Innate immunity: mechanical removal

• mucociliary escalator beats upwards and mucus and microbes are pushed up through the respiratory tract until they are swallowed

• cough and sneeze reflexes removes mucus and trapped microbes

• vomiting and diarrhea purge the GI tract of pathogens

• flushing of body fluids helps move things along

Disruption of anatomical barriers

• this leads to risk of infection

• half the time, this is iatrogenic

Opportunistic Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection with disruption of innate immune barriers

• you start to get infections that wouldn’t cause infections in normal hosts

• Pseudomonas generally is not very pathogenic

• however, if you stick in an endotracheal tube and paralyze the patient to keep it in, Pseudomonas becomes the major source of pneumonia

• also happens in burn sepsis

Category: Microbiology Notes