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Questions
1. The number of human deaths is often used as a standard for ranking human diseases in terms of importance. What, if anything, is wrong with this classification scheme?
2. Infectious diseases have obvious deleterious effects on the infected individual. Are there other consequences that reach beyond the infected person to his or her family and to society as a whole?
3. The United States and most developed countries have long had medical communities that focus on therapy rather than prevention. Why is this the case and under what conditions might this emphasis be appropriate? Why are scientists arguing for a return to a prevention-based health care system?
4. In our classification of emerging or reemerging infectious diseases, we treated antibiotic-resistant bacteria and E. coli O157:H7 as new diseases. Make the case for and against considering a member of an established disease-causing species that acquires a new trait as a new disease entity. What is the significance of such changes in bacterial pathogens and our ability to treat them?
5. The bacteria that cause the diseases cholera and tuberculosis are much more infectious than the so-called “opportunists.” Why then are these opportunists currently much more of a health concern in developed countries than cholera or tuberculosis?
6. Under what conditions—assuming no new epidemics—could infectious diseases suddenly move to the second or even first most common cause of deaths in the United States?
7. Do you think humans will ever win the battle against disease-causing bacteria? Why or why not? Is the use of warlike language to describe the relationship between humans and bacteria even accurate?
8. Microbiologists are fond of saying that only a tiny minority of bacteria causes disease. Are there reasons for thinking this might not be true?
9. In what sense are bacteria life-givers rather than life-takers? Is it possible that disease-causing bacteria might have a beneficial role in another context or even in their relationship with the human body?
10. There are many diseases that manifest in a variety of ways in different, apparently healthy individuals (e.g., a bacterium may cause a mild fever and malaise in one person, while causing life-threatening disease in another). What are some of the factors that may contribute to this phenomenon?
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IN THIS CHAPTER
The Best Defense: Avoid, Reduce, and Prevent Exposure!
Barriers: Skin and Mucosal Membranes
The Layers of Cells That Protect the Body
Normal Microbiota of the Skin and Mucosa
Special Defenses of the Gastrointestinal Tract
Special Defenses of the Urogenital Tract
Special Defenses of the Respiratory Tract
Immune Defenses of the Skin and Mucosa
Models for Studying Breaches of Barrier Defenses
