B6 Flashcards
How does vaccination work?
Introducing small amounts of dead or inactive forms of a pathogen into your body to stimulate the white blood cells to produce antibodies
What is herd immunity?
When a large proportion of the population is immune to a disease
What is an antigen?
A unique protien on the surface of every cell
What are antibodies?
Something made by a white blood cell which join up with the antigens and inactive or destroy that particular pathogen
What do painkillers do?
Great the symptoms of disease but do not kill the pathogens that cause it
How do antibiotics cure bacterial diseases?
By killing the bacterial pathogens inside your body
Why don’t antibiotics destroy viruses?
Because viruses reproduce inside the cells and cannot be targeted
How were drugs traditionally extracted?
From plants or microorganisms
Name a drug that were extracted from plants and microorganisms?
Plants- digitalis
Microorganisms- penicillin
Who discovered penicillin?
Alexander Fleming
What are new medical drugs tested for?
Efficacy, toxicity and dosage
What is efficacy?
How effective the drug is at treating disease
What is toxicity?
Wether the drug causes side effects that make the patient ill
What is dosage?
The concentration of the drug to be used and for how long
How are new drugs tested?
By using cells, tissues and live animals
