Antiviral Medication Flashcards
why are viruses hard to stop?
small size, doesn’t have a cell wall, spreads faster
what is a virus made of?
made up of a protein capsule containing DNA or RNA and requires a host cell to reproduce and more viruses
what do antiviral medicines achieve?
decreases the severity and duration of illness
3 ways that antiviral medication works
interfering with virus replication, blocks virus from entering cell, interfering with release of newly-formed viruses
oseltamivir (tamiflu) and zanamivir (relenza)
referred to as neuraminidase inhibitors, since they both work to inactivate neuraminidase, so the virus is not able to leave or detach itself from the host cell
how do antiviral medicines block viruses?
blocks the exit of newly-made viruses from the host cell by cutting through the cell membrane and leaving a hole in the membrane of host cell, leading to cell death
difference between oseltamivir and zanamivir
zanamivir has a carboxyl group and multiple hydroxyl groups, making it more soluble in polar solvents than oseltamivir
antiviral medicine as a prophylactic
used on individuals that have come in close contact with those infected (receiving a vaccine is more effective than this)
antigenic drift
small errors during replication cause alterations to the virus’s surface proteins, creating a new strain that may evade the immune system and infect host cells, bypassing immunity from previous strains.
antigenic shift
when multiple virus strains infect a single cell, they generate a hybrid strain with a blend of surface proteins, evading immune recognition and defense.
how are HIVs transmitted?
can only be transmitted by certain bodily fluids
how does HIV attack the body?
attacks the T-cells that contain CD4 antigen (part of body’s immune response) to reproduce virus which gets realeased due to CD4 cells bursting open
what type of virus is HIV
retrovirus as it contains a single strand of RNA compared to a double strand of DNA
how does antiviral medicine work on HIV?
includes additional step of converting RNA to DNA to make virus more prone to mutation
antiretroviral treatment
mixture of different ART drugs to target different stages of retrovirus life cycle
