6.2 Antibiotics And Painkillers Flashcards
What are painkillers
Chemicals that relieve symptoms but do not kill the pathogens.
Examples of painkillers
Paracetamol, aspirin
Why do painkillers not cure you?
- They relieve symptoms but do not kill the pathogens, so they don’t cure you any faster
What are antibiotics?
Substances that slow down or stop the growth of bacteria (not viruses)
Why do antibiotics not work on viruses?
Viruses reproduce inside the cells of your body. It is extremely difficult to develop drugs that will kill the viruses without damaging the cells and tissues of your body at the same time.
How do bacteria become resistant to antibiotics?
- random mutations occur in the genes of individual bacterial cells
- some mutations protect the bacterial cell from the effects of the antibiotic
- bacteria without the mutation die or cannot reproduce when the antibiotic is present
- resistant bacteria can reproduce with less competition from normal bacterial strains
Why is antibiotic resistance a problem?
- antibiotics which used to kill a type of bacteria no longer have an effect
- some types of bacteria are resistant to all known antibiotics
- unless scientists discover new antibiotics soon, we may no longer be able to cure bacterial diseases
What type of pathogen do you prescribe antibiotics for?
Bacterial infections
What are antiseptics
Chemicals that kill microorganisms outside the body
What are disinfectants
Antimicrobial agents that are applied to surface of non-living objects to destroy microorganisms that are living on the object
Describe how antibiotic drugs work and dont damage your body when correctly prescribed
Damage bacterial cells without harming your own cells
explain how antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria have evolved (4 marks)
- there are bacteria with a random mutation that causes resistance to an antibiotic
- they survive and pass on their DNA
- non-resistant bacteria are killed
- so the proportion of antibiotic-resistant bacteria increases
