Chapter 6 - Summary Questions Flashcards
What does a vaccine contain?
Small amounts of dead or inactivated pathogens
a) What is an antibiotic?
b) give an example.
a) a drug that kills bacteria in the body
b) penicillin (accept others)
Name two drugs that are extracted from plants.
Digitalis, aspirin (accept others)
What makes a treatment a ‘good medicine’?
A good medicine is effective, safe and stable, and can be taken in and removed from the body easily.
Describe how the polio vaccine works to protect you against polio?
The vaccination contains inactivated polio pathogens (viruses); it triggers the white blood cells to produce antibodies; the antibodies target the polio antigens and destroy them; if you are infected with polio your white blood cells can make antibodies quickly.
Why are antibiotics unable to cure viral diseases?
Viruses reproduce inside the body cells so antibiotics cannot reach them without damaging the cells.
Why is it important to find new antibiotics?
Many bacteria are now resistant to antibiotics currently available so they are not killed by them.
Explain what is meant by a double-blind clinical trial.
Neither the doctor nor the patient knows if they are given the drug or the placebo.
Suggest one disadvantage of using monoclonal antibodies.
One from: side effects; expensive to produce.
What observation was made by Alexander Fleming that prompted him to discover the idea of antibiotics?
He noticed that bacteria were not growing around the area where a mould was growing; he realised the mould made a chemical that killed the bacteria.
Describe how monoclonal antibodies are produced.
A mouse cell that cannot divide is stimulated to make antibodies; the mouse cell is joined to a tumour cell that can divide to make a hybridoma; the hypridoma divides many times to make a clone of cells.
Describe how monoclonal antibodies can be used to trigger the immune system to destroy cancer cells.
The monoclonal antibodies bind to antigens on the cancer cell; the antibodies produce a signal and the white blood cells respond to this, destroying the cancer cell.
