6.2 Antibiotics and painkillers

Question 1

Describe the difference between drugs such as paracetamol and drugs such as Penicillin

Answer 1

-Paracetamol treats symptoms, not disease

Penicillin treats disease

Question 2

Explain why it is more difficult to develop medicines against viruses than it has been to develop antibiotics

Answer 2

Viral pathogens reproduce inside body cells, so it is very difficult to develop drugs that destroy them without
destroying body cells too.

Bacteria exist outside body cells and are different from human cells, so antibiotics can target bacterial cells without hurting body cells.

Question 3

Suggest reasons for a fall in death rates of mothers around the time of birth between 1930 and 1940
3 reasons

Answer 3

• improved hygiene standards.
• introduction of antibiotics (infection could be treated and cured).
• Hospital births increasingly common, doctors on hand to spot symptoms of infection and prescribe antibiotics.

Question 4

Why is the emergence of antibiotic - resistant bacteria cause for concern for women having babies

Answer 4

• Antibiotics have reduced rate of deaths from women having babies
• Emergence of antibiotic resistant bacteria makes the antibiotics ineffective.
• Without effective antibiotics rate of deaths could increase and thousands of women could die from infections after giving birth.

Question 5

What bacteria does antiseptic and disinfectants kill?

Answer 5

bacteria outside the body. It is poisonous if used inside the body

Question 6

true or false

Antibiotics kill bacteria (not viruses) IN the body

Answer 6

True

Question 7

When did antibiotics first become widely available

Answer 7

1940’s

known as the wonder drug

Question 8

True or false
Antibiotics can kill viral pathogens

Explain why

Answer 8

False
viruses reproduce inside the cells in your body = extremely difficult to develop drugs that will kill the viruses without damaging the cell and tissues of your body at the same time