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Biology A Level Content > 4.1.1 Communicable Diseases, Disease Prevention and the Immune System > Flashcards

4.1.1 Communicable Diseases, Disease Prevention and the Immune System Flashcards

1
Q

What are the features of a bacteria cell?

A
  • Capsule
  • Peptidoglycan cell wall (maintains shape and prevents cell from bursting)
  • 70s ribosomes
  • Cytoplasm
  • Flagellum (for movement)
  • DNA/nucleoid (controls cell’s activities and replication of the cell)
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2
Q

What is gram positive bacteria?

A
  • Looks purple/blue under a light microscope
  • Stained with crystal violet
    E.g. MRSA
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3
Q

What is gram negative bacteria?

A
  • Looks red under a light microscope
  • Stained with safranin
    E.g. E. coli
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4
Q

What are the different shapes and examples of bacteria?

A
  • Cocci (spherical) e.g. Staphylococcus aureus that causes acne
  • Vibrio (curved) e.g. Vibrio cholerae causes cholera
  • Bacilli (rod-shaped) e.g. Escherichia coli causes food poisoning
  • Spirilli (spiral) e.g. Helicobacter pylon causes stomach ulcers
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5
Q

What are the characteristics of different shapes of bacteria?

A
  • Cocci have less surface area per volume than bacilli or spirrilum so can survive in dryer environments
  • Bacilli and vibrio have a greater SA:V ratio so take up nutrients from dilute solutions more efficiently
  • Spirilli move with a corkscrew motion so meet less resistance from surrounding water
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6
Q

How do bacteria reproduce?

A
  • Binary fission
  • One bacterium can divide into two bacteria every 20 minutes
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7
Q

What are the problems with bacteria reproducing so quickly?

A
  • Food spoilage
  • Spread of disease
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8
Q

How do bacteria cause disease?

A
  • Produce toxins and cause symptoms by cell damage
  • Damage cell membranes, enzymes (affecting metabolic activity) or genetic material
  • Antigens on bacteria
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9
Q

What are the characteristics of tuberculosis (TB)?

A
  • Caused by myobacterium tuberculosis
  • Attacks the lungs
  • Symptoms include a cough, pain in the chest, coughing up blood, weight loss, fever
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10
Q

What are the characteristics of bacterial meningitis?

A
  • Caused by neisseria meningitidis (meningococcus)
  • Symptoms include fever, vomiting, rash on the skin, stiff neck, bruising on skin
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11
Q

What are the characteristics of ring rot?

A
  • Caused by clavibacter sepedonicus
  • Plants wilt
  • Soft cheese like rotting of the vascular wall
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12
Q

What are the features of a bacteriophage (virus)?

A
  • Injection tube
  • Protein coat
  • Loose genetic material
  • Tail plate
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13
Q

How do bacteriophages invade living cells?

A
  • The virus attaches to a specific host cell
  • The genetic material from the virus is injected into the host cell
  • The viral genes cause the host cell to make new viruses
  • The host cell splits open, releasing the new virus
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14
Q

What are the features of a retro virus (e.g. HIV)?

A
  • Capsid
  • RNA + protein
  • Enzymes (reverse transcriptase)
  • Matrix
  • Envelope (phospholipid bilayer)
  • gp120 and gp41 - glycoprotein spike specific (complementary to CD4 receptor)
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15
Q

How does a retrovirus replicate?

A
  • Single stranded RNA instead of DNA
  • Reverse transcriptase enzyme uses RNA as a template to make SSDNA
  • DNA polymerase enzyme then makes double stranded DNA
  • This is then attached to the host DNA
  • Host cell is now able to make new viruses which travel to the host membrane to be released
  • Exocytosis gets it out
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16
Q

What are the characteristics of HIV/AIDS?

A
  • Fever
  • Weakness
  • Weight loss
  • Swollen lymph glands
  • Diarrhoea
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17
Q

What are the characteristics of influenza?

A
  • Fever
  • Chills
  • Irritation of upper respiratory tract
  • Cough
  • Sore throat
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18
Q

What are the characteristics of tobacco mosaic virus?

A
  • Discolouration of the leaves of the tobacco plant
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19
Q

What are the features of a fungus cell?

A
  • Cell wall
  • Nucleus
  • Cell membrane
  • Cytoplasm
  • Vacuole
  • Mitochondria
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20
Q

What are the characteristics of cattle ringworm?

A
  • Circular ring shaped scales or plaques
  • Flat patches with raised border
  • Itchy skin
21
Q

What are the characteristics of athlete’s foot?

A
  • Caused by dermatophyte and sweat
  • Symptoms include scaly, peeling cracked skin between toes, itchy feet, inflamed skin
22
Q

What are the characteristics of black sigatoka?

A
  • Caused by ascomycte fungus, mycophaerella fijiensis
  • Symptoms include reddish brown spots and streaks on underside of leaves
23
Q

What are the features of protoctista?

A
  • Uncellular
  • Have a nucleus
    E.g. amoeba and plasmodium (plasmodium falciparum causes malaria)
24
Q

What are the characteristics of blight in potatoes/tomatoes?

A
  • Caused by phytophthora infestans
  • Symptoms include brown and rotting, shriveled leaves, dark brown legions on leaves, yellow leaves
25
Q

What are the characteristics of malaria?

A
  • Caused by plasmodium
  • Symptoms include fever, chills, sweating, headache, muscle pain and yellow skin/whites of eyes
26
Q

What are the methods of direction transmission of animal communicable pathogens?

A
  • Direct contact
  • Innoculation
  • IngestionH
27
Q

How does direct contact transmit animal communicable pathogens?

A
  • Contact with body fluids (e.g. kissing)
  • Skin to skin (ringworm, athlete’s foot)
  • Microbes from faeces (diarrhoea diseases)
28
Q

How does innoculation transmit animal communicable pathogens?

A
  • Break in the skin
  • Animal bite
  • Puncture wound/sharing needles
29
Q

How does ingestion transmit animal communicable pathogens?

A
  • Taking in contaminated food or drink
  • Transferring pathogens from hand to mouth
30
Q

What are the methods of indirect transmission between animals?

A
  • Fomites
  • Droplet infection
  • Vectors
31
Q

How do fomites transmit animal communicable pathogens?

A
  • Inanimate objects (e.g. bedding, socks, cosmetics)
  • Carry and spread pathogens
32
Q

How does droplet infection transmit animal communicable pathogens?

A
  • Droplets of saliva and mucus are expelled from your mouth as you talk, cough or sneeze
  • Others breathe this in and are contaminated
33
Q

How do vectors transmit animal communicable pathogens?

A
  • Transmits disease from one host to another
  • Mosquitos transmit malaria
  • Rat fleas transmit bubonic plague
  • Water can transmit diarrhoea diseases
34
Q

What factors increase the transmission of communicable disease in animals?

A
  • Bad diet
  • Socioeconomic factors
  • Poor disposal of waste
  • Culture
  • Climate change
  • Infrastructure
  • Drought
  • Famine
  • Compromised immune system (e.g. HIV/AIDS)
  • Overcrowding
35
Q

How are the eyes a primary non-specific defence?

A
  • Protected by tears and REM (rapid eye movement)
  • REM pushes microbes to front of eye
  • Tears contain water, salts and lysosomes
  • Microbes die in salty conditions
36
Q

How is the nose a primary non-specific defence?

A
  • Full of hair and mucus which trap microbes and then you blow it out or shift it to the back of your throat and swallow it
  • Mucus contains lysozymes which destroy bacteria and fungal cell walls and phagocytes
37
Q

How is the mouth a primary non-specific defence?

A
  • Saliva contains antibacterial enzymes
38
Q

How are the ears a primary non-specific defence?

A
  • Wax traps mucus
39
Q

How is mucus in the airways a primary non-specific defence?

A
  • Mucus traps microbes and ciliated epithelial cells waft it to the back of the throat
40
Q

How are tears/sweat a primary non-specific defence?

A
  • Contain antibacterial enzymes
41
Q

How is skin a primary non-specific defence?

A
  • Massive protective barrier covering the entire body
  • Prevents entry
  • Produces sebum which inhibits growth of pathogens
42
Q

How is the gut a primary non-specific defence?

A
  • Good gut bacteria out compete the bad
43
Q

How is the vagina a primary non-specific defence?

A
  • Female cycle ensure that most microbes are ejected from the vagina every 28 days with the uterine wall
44
Q

How is the penis a primary non-specific defence?

A
  • Urine is a mixture of water and urea
  • A toxic substance made from products of broken down protein
  • Microbes don’t live in these conditions
  • Urine contains lysozymes
45
Q

How is the anus a primary non-specific defence?

A
  • Most microbes are ejected from the anus with faeces
46
Q

How is the stomach a primary non-specific defence?

A
  • Stomach acid is pH 2
  • Low pH kills harmful microbes
47
Q

How is blood clotting a primary non-specific defence?

A
  • Blood clots to prevent pathogens from getting in
  • Thromboplastin is released which causes the clot
  • Seratonin contracts capillaries to reduce blood loss
48
Q

How are expulsive reflexes a primary non-specific defence?

A
  • Coughing and sneezing
  • Expels foreign objects automatically

Biology A Level Content (9 decks)

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