The correct word to fill the gap is pathogens.
What are pathogens?
Pathogens are microbes that are capable of causing diseases or abnormalities in people that are healthy.
Microbes that are not capable of causing diseases are referred to as non-pathogenic.
It is derived from the Greek words "pathos' which means 'suffering' and 'genes' which means 'producer of'.
More on pathogens can be found here: https://brainly.com/question/18918957
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