Infection and Response Flashcards
What are pathogens?
Microorganisms that cause infectious diseases.
What are some ways that pathogens are spread?
Direct contact, water, air, vectors.
What is a vector?
Organisms that carry and pass on a disease without getting infected, themselves.
What are the four main types of diseases?
Viruses, protists, bacteria, fungi.
Give an example of a viral disease.
Measles - fever and rash, spread through the air in water droplets.
HIV/AIDS - attacks immune system, spread through bodily fluids.
Tobacco mosaic virus - discolouration reduces chlorophyll content in the leaves, affecting photosynthesis and plant growth.
What happens if a plant gets tobacco mosaic virus (TMV)?
The discolouration in leaves reduces chlorophyll content which affects photosynthesis and plant growth.
What are features of bacterial diseases?
They damage cells and may produce poisons which damage tissues.
What is an example of a bacterial disease?
Salmonella - food poisoning caused by bacteria, which leads to vomiting, cramps and diarrhoea.
Gonorrhoea - STD caused by bacteria.
What type of cell is bacteria?
Prokaryotic.
What type of organism is a protist?
Single-celled, eukaryotic.
What type of disease is malaria?
Protist disease, caused by a mosquito (vector) carrying it.
What is an example of a fungal disease in plants?
Rose black spot - results in a loss of leaves, which stunts growth and photosynthesis.
Give a few examples of non-specific defences against disease.
Sheets of mucus trap particles and bacteria.
Enzymes in tears destroy microorganisms.
Glands produce hydrochloric acid. which kills bacteria in food.
Describe the process of phagocytosis.
White blood cells finds the invading microorganisms, engulfs them and then digests and destroys them.
What are antibodies?
Special protein molecules which attach to the antigen molecules on pathogens and causes them to clump together so that the white blood cells can digest them.
