Pathogens and their classification
| Pathogens | Category | Causative agent | Vector | Some popular virulence factor |
| Plague (Yersinia pestis) | A | Bacterium | Rodent flea | Endotoxin—lipopolysaccharide (LPS), lipid A with poor Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) |
| Smallpox (Variola major) | A | Virus | Infected human | Endotoxin—SPICE, CKBP-II |
| Botulism (clostridium botulinum) | A | Bacteria | toxin, bacteria spore | Exotoxin—neurotoxin |
| Anthrax (Bacillus anthracis) | A | Bacteria | Infected animal | Exotoxin—capsule, lethal toxin, and edema toxin |
| Tularaemia (Francisella tularensis) | A | Bacteria | Skin contact, tick, contaminated water or aerosols, lab exposure, deer fly bites | Unknown, but proteins such as MglA, IglC, AcpA and MinD have been implicated. |
| Viral haemorrhagic fever Filovirus (Ebola) and Arenavirus (Lassa virus) | A | Virus | Infected animal—Ebola, multimammate rat—Lassa virus | Ebola: adherence factor (glycoprotein), VP35 Lassa: Glocoprotein, nucleoprotein |
| Brucellosis (Brucella species) | B | Bacteria | Infected animal | Endotoxin—LPS, T4SS secretion and BvrR/BvrS. |
| Glanders (Burkholderia mallei) | B | Bacteria | affected animals(eg, horses) | Quorum sensing, adhesion, capsular polysaccharide, actin-based motility, LPS |
| melioidosis (Burkholderia pseudomallei) | B | Bacteria | Contaminated water | Endotoxin—LPS |
| Psittacosis (Chlamydia psittaci) | B | Bacteria | Contact with infected birds | Unknown |
| Q Fever (Coxiella burnetti) | B | Bacteria | Contact with animal faeces, milk, products | Endotoxin—LPS |
| Ricin toxin (Ricinus communis) | B | Poison, warfare agent | Castor beans | Toxin |
| Epsilon toxin (clostridium perfringens) | B | Bacteria | Raw meat and poultry | Alpha toxin, kappa toxin |
| Salmonella | B | Bacteria | Food | Invasion factors—type III secretion systems, T3SS1 and T3SS2 |
| Typhus fever (Rickettsia prowazekii) | B | Bacteria | fleas, lice, chiggers | T4SS secretion, Phospholipase A2 |
| Staphylococcal enterotoxin B | B | Bacteria | Food poisoning | TSST-1 |
| Vibrio cholera | B | Bacteria | Contaminated food or water | Cholera toxin |
| Eastern equine encephalitis—Alphaviruses | B | Virus | Infected mosquito | Glocoprotein |
| Nipah virus | C | Virus | Infected animals (bats, pigs) and infected humans. | V and C proteins |
| Hantavirus | C | Virus | Rodents urine, faeces, saliva | Surface glycoproteins G1 and G2, G1 protein |