Antibiotics And Other Medicines

Question 1

how do antibiotics work

Answer 1

• by inhibiting the process of bacterial cells

- but not the cells in the host organisms

Question 2

what is an example of how antibiotics work

Answer 2

• some antibiotics inhibit the process of bacterial cells building cell walls
• this prevents the bacteria from dividing and eventually kills them
• but it has no effect on the cells of the human host which dont have cell walls

Question 3

why is it important to be treated with the right antibiotic

Answer 3

because different antibiotics kill different types of bacteria

Question 4

what cant antibiotics destroy and why

Answer 4

• they cant destroy viruses such as the flu or cold viruses
• because viruses produce using your bodys cells
• which makes it very difficult to develop drugs that destroy just the virus
• without killing the body cells

Question 5

what is the very first step to the development of a drug

Answer 5

first the drug has to be discovered

Question 6

what is an example of the first step of drug development begin followed

Answer 6

• penecillin was discovered by alexander fleming when he was clearing out petri dishes containing bacteria
• he noticed that one of the dishes had mould on it
• and the area around the mould was free of bacteria
• the mould was producing penecillin, which was killing the bacteria

Question 7

what do scientists now use their knowledge of how a disease works for

Answer 7

trying and identifying molecules that could be used as drugs to fight the disease

Question 8

what needs to be done once a new potential drug has been discovered and what are the two phases it has to go through

Answer 8

• it needs to be developed

- this involves preclinical and clinical testing

Question 9

what happens during preclinical testing

Answer 9

• drugs are first tested on human cells and tissues in the lab
• next is to test the drug on live animals
• this is to test that the drug works to find out how toxic it is and to find the best dosage

Question 10

why is there a limit to how effective it is to test on human cells and tissue

Answer 10

• you can’t use them to test drugs that affect whole or multiple body systems
• such as a drug for blood pressure having to be tested on live animals

Question 11

what is the definition of a drug that works when you are testing it

Answer 11

it produces the effect you are looking for

Question 12

what happens next if the drug passes the tests on animals and what is this stage called

Answer 12

• it is then tested on human volunteers in a clinical trial

- this is the clinical testing

Question 13

who is the drug tested on first and why

Answer 13

• it is firstly tested on healthy volunteers

- to make sure that it doesnt have any harmful side effects when the body is working normally

Question 14

what happens if the results of the healthy volunteers are good and what is done

Answer 14

• the drug can be tested on people with the illness

- the optimum dose is then found

Question 15

what is the optimum dose

Answer 15

• the dose of the drug that is the most effective

- and has the fewest side effects

Question 16

what is the process of testing the drug on ill people specifically

Answer 16

• patients are randomly put into two groups
• one is given a new drug and the other group is given a placebo
• this is to allow for the placebo effect

Question 17

what is a placebo and what is the placebo effect

Answer 17

• a placebo is a substance that looks like the drug being tested
• but it doesnt do anything, like a sugar pill
• the placebo effect is when the patients expect the treatment to work and so feels better
• eventhough the treatment isnt doing anything

Question 18

what does it mean if the clinical test is blind

Answer 18

• the patients in the study dont know whether they are getting the drug or the placebo
• if it is double blind, it means that neither the patients nor the doctors know until all the results have been gathered

Question 19

why are some clinical tests double blind

Answer 19

so that the doctors monitoring the patients and analysing the results arent subconsciously influenced by their knowledge

Question 20

what happens after a drug has passed all the preclinical and clinical tests

Answer 20

• it still needs to be approved by the medical agency
• before it can be used to treat patients
• all of this means that drugs are as effective and safe as possible