Example of microbe causing multiple diseases..

  • Context: Medical 
  • Thread starter Thread starter Spirochete
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Example Multiple
Join the discussion
Registration is free. Ask a follow-up in this thread, or start your own.
2 replies · 7K views
Spirochete
Messages
125
Reaction score
0
I'm aware of plenty of microbes that can cause multiple diseases if present in separate parts of the body: S. aureus causes disease just about everywhere it goes except the surface of the skin and nose, S. pyogenes causes strep throat in the respiratory tract and can be flesh eating if it gets in a wound, P. vulgaris causes wound infections and UTIs. . .I could go on forever.

But I'm looking for an example of a microbe that has multiple characteristic disease states at the same area of infection in the body. Anybody know of one?
 
Biology news on Phys.org
Does your question include the possibility of variant forms of the same microbe? And are you limiting your scope to bacteria (all your examples) or could viruses be included as well? I can't think of anything off the top of my head, but the clarification might help others answer the question.
 
Ideally the exact same microbe, not something like different strains of E. coli causing UTIs and gastroenteritis. This may be an impossible question brought on by my incorrect interpretation of a homework question:

Find an exception to Koch's third postulate, referring to a culture which has been isolated from a sick person: "If your culture is inoculated into a healthy individual, it should cause the same signs and symptoms of the original disease"