Your head feels stuffy, your nose is running, and you feel hot all over. These symptoms are all signs that your body is fighting an infection. But how did you get an infection? Infections happen when you get a pathogen inside your body. Pathogens are parasitic , and survive by taking energy from the host they are inside.
In this case, you would be the host. Some pathogens also produce toxins that can hurt you if they are released. So what exactly is a pathogen? You might better recognize three common kinds of pathogens: Bacteria, Viruses, and Fungi. These three kinds of organisms are very different from each other. Here we can compare a human hair to the scale of fungi, bacteria, and viruses. Bacteria are tiny, single-celled organisms that are found almost everywhere.
There are bacteria on your desk, your skin, inside you, and even on this computer screen. Most bacteria are not pathogens. This means that for the most part, they don't cause disease. This picture shows bacteria pink attacking some skin cells yellow. Bacteria are considered simple cells because they don't have a nucleus. You probably recognize a common kind of fungus, the mushroom. They actually make up an entire kingdom of life and, while most are not harmful to humans, a few of them are pathogens.
This fungus is much smaller than the mushrooms we are familiar with. You usually need a microscope to see it. Fungi survive by getting energy from other organisms. Often, they do this by feeding on the decaying remains of plants. Similarly, many fungal pathogens feed on the nonliving outer layers of our skin. This fungi, Epidermophytom floccosum , is often responsible for athlete's foot. Some fungi also produce toxins, called mycotoxins. The most common way for humans to be exposed to mycotoxins is by accidentally eating poisonous mushrooms.
Viruses are the smallest common pathogen. They are so small in fact that many of them actually infect bacteria. Various combinations of household items such as vinegar, baking soda, and plain soap can be used as cleaning agents in the home and are just as effective as harsher chemical products for many applications.
Whether you want to avoid using these harsh chemicals because of asthma or other sensitivities, or are just looking for a cost-effective set of cleaning tools, the following list highlights the most important cleaners. Many of these natural cleaners can help reduce problems caused by other household pests as well. Wiping counters with vinegar can kill microbes as well as prevent pests such as ants and cockroaches finding food in your kitchen, without resorting to harmful pesticides.
See our bulletins on ants and cockroaches for more information. Antimicrobial pesticides can be beneficial for protecting human health and are required in some institutional settings such as daycare centers, restaurants, and other food handling establishments. If you are caring for an immune-compromised person or running a daycare center, proper disinfection or sanitation of surfaces is particularly important, and antimicrobial pesticides are an important tool.
Nevertheless, there are adverse affects associated with their use, such as:. Antimicrobial pesticides are used to destroy or stop the growth of microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi.
They are designed to be used on inanimate objects only and can be found as sprays, liquids, concentrated powders, wipes, and gases mostly for hospital use. The Centers for Disease Control CDC further classifies disinfectants as high, intermediate, and low level disinfectants, which has to do with which particular microorganisms it inactivates and the concentration at which it is active.
The antimicrobial activity of the product is affected by the concentration of the active ingredients and the dwell time. The US EPA registers antimicrobial products and ensures that labels may not make claims about their effectiveness that are not supported by data.
They have also compiled a list of registered products that are effective against specific pathogens, including tuberculosis bacteria, HIV-1 virus, and hepatitis C. The following table provides the hazards associated with specific active ingredients. Products may contain other ingredients or more than one active ingredients, so be sure to carefully read the label for any additional or different hazard warnings.
According to the EPA, there are approximately active ingredients that are used in antimicrobial products, so we have provided a partial list of some of the types of products you may encounter.
Comparison of Antimicrobial Active Ingredients. Lower-Impact Antimicrobial Pesticides. In a report by the San Francisco Department of the Environment, caprylic acid, citric acid, and lactic acid were identified as among the safer active ingredients available in disinfectant and sanitizer products.
In a report by the San Francisco Department of the Environment, hydrogen peroxide was identified as among the safer active ingredients available in disinfectant and sanitizer products. In December , the Food and Drug Administration FDA issued a proposal to require antibacterial hand soaps and body washes to prove that their products are safe for regular use. Despite there being no data that demonstrates that antibacterial products are any more effective than regular soap and water, these products are used widely.
This new requirement to improve safety should help ensure that risks associated with the use of these products is low. The City of San Francisco recently released a report developed by the Responsible Purchasing Institute which evaluated safer disinfectants and sanitizers based on criteria including hazards to human health and hazards to the environment.
The document, Safer Products and Practices for Disinfecting and Sanitizing Surfaces , provides information about active ingredients, as well as a list of products that are safer to use and information about all the products that were reviewed. More recommendations on how to protect yourself and your family from disease-causing bacteria and viruses can be found at the following websites:.
Email Address. Twitter Facebook. Practice clean kitchen techniques Ensure that raw foods such as meat are kept separate from other foods in the refrigerator to avoid intestinal problems caused by foodborne illnesses. Clean counters and cutting boards thoroughly after they have come into contact with raw foods. If a cutting board is not dishwasher safe, clean it thoroughly with warm soapy water after use. Our laboratory staff have generated a brief outline on the properties of different categories of "germs": bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites.
With the exception of prions, viruses are the smallest known agents of infectious disease. Most viruses are exceedingly small about 20 - nanometers in diameter and essentially round in shape.
They consist of little more than a small piece of genetic material surrounded by a thin protein coating. Some viruses also have a thin, fatty envelope surrounding their protein coat. Viruses are different from all other infectious microorganisms because they are the only group of microorganisms that are entirely reliant on a host cell for replication.
Because viruses do not eat food - instead they seize materials and energy from host cells by hijacking cellular machinery - some scientists argue that they are more like complex molecules than living creatures. Viruses are known to infect nearly every type of organism on Earth. Some viruses, called bacteriophages, even infect bacteria. Bacteria are generally ten to times larger than viruses. They are typically 1 to 3 microns in length and take the shape of a sphere or rod.
Most bacteria consist of a ring of DNA surrounded by cellular machinery, all contained within a fatty membrane. They acquire energy from the same essential sources as humans, including sugars, proteins, and fats.
0コメント