Biology / Unit 9 Bio 1965 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Bacterial Disease Mechanism, Overview
Captions available
The idea
A pathogenic bacterium causes disease by damaging tissue, releasing toxins, or triggering a harmful immune response, not by any single shared mechanism.
In practice
Some bacteria damage tissue by direct invasion; Clostridium botulinum instead causes illness mainly through a released toxin.
Where people slip
Only a small fraction of prokaryotes are pathogens — most bacterial species cause no disease in humans.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Builds on
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