Effectiveness of pharmaceuticals as treatment strategies

Question 1

What are antibiotics?

Answer 1

Are used to treat bacterial infections only. They are chemicals that are capable of destroying, or inhibiting, the growth of the bacteria without destroying the host.

Question 2

What are antivirals?

Answer 2

It Is used to treat viral infections, inhibiting development inside infected cells and reducing the severity of symptoms .

Question 3

List an advantage and disadvantage of using antibiotics

Answer 3

Positives
Due to different cell structures, e.g. cell walls, bacteria are more easily targeted than viruses. An example is penicillin made by Alexander Fleming, saving 200 million lives.

Negatives
People can be allergic to them
Overuse can result in resistance
Can cause side effects such as stomach ache and nausea

Question 4

List an advantage and disadvantage of using antivirals

Answer 4

Positives
Antivirals can be designed to target specific viral pathogens.
They can significantly improve the health outcomes and life expectancy of infected individuals.

        Negatives  Antivirals are difficult to develop as the virus uses the host cell to replicate and you don’t want to kill the host cell  The problem is further complicated by the very high mutation rates of viruses. This leads to drug-resistance