International A Level Biology / Microbiology

Tuberculosis: how Mycobacterium tuberculosis causes disease

Edexcel International A Level Biology (YBI11), chapter 17: Microbiology, specification point 6.6. Part of the full course.

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Mycobacterium tuberculosis can survive inside lung cells and remain dormant in tubercles, or become active and damage the lungs and other organs. Knowing how this happens helps you compare latent and active TB and explain why weakened immunity, especially through HIV, can make TB dangerous.

More lessons in Microbiology

• Bacteria and viruses compared
• Lytic and latent infections
• The bacterial growth curve
• Calculating exponential growth and the growth rate constant
• Culturing microorganisms with aseptic technique
• Measuring growth: cell counts and dilution plating
• Measuring growth: turbidity and mass
• Core practical 13: growth of microorganisms in liquid culture
• How pathogens enter and how the body keeps them out
• HIV: how the virus infects and leads to AIDS