Briefly discuss the mechanisms of virulence acquisition.

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Biology

Briefly discuss the mechanisms of virulence acquisition.

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Virulence factors help bacteria to 1 invade the host 2 cause disease and 3 evade host defenses The following are types of virulence factors Adherence Factors Many pathogenic bacteria colonize mucosal sites by using pili fimbriae to adhere to cells Invasion Factors Surface components that allow the bacterium to invade host cells can be encoded on plasmids but more often are on the chromosome Capsules Many bacteria are surrounded by capsules that protect them from opsonization and phagocytosis Endotoxins The lipopolysaccharide endotoxins on Gramnegative bacteria cause fever changes in blood pressure inflammation lethal shock and many other toxic events Exotoxins Exotoxins include several types of protein toxins and enzymes produced andor secreted from pathogenic bacteria Major categories include cytotoxins neurotoxins and enterotoxins Siderophores Siderophores are ironbinding factors that allow some bacteria to compete with the host for iron which is bound to hemoglobin transferrin and lactoferrin The virulence factors of bacteria can be divided into a number of functional types These are discussed in the following sections Adherence and    See Answer
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