Question

what is the difference between non-pathogen, pathogen and opportunistic pathogen?

Answer 1

The difference between pathogen ,non pathogen and opportunistic pathogen is very simple.

Pathogens are those organisms which have the ability to cause disease conditions in their host when they infect.They posses characteristics like invasiveness which allows them to spread rapidly and sometimes virulence factors like toxins,which further enhances their pathogenicity.

The non pathgens are those organisms which does not have the ability to cause disease even when they infect their host.They lack the pathogenicity or virulence factors essential for causing disease and harming the host biological functioning.

The opportunistic pathogen are the category of pathogens which can only cause disease when they get opportunity to do so in the form of a compromised immune system in the immuno -compromised host due to any reasons ,but cannot cause disease on infecting a healthy host with an active immune system.When the immune system in the host is compromised due to certain reasons like age,low nutrition,recovery from a disease or being under immunosuppressive drugs,these opportunistic pathogens gets the opportunity and causes disease.