Main Sources for Acquiring Microbial Infections - Essay Example

This infection can also be acquired if it is circulating among the hospital staff. These infections can be fungal or bacterial, and they are made worse by the fact that the patients’ immune systems are weak.

These infections gain access to the host through three ways and these are; contact transmission, droplet transmission, and airborne transmission. The most common and the most frequent way people get infections is through contact (Greenwood 2012, p.30). For example, when one gets in contact with a person with a cold or the flu maybe when kissing or using the same cup or spoon, bacteria or virus is transmitted from one patient to a healthy one.

The second mode of transmission is through droplet transmission. When droplets that contain these microbes from the infected person are blown or propelled into the air and then they fall on the healthy one, he or she is likely to get infected (Greenwood 2012, p.40).  This is also very common because some people sneeze or cough without covering their mouths and the droplets fall on the next person.

There is also airborne transmission. This transmission occurs either through airborne droplets or through evaporated droplets that stay suspended in the air for long periods. Dust that also contains the infected droplets can also transmit the droplets (Greenwood 2012 p. 45). These droplets that stay in the air for long periods can be transmitted through the wind a distance away from the source patient while others get it even when they are still in the same room. All this depends on the environmental factors and that is why it is important to keep rooms aerated to avoid such transmissions and infections.

Microbial infections enter the host’s body through various routes. It can either be internal or external; for example, airborne microorganisms enter the body through the respiratory system. However, the body has been made in such a way that it fights them as soon they get into the body. However, sometimes the host’s body is not in a position to fight them, and that is when must an adaptive or induced immune response (NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL (U.S.), 2006, p.56). The host’s body has a defense system and these are; the epithelial surfaces in the body, body tissues defense mechanism which is carried out by neutrophils and macrophages, and the antimicrobial peptides and proteins. All these are responsible for binding and ingesting the invading microorganisms, a process called phagocytosis.

The epithelial surfaces of the body act as a barrier thus keeping the microbial infections away, if they succeed to enter the body they are removed by the immune system through the underlying tissues (QUINN, MARKEY, LEONARD, HARTIGAN, FANNING, & FITZPATRICK, 2011 p. 65). If these pathogens enter the body, they are recognized by the body, ingested and then they are killed by the phagocytes.