A branch of biology dealing especially with microscopic forms of life (as bacteria, protozoans, viruses, and fungi).

Any microscopic organism. Mainly viruses, bacteria, protists, some fungi, and even some tiny multi-cellular organisms.

Diseases that are caused by infecting organisms; they can be passed from person to person

Microbes that cause disease

single-celled spherical or spiral or rod-shaped prokaryotic organisms lacking chlorophyll that reproduce asexually by fission

Non living particles composed of nucleic acid (DNA or RNA) and a protein coat. They reproduce by invading healthy cells and using the enzymes and organelles of the healthy cell. This usually results in the death of the host cell.

A kingdom made up of non photosynthetic, eukaryotic organisms that have no means of movement, reproduce by using spores, and get food by breaking down substances in their surroundings and absorbing the nutrients. Most are multicellular and reproduce both sexually and asexually.

An organism that lives on or in a host and causes harm to the host

Plant like protists that grow in soil, on trees and on the bodies of turtles and frogs; smallest of all green plants

Drugs that block the growth and reproduction of bacteria

helps fight viruses

injection of a weakened or mild form of a pathogen to produce immunity

the communication of disease by direct or indirect contact

Animal that transports a pathogen to a human

animal-like protists that are single-celled consumers

does not show the disease symptoms, but can pass on the disease-causing allele to its offspring

the cells that viruses infect in order to make copies

An organism that breaks down wastes and dead organisms

Specialized proteins that aid in destroying infectious agents

Blood cells that perform the function of destroying disease-causing microorganisms

A system (including the thymus and bone marrow and lymphoid tissues) that protects the body from foreign substances and pathogenic organisms by producing the immune response

the sudden occurrence of a disease, in unexpected numbers in a limited area, w/c then subsides

A widespread occurrence of an infectious disease in a community at a particular time

Disease outbreak that occurs over a wide geographic area and affects a very high proportion of the population.

An organism that cannot make its own food. An organism that obtains organic food molecules by eating other organisms or substances derived from them.

an organism that is able to form nutritional organic substances from simple inorganic substances such as carbon dioxide.

A condition I which a bacterium no longer is affected or killed by an antibiotic

Solutions that are applied directly to the skin and prevent or slow the growth of pathogens.