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A Level Biology > Communicable Diseases > Flashcards

Communicable Diseases Flashcards

1
Q

Characteristics of viruses?

A

Smaller than bacteria, non-living, invade cells and multiply inside causing them to burst

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1
Q

Characteristics of bacteria?

A

Larger, prokaryotic, don’t have membrane-bound organelles, produce toxins to make you feel ill

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2
Q

How do you stain bacteria?

A

Gram-positive looks purple-blue under a microscope and Gram-negative appears red

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3
Q

What is a parasite?

A

An organism that feeds off a host at their expense

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4
Q

Characteristics of fungi?

A

Eukaryotic, found on plants, makes plants unable to photosynthesise and digest food, kills the plant

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5
Q

Name all the plant diseases?

A

Ring rot, Tobacco Mosaic Virus, Potato Blight, Black Sigatoka

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6
Q

Symptoms of ring rot?

A

Bacterial disease, Gram-positive, Effects the leaves, tubers and fruit, Destroys the crop and has no cure

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7
Q

Tobacco Mosaic Virus symptoms?

A

Viral infection, damages leaves making them look all discoloured, prevents photosynthesis, no cure, treat by cutting infected leaves, leads to crop loss

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8
Q

Potato blight?

A

Fungal infection, dark brown patches on leaves around edges going towards middle, remove infected plants, insecticides, prevent by cleaning equipment, spread plants far apart

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9
Q

Explain Black Sigatoka?

A

Fungal disease, turns leaves black, hyphae digests the cells, reduces crop yield, use fungicides to treat

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10
Q

Tuberculosis?

A

Bacterial disease, caused by mycobacterium tuberculosis, destroys the lung tissue and suppresses the immune system, take antibiotics to treat, spread by droplet inhalation

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11
Q

Explain bacterial meningitis?

A

Bacterial infection, effects the meninges of the brain, can spread to the rest of the body and causes blood poisoning, affects 15-19 year olds typically, a symptom is a red/purple rash appears once glass is pressed to skin, treated by antibiotics, can get vaccinated from it

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12
Q

HIV/AIDS?

A

Viral infection, destroys the immune system and makes people susceptible to other diseases, transmitted by exchange of bodily fluids, sharing needles and unprotected sex, use drugs to slow the process down, no cure or vaccine yet

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13
Q

Influenza?

A

Viral infection, targets ciliated epithelium cells involved in gas exchange, can be fatal, leaves always open for secondary infection, 3 strands of it (A, B and C) Can be prevented with vaccination, the virus can mutate

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14
Q

Malaria?

A

Protist, spread by mosquitoes as vectors, infects red blood cells, the liver and the brain, symptoms are like the flu, prevent spread by using mosquito nets

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15
Q

What type of mosquitoes spread malaria?

A

Anopheles (female mosquitoes)

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16
Q

What is ring worm?

A

Fungal disease, causes grey-white, crusty, infectious, circular areas on the skin, treated by anti fungal creams, spread by direct contact

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17
Q

Athlete’s foot?

A

Fungal disease, causes cracking, spread by contact on clothes or towels, treated with anti-fungal creams

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18
Q

What are the three types of direct contact?

A

Direct contact (kissing, STDs, skin), Inoculation (animal bite, break in skin), Ingestion (contaminated food)

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19
Q

Different types of indirect transmission?

A

Fomites (inanimate objects), Droplet inhalation and Vectors

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20
Q

Factors effecting transmission?

A

Overcrowding, Poor nutrition, Compromised immune system, Climate, Hygiene

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21
Q

Non-specific defenses of mammals?

A

HCL stomach acid, skin acting as a barrier, blood clotting, inflammatory response, mucus membranes, cilia, expulsive reflexes

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22
Q

Explain the inflammatory response?

A

Histamine (dilates blood, more leaky) and cytokines (attract phagocytes) are released. Red, high temps and swelling occurs

23
Q

Explain how blood clots?

A

An enzyme cascade is triggered by thromboplastin making a blood clot. Serotonin is released constricting blood flow to area. Clot dries and toughens

24
Q

Physical plant defences?

A

Deposition of callose in the plasmodesmata blocking pores, lignin acting as barrier

25
Q

Chemical defenses in plants?

A

Terpenoids, toxins and insect repellents

26
Q

Describe the process of phagocytosis?

A

Phagocytes recognize non-human antigens, phagocyte engulfs pathogen becoming a phagosome, this combines with lysosome forming a phagolysosome, enzymes digest and destroy pathogen

27
Q

What is an opsonin?

A

Chemicals that bind and ‘tag’ pathogens making more recognizable to phagocytes

28
Q

What in an antibody?

A

A Y-shaped glycoprotein called immunoglobins which bind to specific antigens

28
Q

What is it called when the antibody has bound to an antigen?

A

Antigen-antibody complex

28
Q

Structure of an antibody?

A

2 heavy and 2 light chains, held together by disulfide bridges, variable region for antigen binding sites, constant region too, hinge for flexibility

28
Q

Ways that antibodies defend the body?

A

Agglutination, Neutralization, Anti-toxins, Opsonin

28
Q

What produces antibodies?

A

Plasma cells

28
Q

Role of T helper cells?

A

Bind to APC’s and produce interleukins

28
Q

What do interleukins do?

A

Stimulates the activity of B cells for humoral immunity

28
Q

What do memory cells contribute to?

A

The immunological memory

29
Q

Role of T regulator cells?

A

They suppress the immune system once pathogen eliminated, prevents autoimmune disease

29
Q

Where are B and T cells matured?

A

B cells = Bone marrow
T cells = Thymus

29
Q

Describe the process of cell-mediated immunity?

A

Macrophage APCs bind with a T helper cell to release interleukins and stimulate mitosis into T memory cells or T killer cells

30
Q

What is clonal selection?

A

Selecting the best B cell for the particular antigen

31
Q

What is clonal expansion?

A

The activated B cells dividing by mitosis into plasma and memory cells

31
Q

Difference in primary and secondary immune response?

A

Primary can take days or weeks, secondary uses memory cells to produce correct antibody quicker, more efficient

31
Q

What is an autoimmune disease?

A

When the body stops recognizing ‘self’ cells and attacks healthy body tissue

32
Q

Examples of autoimmune diseases?

A

Lupus, arthritis and type 1 diabetes

33
Q

How are autoimmune diseases treated?

A

Immunosuppressant drugs

33
Q

Natural immunity?

A

Natural Active - The immune response
Natural Passive - Antibodies from mothers milk/ placenta

34
Q

Artificial immunity?

A

Artificial Active - Vaccination
Artificial Passive - Antibodies injected

35
Q

How does a vaccine work?

A

Dead/ inactive pathogens are injected into the blood, primary response triggered to produce antibodies and memory cells so that secondary response will be quicker

36
Q

What is an epidemic?

A

When a communicable disease spreads rapidly to a lot of people at a local level

37
Q

What is a pandemic?

A

When a disease spreads rapidly on a global level

38
Q

Herd immunity?

A

When a significant number of the population have been vaccinated and have developed immunity, disease dies out

39
Q

Different sources of medicine?

A

Willow is used for aspirin (painkiller), foxgloves is used for digoxin (heart disease) and extraction from mold developed penicillin

40
Q

Pharmacogenomics?

A

A combination of drugs that work with your genetics and disease - personal medicine

40
Q

What is synthetic biology?

A

Genetic engineering of modified bacteria

41
Q

3 things that drugs need to be tested to find out?

A

Toxicity, effectiveness and dosage

42
Q

Examples of antibiotic-resistant bacteria?

A

MRSA and C. diff

A Level Biology (15 decks)

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