15. Drugs Flashcards
Define ‘drug’.
any substance taken into the body that modifies or affects chemical reactions in the body
Why are antibiotics used?
for the treatment of bacterial infections
Do antibiotics affect viruses?
NO!
What are 5 different methods of pathogen transmission?
air
direct contact
animal vector
food
blood
What are antibiotics?
drugs made to kill off microorganisms (bacterial infection)
What are many antibiotics made of?
fungi
Why are many antibiotics made by fungi?
bacteria and fungi are both decomposers, and they might compete for food, killing each other
How does overuse of antibiotics develop bacteria resistance to antibiotics?
overuse creates a selection pressure for resistant bacteria
bacteria randomly mutate and become resistant
antibiotic kills non-resistant bacteria
resistant bacteria survives and reproduces
the whole population of bacteria becomes resistant
What are two ways to minimise the development of resistant bacteria?
take antibiotics only for bacterial diseases
ensure the treatment is complete
Why don’t antibiotics work on viruses?
viruses have no cell walls; several antibiotics damage bacteria cell wall to kill them
viruses use metabolic pathway of host; difficult to kill virus without hurting host cells
