When his boss called to complain that the time-sensitive documents he was waiting for still hadn't arrived, Victor worried that the courier responsible for delivery may secretly be on their competitor's payroll and had sabotaged them on purpose.
Virulence factors are molecules produced by pathogens (bacteria, viruses, fungi and protozoa) that contribute to the pathogenicity of the organism and enable them to achieve the following: 1  colonization of a niche in the host (this includes attachment to cells). 2  immunoevasion, evasion of the host's immune response.
* obtain nutrition from the host. Virulence factors are very often responsible for causing disease in the host as they inhibit certain host functions. Adherence Factors: Many pathogenic bacteria colonize mucosal sites by using pili (fimbriae) to adhere to cells.