Required Resources

Read/review the following resources for this activity:

• Textbook: Chapter 21, 22, 23
• Weekly Concepts

Initial Post Instructions

For this discussion, take on the role of one of the pathogens we learned about. Give us a narrative about what you are doing in the body from the pathogen’s point of view. How did you get into the body? In other words, how did the body inherit you. How do you move through the body? What path of destruction are you on? How will you wage battle against the body? How do you plan to win that battle? What will the body try to do to stop you? How will you fight back? Who wins?

Follow-Up Post Instructions

Respond to at least one peer or the instructor. Further the dialogue by providing more information and clarification.

Writing Requirements

• Minimum of 2 posts (1 initial & 1 follow-up)
• Minimum of 2 sources cited (assigned readings/online lessons and an outside source)
• APA format for in-text citations and list of references

Answer 1: 

Professor and Class,

We’ve learned and discussed many different pathogens throughout this course; their portal of entry, adhesion, surviving host defenses, causing damage, and exiting the host. It is very important as a nurse to know specific pathogens and how they can affect our body every step of the way. We can’t just think of the broad spectrum of pathogens whether someone has a virus, and they are feeling ill. We must study virulence factors, treatment, prevention, manifestations etc. in order to treat our patient with the proper care they need.

My name is Rabies and I was living in a fox for the majority of my life until he bit a dog while it was on a potty break in the yard before it went to bed. I was transmitted by the fox’s saliva as soon as it bit Scruffy the golden retriever, but it seemed like a cozy place to stay. “After adsorption, the virus penetrates the host cell and enters the cytoplasm. The virions aggregate in the large endosomes (cytoplasmic vesicles). The viral membranes fuse to the endosomal membranes, causing the release of viral RNP into the cytoplasm (uncoating). Because lyssaviruses have a linear single-negative-stranded ribonucleic acid (RNA) genome, messenger RNAs (mRNAs) must be transcribed to permit virus replication” (CDC, 2020). Scruffy’s owner was a very nice lady but I was feeling very uncomfortable in a new environment, so I started to act irrationally. I decided to inflame Scruffy’s brain which caused it to slowly deteriorate. It’s not my first rodeo, this is what I do for a living. I reprogrammed his behavior, and now he started to act irrationally too, as if he was copying me. Scruffy lost all his fear and became aggressive and bit his owner Angela in the arm, off I go once again now onto my third home. I traveled from the bite wound (arm) along her nerve tracts in order to get to my safe place which is the brain. “An infection indigenous to animals but also transmissible to humans is a zoonosis. In these types of infections, the human is essentially a dead-end host and does not contribute to the natural persistence of the microbe. Some zoonotic infections can have multi host involvement, and others can have very complex cycles in the wild” (Cowan, 2017). Unfortunately for me, Angela recognized Scruffy’s abnormal behavior as soon as he bit her. She washed the infected area with warm water, soap, and put a bandage over it. She rushed to the emergency department after speaking with her doctor. The doctor reviewed her lab work and immediately gave her the rabies vaccination! I could have stayed in Angela’s system for up to three months during her incubation period and won. But instead, she acted right away because she noticed the bite mark and irrational behavior of Scruffy. Luckily for them, I lost this battle, and they can continue living their lives.