meet the difference between vector and etiologic agent it is essential to know the illnesses and prevent transmission of many of them.
It is common for people to use the terms vector and etiological agent as synonyms, however, they have quite different meanings.
What is vector?
O vector it is the organism that serves as the transport of some disease-causing pathogen, be it a virus, one bacterium, a arthropod, molluscs, etc.
According to the Brazilian Society of Parasitology (SBP) vectors can be of two types: biological and mechanical.
- Biological vectors: are those used as a site for reproduction by the microorganism causing the disease.
- Mechanical vectors: they are used only as a transport for the microorganism, there is no multiplication of individuals.
When a disease is transmitted through vectors, interpersonal transmission is not possible, that is, the disease is not transmitted from person to person.
Let's use as an example the dengue which is a disease that has the female mosquito as a vector Aedes aegypti. This mosquito transmits the virus to humans through the bite.
In addition to it, diseases such as malaria, yellow fever, zika, chikungunya, leishmaniasis and Chagas disease are transmitted by vectors.
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What is an etiologic agent?
O etiological agent it is the cause of the disease, that is, the pathogen that triggers symptoms of a disease.
The diversity of etiological agents is very large, they can be viruses, bacteria, protozoa, flatworms, roundworms, fungi, etc.
In dengue, the etiological agent is the virus that the mosquito Aedes aegypti transmits through its sting.
Difference between vector and etiological agent
After understanding the concepts of vector and etiologic agent, we can define that the etiologic agent causes the disease and is transported by the vector.
In malaria, for example, the vector is the mosquito Anopheles that transmits the etiological agent causing the disease, the protozoa Plasmodium.
See too:
- genetic diseases
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- What are the Diseases that Retire by Disability?
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