms and method of spread.
Mode of transmission Example How can it be spread?
Method Direct physical contact
How can it spread?
❑ Any pathogen can be transported via this method.
❑ Transferred by exchange of bodily fluids during sex.
❑ Plant diseases are commonly transferred by this method.
Infected plant material left in a field can infect a whole crop of
new plants.
Example diseases:
•Chicken pox
•HIV
•Chlamydia
•Rabies
•TMV
Method Direct contact via vectors
How can it spread?
❑ A vector is living organism that transmits an infectious
agent from an infected organism to another.
❑ Mosquitos are a vector.
❑ When the mosquito bites someone else the micro-
organism is transferred and that person catches malaria.
Example vector transmitted diseases:
Method By air (incl. droplet infection)
Influenza
Example aspergillus
TB
diseases Measles COVID-19
How can it spread:
❑ When you are ill you can have an immune
response which include sneezing and
coughing.
❑ When you sneeze the virus that causes
colds is carried into the air in the mucus in
the sneeze.
❑ If someone else breathes in the mucus
when it is in the air they will be infected.
Method In water
How is it spread?
❑ Fungal spores spread by splashes of water cause plant
diseases i.e. another form of direct contact.
❑ Humans eating raw, undercooked or contaminated food or
drinking water containing sewage can spread diseases.
Pathogens enter through your digestive system.
Example diseases:
Salmonella
Cholera
Diarrhea
Typhoid hepatitis
Activity: Complete the exam questions on your sheet.
LOb: Understand pathogens and how they cause disease.
Learning Outcomes:
Keywords: Pathogen, ✓ Recall what a pathogen is and
communicable, bacteria, communicable and non-
virus, water, contact communicable disease
✓ Describe the differences
between bacteria and viruses
✓ Explain how pathogens cause
disease
Did you know… viruses are the
smallest thing that causes disease.
Here are some potentially deadly
examples.
Communicable diseases are spread from one organism to
another by pathogens.
Bacteria reproduce rapidly by binary fission and produce toxins
that make us ill. They have a cell wall and plasmids + no nucleus.
Viruses are not like cells they are smaller than bacteria. They
can’t reproduce without other cells. They cause cell damage.
Pathogens spread by direct contact, air and water. A Vector like
mosquitos spread disease from one organism to another.
Plenary: Simplify
Firstly write two sentences
to summarise your learning
Then reduce to 5 words
Then reduce to 1 keyword
Plenary: Make as many sentences starting with bacteria and
using one other word below
Example: Bacteria cause infectious disease
Bacteria
Physical Diabetes
contact
airborne
communicable Toxin
Rapidly
Pathogen reproduce
infectious
