Question

Commensal organisms utilize the resources and the pathogens have to?

Answer 1

Pathogens must employ various strategies to infect and survive within their hosts, such as evading immune responses and exploiting weakened immune defenses. They not only affect the host's health detrimentally by causing disease but must also overcome the host's innate and adaptive immune mechanisms.

Step-by-step explanation:

Commensal organisms benefit from their host without causing harm, unlike pathogens, which are microorganisms such as bacteria, protists, fungi, and others that cause diseases in their hosts. Pathogens must engage in various survival strategies to overcome the host's immune defenses and proliferate.

Parasitism is a form of symbiosis where the parasite benefits at the host's expense, but unlike pathogens, parasites do not always cause disease. Pathogens fall into two categories: primary pathogens, which cause disease regardless of the host's health, and opportunistic pathogens, which exploit weakened immune systems.

A pathogen's survival tactics include evading destruction by the host's immune system, reproducing inside host cells, and producing virulence factors that facilitate infection and immune system evasion.

Human pathogens can infect through various means, including inhalation, skin abrasions, or mucosal surfaces. Once established, pathogens such as those affecting the respiratory system must overcome internal defenses like the mucociliary escalator, and may produce additional substances that damage host tissues to spread and proliferate.

Answer 2

Commensal organisms live off hosts without causing harm, while pathogens utilize sophisticated strategies to invade and cause diseases. Pathogens either act as primary pathogens affecting healthy individuals or opportunistic pathogens attacking when the immune system is compromised. The mammalian immune system counters these threats through specialized defense mechanisms.

Step-by-step explanation:

Pathogens and Their Strategies

Commensal organisms benefit from their hosts without harming them, unlike pathogens that must employ various mechanisms to invade and cause diseases in their hosts. Pathogens, which include bacteria, protists, fungi, and other infectious organisms, have devised strategic adaptations to ensure their survival and proliferation within the host. The mammalian immune system has evolved to protect the body from these harmful agents through a diverse set of cells and molecules that coordinate a robust defense response.

Parasitism is a form of symbiosis where a parasite lives at the expense of its host, but not all parasites are pathogens. While parasites can cause harm by competing for nutrients and resources, pathogens specifically cause diseases and tissue damage. Some organisms have shifted to a parasitic lifestyle, gaining resistance to the host's defense mechanisms, such as developing the ability to evade phagocytosis or reproducing within cells that are meant to destroy them.

Pathogens can be categorized as either primary pathogens, which can cause disease in a healthy host, or opportunistic pathogens, which only cause disease when a host's defenses are compromised. Factors such as age, pregnancy, and immunodeficiencies can make individuals more vulnerable to opportunistic infections. Pathogens use a range of strategies such as secreting virulence factors, developing resistance to digestion by host immune cells, and employing various means to avoid detection and destruction by the immune system.