15. Drugs

Question 1

Define ‘drug’.

Answer 1

any substance taken into the body that modifies or affects chemical reactions in the body

Question 2

Why are antibiotics used?

Answer 2

for the treatment of bacterial infections

Question 3

Do antibiotics affect viruses?

Answer 3

NO!

Question 4

What are 5 different methods of pathogen transmission?

Answer 4

air
direct contact
animal vector
food
blood

Question 5

What are antibiotics?

Answer 5

drugs made to kill off microorganisms (bacterial infection)

Question 6

What are many antibiotics made of?

Answer 6

fungi

Question 7

Why are many antibiotics made by fungi?

Answer 7

bacteria and fungi are both decomposers, and they might compete for food, killing each other

Question 8

How does overuse of antibiotics develop bacteria resistance to antibiotics?

Answer 8

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

Question 9

What are two ways to minimise the development of resistant bacteria?

Answer 9

take antibiotics only for bacterial diseases
ensure the treatment is complete

Question 10

Why don’t antibiotics work on viruses?

Answer 10

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