Fighting disease Flashcards
What is a pathogen? Give two examples.
A micro organism that causes disease.
Bacteria and Viruses.
How do bacteria make you feel ill?
They damage your cells and produce toxins.
How do viruses make copies of themselves.
Invading the host cell and using its machinery to make tons of copies of themselves.
How does the host cell get damaged?
All of the viruses cause it to burst, releasing all the viruses into the body and making us ill.
Give three ways in which white blood cells can neutralise pathogens.
- Engulf and digest them
- Produce anti-bodies which lock onto and kill pathogens
- Produce anti-toxins which counteract toxins produced by bacteria
Describe how vaccination works against diseases.
First the dead or inactive pathogen is injected into our body and the anti gens on the outside cause our white blood cells to produce anti-bodies to kill the pathogens, therefore if the pathogen invades the same body the white blood cells will produce the same anti-body so you don’t get ill.
What can kill bacteria but not viruses?
Antibiotics.
How do bacteria become resistant to antibiotics?
They mutate and some mutations cause the bacteria to become resistant to anti-biotics.
How can we slow down the speed at which resistant bacteria develop?
By not over-using antibiotics.
