What is a Pathogen?

In biology, a pathogen (Greek: πάθος pathos “suffering, passion” and -γενής -genēs “producer of”) or a germ in the oldest and broadest sense is anything that can produce disease; the term came into use in the 1880s. Typically the term is used to describe an infectious agent such as a virus, bacterium, protozoa, prion, a fungus, or other micro-organism. The scientific study of pathogens is called Pathology.

There are several substrates including pathways where the pathogens can invade a host. The principal pathways have different episodic time frames, but soil contamination has the longest or most persistent potential for harboring a pathogen. Diseases caused by organisms in humans are known as pathogenic diseases.

• Micro-organism
• Infectious agent (germ)
  • Virus
  • Bacterium
  • Prion
  • Fungus
  • Parasites
• Causes disease

What is blood borne?

Carried or transmitted by blood

• Contamination by blood
• Very difficult to determine what blood contains
• We therefore treat all blood as potentially infectious

What is a Blood borne pathogen?

Bloodborne pathogens are infectious microorganisms in human blood that can cause disease in humans.  Needlesticks and other sharps-related injuries may expose workers to bloodborne pathogens

Examples

• malaria
• syphilis
• Hepatitis B Virus(HBV)
• Hepatitis C Virus
• Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)