Opportunistic infections. How is it that some microbe (say a bacteria) that has no virulence factors and doesn’t cause disease in a healthy individual all of the sudden do when said individual’s immune system is weak?

Question

Opportunistic infections. How is it that some microbe (say a bacteria) that has no virulence factors and doesn’t cause disease in a healthy individual all of the sudden do when said individual’s immune system is weak?

In: Biology

Answer 1

Think about bacteria like sports fans after a big hometown win and security as the immune system. As long as your security (immune system) is functioning properly there shouldn’t be any issues. But if your immune system is suppressed by say Chemotherapy all of a sudden the stadium security is running with half the staff missing and the fans can get rowdy before security can respond.