MICROBIOLOGY

Microbiology

Microbiology

Bacterial exotoxins are proteins of disease-causing bacteria that are usually secreted and have deleterious effects. Several hundred are known. In some extreme cases a single toxin accounts for the principal symptoms of a disease, such as diphtheria, tetanus, and cholera. Bacteria that cause local infections with pus often produce many toxins that affect the tissues around the infection site or are distributed to remote organs by the blood (Giamila, 2005).

Toxins may assist the parent bacteria to combat host defense systems, to increase the supply of certain nutrients such as iron, to invade cells or tissues, or to spread between hosts. ...