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97-650: The High Point-Half Moon Bluff Historic District , on Cumberland Island near St. Marys, Georgia , United States, is a historic district that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. It is located within Cumberland Island National Seashore . The listing included 21 contributing buildings and nine contributing sites on 700 acres (2.8 km). It includes the North End of Cumberland Island, including Half Moon Bluff ,

194-456: A prion . The benefits of identification, however, are often greatly outweighed by the cost, as often there is no specific treatment, the cause is obvious, or the outcome of an infection is likely to be benign . The diagnosis is aided by the presenting symptoms in any individual with an infectious disease, yet it usually needs additional diagnostic techniques to confirm the suspicion. Some signs are specifically characteristic and indicative of

291-422: A runny nose . In certain cases, infectious diseases may be asymptomatic for much or even all of their course in a given host. In the latter case, the disease may only be defined as a "disease" (which by definition means an illness) in hosts who secondarily become ill after contact with an asymptomatic carrier . An infection is not synonymous with an infectious disease, as some infections do not cause illness in

388-530: A Revolutionary War hero and old friend of Catharine Greene, was returning from the West Indies when he asked to be taken to Dungeness. After a month of illness, he died on March 25 and was buried on the island. His son, Confederate General Robert E. Lee , had a tombstone placed over the grave and visited his father's final resting place several times. In 1913, the body of Harry Lee was reinterred at Lexington, Virginia , to lie beside his famous son, but his gravestone

485-425: A colonization is often only a matter of circumstance. Non-pathogenic organisms can become pathogenic given specific conditions, and even the most virulent organism requires certain circumstances to cause a compromising infection. Some colonizing bacteria, such as Corynebacteria sp. and Viridans streptococci , prevent the adhesion and colonization of pathogenic bacteria and thus have a symbiotic relationship with

582-469: A disease and are called pathognomonic signs; but these are rare. Not all infections are symptomatic. In children the presence of cyanosis , rapid breathing, poor peripheral perfusion, or a petechial rash increases the risk of a serious infection by greater than 5 fold. Other important indicators include parental concern, clinical instinct, and temperature greater than 40 °C. Many diagnostic approaches depend on microbiological culture to isolate

679-399: A disease. This amplification of nucleic acid in infected tissue offers an opportunity to detect the infectious agent by using PCR. Third, the essential tools for directing PCR, primers , are derived from the genomes of infectious agents, and with time those genomes will be known if they are not already. Thus, the technological ability to detect any infectious agent rapidly and specifically

776-672: A fort at what is now Terrapin Point in the north of the island, named Fort St. Andrews . For a decade the small village of Berrimacke existed near the fort. In 1740 he built a second fort at the southern point of the island called Fort William. The forts were built to defend English settlements to the north from the Spanish in Florida. After the English defeated the Spanish in the Battle of Bloody Marsh in 1742,

873-423: A hospital stay. Lastly, a community-acquired infection is one in which the infection is acquired from a whole community. One manner of proving that a given disease is infectious, is to satisfy Koch's postulates (first proposed by Robert Koch ), which require that first, the infectious agent be identifiable only in patients who have the disease, and not in healthy controls, and second, that patients who contract

970-524: A host with depressed resistance ( immunodeficiency ) or if they have unusual access to the inside of the body (for example, via trauma ). Opportunistic infection may be caused by microbes ordinarily in contact with the host, such as pathogenic bacteria or fungi in the gastrointestinal or the upper respiratory tract , and they may also result from (otherwise innocuous) microbes acquired from other hosts (as in Clostridioides difficile colitis ) or from

1067-502: A host. As bacterial and viral infections can both cause the same kinds of symptoms, it can be difficult to distinguish which is the cause of a specific infection. Distinguishing the two is important, since viral infections cannot be cured by antibiotics whereas bacterial infections can. There is a general chain of events that applies to infections, sometimes called the chain of infection or transmission chain . The chain of events involves several steps – which include

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1164-434: A link between virulence and transmissibility. Diagnosis of infectious disease sometimes involves identifying an infectious agent either directly or indirectly. In practice most minor infectious diseases such as warts , cutaneous abscesses , respiratory system infections and diarrheal diseases are diagnosed by their clinical presentation and treated without knowledge of the specific causative agent. Conclusions about

1261-402: A mansion on the site of Dungeness, though Carnegie never lived to see its completion. Lucy and their nine children continued to live on the island, naming their mansion Dungeness after that of Greene. Dungeness was designed as a 59-room castle. They also built pools, a golf course, and 40 smaller buildings to house the 200 servants who worked at the mansion. The last time Dungeness was used was for

1358-648: A nature and conservation mission for over 60 years. Historically, portions of Cumberland Island remain in private hands. Large areas were deeded to the National Parks Foundation by members or heirs of the Carnegie family in 1971. Other lands in private ownership were purchased with funds provided by the Mellon Foundation and Congress, and in 1972 Cumberland Island was designated a national seashore. A small number of property owners, principally ones who preserved

1455-518: A number of basic dyes due to the electrostatic attraction between negatively charged cellular molecules and the positive charge on the dye. A cell is normally transparent under a microscope, and using a stain increases the contrast of a cell with its background. Staining a cell with a dye such as Giemsa stain or crystal violet allows a microscopist to describe its size, shape, internal and external components and its associations with other cells. The response of bacteria to different staining procedures

1552-404: A particular pathogen at all (no matter how little) but also is often used in a sense implying a clinically apparent infection (in other words, a case of infectious disease). This fact occasionally creates some ambiguity or prompts some usage discussion; to get around this it is common for health professionals to speak of colonization (rather than infection ) when they mean that some of

1649-493: A pathogen from the appropriate clinical specimen. In a microbial culture, a growth medium is provided for a specific agent. A sample taken from potentially diseased tissue or fluid is then tested for the presence of an infectious agent able to grow within that medium. Many pathogenic bacteria are easily grown on nutrient agar , a form of solid medium that supplies carbohydrates and proteins necessary for growth, along with copious amounts of water. A single bacterium will grow into

1746-429: A pathogen. A fluorescence microscope is then used to detect fluorescently labeled antibodies bound to internalized antigens within clinical samples or cultured cells. This technique is especially useful in the diagnosis of viral diseases, where the light microscope is incapable of identifying a virus directly. Other microscopic procedures may also aid in identifying infectious agents. Almost all cells readily stain with

1843-432: A patient's blood or other body fluids for antigens or antibodies that indicate presence of a specific pathogen that the doctor suspects. Other techniques (such as X-rays , CAT scans , PET scans or NMR ) are used to produce images of internal abnormalities resulting from the growth of an infectious agent. The images are useful in detection of, for example, a bone abscess or a spongiform encephalopathy produced by

1940-470: A persistent infection by infecting different cells of the body. Some viruses once acquired never leave the body. A typical example is the herpes virus, which tends to hide in nerves and become reactivated when specific circumstances arise. Persistent infections cause millions of deaths globally each year. Chronic infections by parasites account for a high morbidity and mortality in many underdeveloped countries. For infecting organisms to survive and repeat

2037-423: A result of a business deal used to finance the army. Greene died in 1786. His wife, Catharine Littlefield Greene , remarried Phineas Miller ten years later; and they built a huge, four-story tabby mansion on top of a Native American shell mound . She named it Dungeness , after a nearby sandy spit at the southern end of the island, first recorded in a land grant petition in 1765 and almost certainly named after

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2134-403: A result of an infectious disease with immunosuppressive activity (such as with measles , malaria or HIV disease ). Primary pathogens may also cause more severe disease in a host with depressed resistance than would normally occur in an immunosufficient host. While a primary infection can practically be viewed as the root cause of an individual's current health problem, a secondary infection

2231-471: A result of their presence or activity within the normal, healthy host, and their intrinsic virulence (the severity of the disease they cause) is, in part, a necessary consequence of their need to reproduce and spread. Many of the most common primary pathogens of humans only infect humans, however, many serious diseases are caused by organisms acquired from the environment or that infect non-human hosts. Opportunistic pathogens can cause an infectious disease in

2328-411: A severe illness affecting the brain, remain undiagnosed, despite extensive testing using the standard of care ( microbiological culture ) and state-of-the-art clinical laboratory methods. Metagenomic sequencing-based diagnostic tests are currently being developed for clinical use and show promise as a sensitive, specific, and rapid way to diagnose infection using a single all-encompassing test. This test

2425-417: A specific identification of an infectious agent only when such identification can aid in the treatment or prevention of the disease, or to advance knowledge of the course of an illness prior to the development of effective therapeutic or preventative measures. For example, in the early 1980s, prior to the appearance of AZT for the treatment of AIDS , the course of the disease was closely followed by monitoring

2522-533: A state park. Plans to create a National Seashore were complicated when, in October 1968, Carnegie descendants sold three thousand acres of the island to real estate developer Charles Fraser , who had developed part of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina . Fraser met with conservationist and then Sierra Club executive director, David Brower , on the island to discuss how to develop the area. This meeting and discussions between Fraser and Brower were documented in one part of

2619-432: A visible mound on the surface of the plate called a colony , which may be separated from other colonies or melded together into a "lawn". The size, color, shape and form of a colony is characteristic of the bacterial species, its specific genetic makeup (its strain ), and the environment that supports its growth. Other ingredients are often added to the plate to aid in identification. Plates may contain substances that permit

2716-509: Is a sequela or complication of that root cause. For example, an infection due to a burn or penetrating trauma (the root cause) is a secondary infection. Primary pathogens often cause primary infection and often cause secondary infection. Usually, opportunistic infections are viewed as secondary infections (because immunodeficiency or injury was the predisposing factor). Other types of infection consist of mixed, iatrogenic , nosocomial , and community-acquired infection. A mixed infection

2813-500: Is active but does not produce noticeable symptoms may be called inapparent, silent, subclinical , or occult . An infection that is inactive or dormant is called a latent infection . An example of a latent bacterial infection is latent tuberculosis . Some viral infections can also be latent, examples of latent viral infections are any of those from the Herpesviridae family. The word infection can denote any presence of

2910-629: Is also famous for its feral horses , which roam free on the island. The first inhabitants were indigenous peoples who settled there as early as 4,000 years ago. Later inhabitants participated in the Savannah archaeological culture and spoke the Timucua language . Its inhabitants were part of the Mocama , a Timucua group who spoke the Mocama dialect. In the 17th century the island and the adjacent coast were controlled by

3007-423: Is an infection that is caused by two or more pathogens. An example of this is appendicitis , which is caused by Bacteroides fragilis and Escherichia coli . The second is an iatrogenic infection. This type of infection is one that is transmitted from a health care worker to a patient. A nosocomial infection is also one that occurs in a health care setting. Nosocomial infections are those that are acquired during

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3104-422: Is an initial site of infection from which organisms travel via the bloodstream to another area of the body. Among the many varieties of microorganisms , relatively few cause disease in otherwise healthy individuals. Infectious disease results from the interplay between those few pathogens and the defenses of the hosts they infect. The appearance and severity of disease resulting from any pathogen depend upon

3201-510: Is currently available. The only remaining blockades to the use of PCR as a standard tool of diagnosis are in its cost and application, neither of which is insurmountable. The diagnosis of a few diseases will not benefit from the development of PCR methods, such as some of the clostridial diseases ( tetanus and botulism ). These diseases are fundamentally biological poisonings by relatively small numbers of infectious bacteria that produce extremely potent neurotoxins . A significant proliferation of

3298-503: Is injured. All multicellular organisms are colonized to some degree by extrinsic organisms, and the vast majority of these exist in either a mutualistic or commensal relationship with the host. An example of the former is the anaerobic bacteria species, which colonizes the mammalian colon , and an example of the latter are the various species of staphylococcus that exist on human skin . Neither of these colonizations are considered infections. The difference between an infection and

3395-467: Is not an enzyme and has no metabolic function. Serological methods are highly sensitive, specific and often extremely rapid tests used to identify microorganisms. These tests are based upon the ability of an antibody to bind specifically to an antigen. The antigen, usually a protein or carbohydrate made by an infectious agent, is bound by the antibody. This binding then sets off a chain of events that can be visibly obvious in various ways, dependent upon

3492-425: Is referred to as infectious diseases . Infections are caused by infectious agents ( pathogens ) including: The signs and symptoms of an infection depend on the type of disease. Some signs of infection affect the whole body generally, such as fatigue , loss of appetite, weight loss, fevers , night sweats, chills, aches and pains. Others are specific to individual body parts, such as skin rashes , coughing , or

3589-404: Is referred to as colonization. Most humans are not easily infected. Those with compromised or weakened immune systems have an increased susceptibility to chronic or persistent infections. Individuals who have a suppressed immune system are particularly susceptible to opportunistic infections . Entrance to the host at host–pathogen interface , generally occurs through the mucosa in orifices like

3686-501: Is similar to current PCR tests; however, an untargeted whole genome amplification is used rather than primers for a specific infectious agent. This amplification step is followed by next-generation sequencing or third-generation sequencing , alignment comparisons , and taxonomic classification using large databases of thousands of pathogen and commensal reference genomes . Simultaneously, antimicrobial resistance genes within pathogen and plasmid genomes are sequenced and aligned to

3783-439: Is that microbial colonization is very common even in environments that humans think of as being nearly sterile . Because it is normal to have bacterial colonization, it is difficult to know which chronic wounds can be classified as infected and how much risk of progression exists. Despite the huge number of wounds seen in clinical practice, there are limited quality data for evaluated symptoms and signs. A review of chronic wounds in

3880-870: Is the invasion of tissues by pathogens , their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease , also known as a transmissible disease or communicable disease , is an illness resulting from an infection. Infections can be caused by a wide range of pathogens , most prominently bacteria and viruses . Hosts can fight infections using their immune systems . Mammalian hosts react to infections with an innate response, often involving inflammation , followed by an adaptive response. Specific medications used to treat infections include antibiotics , antivirals , antifungals , antiprotozoals , and antihelminthics . Infectious diseases resulted in 9.2 million deaths in 2013 (about 17% of all deaths). The branch of medicine that focuses on infections

3977-577: Is used in the taxonomic classification of microbes as well. Two methods, the Gram stain and the acid-fast stain, are the standard approaches used to classify bacteria and to diagnosis of disease. The Gram stain identifies the bacterial groups Bacillota and Actinomycetota , both of which contain many significant human pathogens. The acid-fast staining procedure identifies the Actinomycetota genera Mycobacterium and Nocardia . Biochemical tests used in

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4074-555: The Dungeness headland, on the south coast of England . The mansion featured 6-foot (1.8 m) thick walls at the base, four chimneys and 16 fireplaces, and was surrounded by 12 acres (49,000 m ) of gardens. Dungeness was the site of many special social galas, where statesmen and military leaders enjoyed the Millers' hospitality. When the island was briefly occupied during the War of 1812 ,

4171-588: The Journal of the American Medical Association 's "Rational Clinical Examination Series" quantified the importance of increased pain as an indicator of infection. The review showed that the most useful finding is an increase in the level of pain [likelihood ratio (LR) range, 11–20] makes infection much more likely, but the absence of pain (negative likelihood ratio range, 0.64–0.88) does not rule out infection (summary LR 0.64–0.88). Disease can arise if

4268-586: The Martin's Half Moon Bluff Tract and High Point or Candler Estate . It includes religious structure(s), hotel, and single dwellings. This article about a property in Georgia on the National Register of Historic Places is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Cumberland Island Cumberland Island forms part of Camden County, Georgia (30°51′N, 81°27′W). Cumberland Island constitutes

4365-463: The Tacatacuru chiefdom. The main village, known as Tacatacuru, was located towards the southern end of the island; during the time of European colonization, the Spanish recorded the names of at least six more villages on the island, and eleven more were located on the mainland. During the 16th and 17th centuries, Cumberland Island was part of the Mocama missionary province of Spanish Florida . When

4462-468: The oral cavity , nose, eyes, genitalia, anus, or the microbe can enter through open wounds. While a few organisms can grow at the initial site of entry, many migrate and cause systemic infection in different organs. Some pathogens grow within the host cells (intracellular) whereas others grow freely in bodily fluids. Wound colonization refers to non-replicating microorganisms within the wound, while in infected wounds, replicating organisms exist and tissue

4559-447: The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method will become nearly ubiquitous gold standards of diagnostics of the near future, for several reasons. First, the catalog of infectious agents has grown to the point that virtually all of the significant infectious agents of the human population have been identified. Second, an infectious agent must grow within the human body to cause disease; essentially it must amplify its own nucleic acids to cause

4656-403: The "strep test", they can be inexpensive. Complex serological techniques have been developed into what are known as immunoassays . Immunoassays can use the basic antibody – antigen binding as the basis to produce an electro-magnetic or particle radiation signal, which can be detected by some form of instrumentation. Signal of unknowns can be compared to that of standards allowing quantitation of

4753-544: The 1929 wedding of a Carnegie daughter. After the Crash and the Great Depression , the family left the island and kept the mansion vacant. It burned in a 1959 fire, believed to have been started by a poacher who had been shot in the leg by a caretaker weeks before. Today, the ruins of the mansion remain on the southern end of the island. The Carnegie family owned 90% of the island. Lucy Carnegie had additional estates built on

4850-514: The British used Dungeness as their headquarters. They also freed the American slaves on the island. The Millers' Dungeness burned down in 1866. The Millers were the first major planters of Sea Island cotton on Cumberland. They held a total of 210 slaves to work the plantation . Catharine and Phineas Miller helped Eli Whitney develop the cotton gin , debuted in 1793. While Sea Island cotton

4947-660: The Carnegie and Candler families, and a number of organizations, including the Georgia Conservancy and the Sierra Club , to band together and push Fraser to sell to the National Park Foundation. They, along with others, also helped push a bill through the US Congress that established Cumberland Island as a national seashore . The bill was signed by President Richard Nixon on October 23, 1972. The Carnegie family sold

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5044-528: The Civil War, most of these people moved to the mainland when Union forces occupied the island. Former slaves and their descendants continued to live on the island after the Civil War. According to historian Mary Bullard, one community existed in the Brick Hill area of the island between 1862–1891. Many of these freedmen were farmers. In the 1880s, another community formed at what is now called "The Settlement". It

5141-717: The Spanish arrived in the 1550s, they named the island San Pedro. They built a garrison and mission, San Pedro de Mocama , in 1603. It was one of the main mission centers, situated at a major Mocama site. Another Spanish mission on Cumberland was Puturiba, which operated from 1595–1597. An additional mission, San Phelipe, was relocated from the North Newport River to the northern end of Cumberland from 1670–1684. Historical records indicate that until 1681, there were approximately 300 natives and several Spanish missionary priests living on Cumberland Island. In 1683, French pirates attacked Cumberland Island, looting and burning many of

5238-435: The ability of that pathogen to damage the host as well as the ability of the host to resist the pathogen. However, a host's immune system can also cause damage to the host itself in an attempt to control the infection. Clinicians, therefore, classify infectious microorganisms or microbes according to the status of host defenses – either as primary pathogens or as opportunistic pathogens . Primary pathogens cause disease as

5335-458: The basis of a biochemical diagnosis of an infectious disease. For example, humans can make neither RNA replicases nor reverse transcriptase , and the presence of these enzymes are characteristic., of specific types of viral infections. The ability of the viral protein hemagglutinin to bind red blood cells together into a detectable matrix may also be characterized as a biochemical test for viral infection, although strictly speaking hemagglutinin

5432-528: The book Encounters with the Archdruid by John McPhee who traveled with Fraser and Brower as they toured Cumberland Island. Brower pushed for a 90/10 split, with 90% of the land to remain undeveloped. However, the thought of any additional development on the island beyond the structures already erected by the Carnegies and Sam Candler, who also owned part of the island, caused activists, politicians, members of

5529-514: The buildings. Many of the natives and the Spanish missionaries fled the island. An attack in 1684 by a pirate known to the Spanish as Thomas Jingle led to the final abandonment of the island by the Spaniards. Survivors retreated to St. Augustine to the south. During the colonial years, many had died of exposure to European infectious diseases , to which they had no natural immunity. The Tacatacuru relocated closer to St. Augustine, and Cumberland Island

5626-463: The case of viral identification, a region of dead cells results from viral growth, and is called a "plaque". Eukaryotic parasites may also be grown in culture as a means of identifying a particular agent. In the absence of suitable plate culture techniques, some microbes require culture within live animals. Bacteria such as Mycobacterium leprae and Treponema pallidum can be grown in animals, although serological and microscopic techniques make

5723-472: The causative agent, Trypanosoma cruzi in a patient, which therefore makes it difficult to definitively make a diagnosis. In this case, xenodiagnosis involves the use of the vector of the Chagas agent T. cruzi , an uninfected triatomine bug, which takes a blood meal from a person suspected of having been infected. The bug is later inspected for growth of T. cruzi within its gut. Another principal tool in

5820-436: The cause of the disease are based upon the likelihood that a patient came in contact with a particular agent, the presence of a microbe in a community, and other epidemiological considerations. Given sufficient effort, all known infectious agents can be specifically identified. Diagnosis of infectious disease is nearly always initiated by medical history and physical examination. More detailed identification techniques involve

5917-431: The composition of patient blood samples, even though the outcome would not offer the patient any further treatment options. In part, these studies on the appearance of HIV in specific communities permitted the advancement of hypotheses as to the route of transmission of the virus. By understanding how the disease was transmitted, resources could be targeted to the communities at greatest risk in campaigns aimed at reducing

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6014-484: The culture of infectious agents isolated from a patient. Culture allows identification of infectious organisms by examining their microscopic features, by detecting the presence of substances produced by pathogens, and by directly identifying an organism by its genotype. Many infectious organisms are identified without culture and microscopy. This is especially true for viruses, which cannot grow in culture. For some suspected pathogens, doctors may conduct tests that examine

6111-400: The destruction of the virus. Instrumentation can be used to read extremely small signals created by secondary reactions linked to the antibody – antigen binding. Instrumentation can control sampling, reagent use, reaction times, signal detection, calculation of results, and data management to yield a cost-effective automated process for diagnosis of infectious disease. Technologies based upon

6208-428: The diagnosis of infectious disease is microscopy . Virtually all of the culture techniques discussed above rely, at some point, on microscopic examination for definitive identification of the infectious agent. Microscopy may be carried out with simple instruments, such as the compound light microscope , or with instruments as complex as an electron microscope . Samples obtained from patients may be viewed directly under

6305-445: The environment as a result of traumatic introduction (as in surgical wound infections or compound fractures ). An opportunistic disease requires impairment of host defenses, which may occur as a result of genetic defects (such as chronic granulomatous disease ), exposure to antimicrobial drugs or immunosuppressive chemicals (as might occur following poisoning or cancer chemotherapy ), exposure to ionizing radiation , or as

6402-575: The event. In 1954, some of the members of the Carnegie family invited the National Park Service to the island to assess its suitability as a National Seashore. In 1955, the National Park Service named Cumberland Island as one of the most significant natural areas in the United States and plans got underway to secure it. Simultaneously, the State of Georgia was working on plans to secure the island as

6499-426: The expression of symptoms is often atypical, making a clinical diagnosis based on presentation more difficult. Thirdly, diagnostic methods that rely on the detection of antibodies are more likely to fail. A rapid, sensitive, specific, and untargeted test for all known human pathogens that detects the presence of the organism's DNA rather than antibodies is therefore highly desirable. There is usually an indication for

6596-403: The growth of some bacteria and not others, or that change color in response to certain bacteria and not others. Bacteriological plates such as these are commonly used in the clinical identification of infectious bacterium. Microbial culture may also be used in the identification of viruses : the medium, in this case, being cells grown in culture that the virus can infect, and then alter or kill. In

6693-484: The host's protective immune mechanisms are compromised and the organism inflicts damage on the host. Microorganisms can cause tissue damage by releasing a variety of toxins or destructive enzymes. For example, Clostridium tetani releases a toxin that paralyzes muscles, and staphylococcus releases toxins that produce shock and sepsis . Not all infectious agents cause disease in all hosts. For example, less than 5% of individuals infected with polio develop disease. On

6790-598: The host, preventing infection and speeding wound healing . The variables involved in the outcome of a host becoming inoculated by a pathogen and the ultimate outcome include: As an example, several staphylococcal species remain harmless on the skin, but, when present in a normally sterile space, such as in the capsule of a joint or the peritoneum , multiply without resistance and cause harm. An interesting fact that gas chromatography–mass spectrometry , 16S ribosomal RNA analysis, omics , and other advanced technologies have made more apparent to humans in recent decades

6887-532: The identification of infectious agents include the detection of metabolic or enzymatic products characteristic of a particular infectious agent. Since bacteria ferment carbohydrates in patterns characteristic of their genus and species , the detection of fermentation products is commonly used in bacterial identification. Acids , alcohols and gases are usually detected in these tests when bacteria are grown in selective liquid or solid media. The isolation of enzymes from infected tissue can also provide

6984-413: The infection cycle in other hosts, they (or their progeny) must leave an existing reservoir and cause infection elsewhere. Infection transmission can take place via many potential routes: The relationship between virulence versus transmissibility is complex; with studies have shown that there were no clear relationship between the two. There is still a small number of evidence that partially suggests

7081-399: The infectious agent does not occur, this limits the ability of PCR to detect the presence of any bacteria. Given the wide range of bacterial, viral, fungal, protozoal, and helminthic pathogens that cause debilitating and life-threatening illnesses, the ability to quickly identify the cause of infection is important yet often challenging. For example, more than half of cases of encephalitis ,

7178-402: The infectious agent, reservoir, entering a susceptible host, exit and transmission to new hosts. Each of the links must be present in a chronological order for an infection to develop. Understanding these steps helps health care workers target the infection and prevent it from occurring in the first place. Infection begins when an organism successfully enters the body, grows and multiplies. This

7275-424: The island and protected it from massive commercial development, still own their homes and other private property on the southern, western and northern regions of the island. Some, however, have sold their property to the National Park Service (NPS), with an agreement that retains their ownership and full property rights during their lifetime. Eventually, their property will be owned by the National Park Service. Since

7372-552: The island for her children. These include: In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, small farmers settled on the north end of the island. Other island residents at this time worked as innkeepers and pilots for St. Andrews Sound. One of these pilots, James Clubb, directed the Wanderer (the last ship to bring slaves from Africa to the United States) to nearby Jekyll Island in 1858. These north end families owned some slaves, and during

7469-484: The island to the federal government. With donations from the Mellon Foundation, Cumberland Island became a unit of the National Park Service, designated Cumberland Island National Seashore . Cumberland Island is actually two islands—the island proper and Little Cumberland Island—connected by a marsh. Little Cumberland is a separate island and not a part of Cumberland Island. As are the private properties on Cumberland Island, Little Cumberland Island has been maintained with

7566-425: The light microscope, and can often rapidly lead to identification. Microscopy is often also used in conjunction with biochemical staining techniques, and can be made exquisitely specific when used in combination with antibody based techniques. For example, the use of antibodies made artificially fluorescent (fluorescently labeled antibodies) can be directed to bind to and identify a specific antigens present on

7663-548: The national seashore was established, a Navy nuclear submarine base has been built on the mainland opposite, which requires frequent dredging to the river so that it will be deep enough. A project to construct a spaceport, known as Spaceport Camden , has proposed to launch rockets from a rural site on the mainland four miles west of Cumberland Island National Seashore. This area hosts endangered right whales as well as many other forms of sea life, including sea turtles and dolphins. Infectious diseases An infection

7760-470: The need for the forts ended. They abandoned the forts and eventually the village disappeared. No trace remains today of Fort William, and most signs of Fort St. Andrews have been washed away. In the 1760s, the island was divided into royal grants but saw little activity. When naturalist William Bartram visited the island in 1774, the island was mostly uninhabited. The Revolutionary War hero Nathanael Greene founded most of southern Cumberland Island as

7857-531: The number of new infections. The specific serological diagnostic identification, and later genotypic or molecular identification, of HIV also enabled the development of hypotheses as to the temporal and geographical origins of the virus, as well as a myriad of other hypothesis. The development of molecular diagnostic tools have enabled physicians and researchers to monitor the efficacy of treatment with anti-retroviral drugs . Molecular diagnostics are now commonly used to identify HIV in healthy people long before

7954-455: The onset of illness and have been used to demonstrate the existence of people who are genetically resistant to HIV infection. Thus, while there still is no cure for AIDS, there is great therapeutic and predictive benefit to identifying the virus and monitoring the virus levels within the blood of infected individuals, both for the patient and for the community at large. Symptomatic infections are apparent and clinical , whereas an infection that

8051-514: The other hand, some infectious agents are highly virulent. The prion causing mad cow disease and Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease invariably kills all animals and people that are infected. Persistent infections occur because the body is unable to clear the organism after the initial infection. Persistent infections are characterized by the continual presence of the infectious organism, often as latent infection with occasional recurrent relapses of active infection. There are some viruses that can maintain

8148-539: The pathogens are present but that no clinically apparent infection (no disease) is present. Different terms are used to describe how and where infections present over time. In an acute infection, symptoms develop rapidly; its course can either be rapid or protracted. In chronic infection, symptoms usually develop gradually over weeks or months and are slow to resolve. In subacute infections, symptoms take longer to develop than in acute infections but arise more quickly than those of chronic infections. A focal infection

8245-457: The target antigen. To aid in the diagnosis of infectious diseases, immunoassays can detect or measure antigens from either infectious agents or proteins generated by an infected organism in response to a foreign agent. For example, immunoassay A may detect the presence of a surface protein from a virus particle. Immunoassay B on the other hand may detect or measure antibodies produced by an organism's immune system that are made to neutralize and allow

8342-559: The taxonomically classified pathogen genomes to generate an antimicrobial resistance profile – analogous to antibiotic sensitivity testing – to facilitate antimicrobial stewardship and allow for the optimization of treatment using the most effective drugs for a patient's infection. Metagenomic sequencing could prove especially useful for diagnosis when the patient is immunocompromised . An ever-wider array of infectious agents can cause serious harm to individuals with immunosuppression, so clinical screening must often be broader. Additionally,

8439-503: The test. For example, " Strep throat " is often diagnosed within minutes, and is based on the appearance of antigens made by the causative agent, S. pyogenes , that is retrieved from a patient's throat with a cotton swab. Serological tests, if available, are usually the preferred route of identification, however the tests are costly to develop and the reagents used in the test often require refrigeration . Some serological methods are extremely costly, although when commonly used, such as with

8536-457: The treaty most of the islands, including Cumberland Island, were ceded to England, thus conflicting with the Spanish claim to the islands. The name of Cumberland Island was given by a young Yamacraw named Toonahowi (the nephew of Chief Tomochichi who visited England with Oglethorpe.) He suggested the island be named for William Augustus, the 13-year-old Prince William, Duke of Cumberland , son of King George II . In 1736 Oglethorpe established

8633-411: The use of live animals unnecessary. Viruses are also usually identified using alternatives to growth in culture or animals. Some viruses may be grown in embryonated eggs. Another useful identification method is Xenodiagnosis, or the use of a vector to support the growth of an infectious agent. Chagas disease is the most significant example, because it is difficult to directly demonstrate the presence of

8730-566: The western edge of the island there are large areas of salt marshes . One will also see gnarled live oak trees covered with Spanish moss and the palmetto plants at the edge of Cumberland's dense maritime forest. Cumberland Island's most famous ecosystem is its beach, which stretches over 17 miles (27 km). The island is home to many native animals, as well as non-native species. There are white-tailed deer , squirrels , raccoons , nine-banded armadillos , wild boars , feral hogs, American alligators , as well as many marshland inhabitants. It

8827-538: The westernmost point of shoreline on the Atlantic Ocean in the United States. The island is 17.5 miles (28.2 km) long, with an area of 36,415 acres (147.37 km or 56.90 square miles), including 16,850 acres (68.2 km ) of marsh , mudflats , and tidal creeks . There is no bridge to the island; it is reached by the Cumberland Ferry from St. Marys . The island has three major ecosystem regions. Along

8924-475: Was a residential area for black workers, as Georgia had passed laws requiring racial segregation of housing and public facilities. The First African Baptist Church, established in The Settlement in 1893, was rebuilt in the 1930s. It is one of the few remaining structures of this community. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, innkeeping was the primary business on the north end. The most prosperous hotel

9021-479: Was by far the largest and most valuable commercial crop , other documented agricultural products such as indigo , rice , and food crops were also grown. Rice sloughs are still visible on the island through satellite imagery. According to national oral history, live oak wood from the island was used to build the USS Constitution , "Old Ironsides", in the 1790s. In 1818, an ill General "Lighthorse" Harry Lee ,

9118-525: Was left on Cumberland Island. By the time of the Civil War , Robert Stafford had become the major planter and landowner on Cumberland Island and one of the largest planters in Camden County. His grave is on the main road of the island. In the 1880s Thomas M. Carnegie , brother of steel magnate Andrew Carnegie , and his wife Lucy bought land on Cumberland for a winter retreat. In 1884, they began building

9215-524: Was located in the High Point area and attracted guests who belonged to the rising middle class. Visitors arrived on steamboats and enjoyed activities such as fishing, hunting, and going to the beach. At the height of the innkeeping era in the 1890s, guests numbered around 750. Black residents of the north end staffed the hotel: they served as waiters, cooks, laundresses, and drivers of the horse-drawn trolleys that transported guests. Hotel Cumberland at High Point

9312-487: Was sold in 1918 and became a private club. The Candler family of Atlanta, associated with Coca-Cola, owned part of the north end. John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette were married on Cumberland Island in 1996, in the First African Baptist Church with their reception taking place at the historic Greyfield Inn. While they filled the church's eight pews with friends and family, no media were permitted at

9409-621: Was thereafter occupied by the Yamasee . By then most of the Mocama had converted to Roman Catholicism as taught to them by the Spanish priests before the island was abandoned. English General James Oglethorpe arrived at the Georgia coast in 1733. In 1735 he made a treaty with the Creek nation, who claimed historic ownership of the coastal islands between the Savannah River and St. Johns River . Under

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