Fighting Disease Flashcards
What are the two main types of pathogen
Bacteria
Viruses
What are bacteria
Very small living cells
What two ways do bacteria make you feel ill
Damage your cells
Produce toxins
What are viruses
They are not cells but they are tiny
How do viruses make you feel ill
They replicate themselves by invading your cells and using the cells machinery to make copies of themselves where the cells will burst
The damage to the cell makes you feel ill
What is your first line of defence against disease
Your skin
Your hair
Your mucus
How does your first line of defence percent microorganisms getting into the body
Platelets (small fragments of cells) help blood clot quickly to seal wounds
How do microorganisms get into your system?
Through cuts
What are white blood cells
They attack foreign microbes in your body
What are the 3 lines of attack for white blood cells
Consume them
Producing antibodies
Producing antitoxins
Explain a white blood cell consuming a foreign pathogen
They engulf and digest them
How does producing antibodies help defend your body
When a white blood cell comes across a foreign antigen, they start to produce antibodies to lock onto and kill invading cells.
What is specific about the antibodies attacking the foreign antigens
They’re specific to that antigen
What does producing antitoxins do
Counteracts toxins produced by the invading bacteria
What happens if a foreign pathogen frets past your line of defence
Your immune system kicks in
What does your immune system use against pathogens
White blood cells
What happens if someone becomes infected with the same pathogen again
The white blood cells store a memory of the pathogen and begin rapidly producing antibodies to kill the antigens
What is natural immunity
The pathogen being remembered by the white blood cells so that it can rapidly produce antibodies again
What happens if you have a low level of White blood cells
More susceptible to infections
What’s an example of a diesease which damaged the immune system
HIV and AIDS
What happens when your immune system is weakened
It gives room for other pathogens to invade
