bacterial toxins
Germs' harmful secretions
Bacterial toxins are poisonous substances produced by bacteria that damage host tissues or disrupt normal cellular functions.
Some act locally at the site of infection; others spread through the bloodstream to affect distant organs.
The category includes endotoxins (components of bacterial cell walls released when bacteria die) and exotoxins (proteins actively secreted by living bacteria).
Diseases like tetanus, botulism, and cholera result primarily from bacterial toxins rather than the bacteria themselves: The food poisoning was caused by bacterial toxins, not a live infection.
- exotoxinPoison bacteria secrete
- pore-formingCreates passages through membranes
- infectionPathogen invasion causing illness
- staph infectionIllness from skin bacteria
- pathogensDisease-causing microorganisms
sickness · tetanus · nerve damage · fever · deadly · contamination · anthrax · venom · cytotoxin · cell death · endotoxin · inflammation · spores · paralysis · diphtheria · sepsis · blood poisoning · lethal
bacterial toxinsviral particles
Complete infectious agents
prions · bacteriophages · mycotoxins · fungal spores · plant toxins
bacterial toxinsantitoxins
Substances neutralizing biological poisons
vaccines · probiotics · immunoglobulins · antibodies · antibiotics