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( Virulence)
Virulence (also called pestiferousness) refers to the degree of pathogenicity of a microbe, or in other words the relative ability of a microbe to cause disease. The word virulent, which is the adjective for virulence, derives from the Latin word virulentus, which means "full of poison."[1] From an ecological point of view, virulence can be defined as the host's parasite-induced loss of fitness. The ability of bacteria to cause disease is described in terms of the number of infecting bacteria, the route of entry into the body, the effects of host defense mechanisms, and intrinsic characteristics of the bacteria called virulence factors. Host-mediated pathogenesis is often important because the host can respond aggressively to infection with the result that host defense mechanisms do damage to host tissues while the infection is being countered. The virulence factors of bacteria are typically proteins or other molecules that are synthesized by protein enzymes. These proteins are coded for by genes in chromosomal DNA, bacteriophage DNA or plasmids.
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