What You Need To Know About Infectious Disease
How Infection Works
Microbes occupy all of our body surfaces, including the skin, gut, and mucous membranes. Most don’t do us any harm—in fact, many help us survive. But there are certain bacteria, viruses, and other microbial life forms that can cause illness or even death. Here we learn the basics about microbes and the fascinating relationship we have with them.
Explore Other Topics
What do you know about infectious disease?
True or False: Not all microbes are harmful to humans.
-
Correct!
Not all microbes are harmful to humans. In fact, many of them protect us, helping our bodies function properly and competing with harmful organisms in an eternal contest for habitable space in or on our bodies. Although the microorganisms that cause disease often receive more attention, most microorganisms do not cause illness.
-
Sorry, that’s incorrect.
Not all microbes are harmful to humans. In fact, many of them protect us, helping our bodies function properly and competing with harmful organisms in an eternal contest for habitable space in or on our bodies. Although the microorganisms that cause disease often receive more attention, most microorganisms do not cause illness.
Infectious Disease Defined
- Antibiotic Resistance
The process through which pathogenic microorganisms, by way of genetic mutation, develop the ability to withstand exposure to the drugs that had once been successful in eradicating them.
National Academies
Search the National Academies Press website by selecting one of these related terms.
Source Material
- Ending the War Metaphor: The Changing Agenda for Unraveling the Host-Microbe Relationship—Workshop Summary (2006)
- Microbial Evolution and Co-Adaptation: A Tribute to the Life and Scientific Legacies of Joshua Lederberg (2009)
- The Impact of Globalization on Infectious Disease Emergence and Control: Exploring the Consequences and Opportunities—Workshop Summary (2006)
- Infectious Disease Movement in a Borderless World—Workshop Summary (2010)
- Microbial Threats to Health: Emergence, Detection, and Response (2003)
