Infection and Response Flashcards
Some ______ are pathogens but all ______ are pathogens.
bacteria, viruses
What do bacteria do to make us ill?
They reproduce rapidly inside our bodies and produce toxins that make us feel ill.
How do viruses make us feel ill?
They insert themselves into a host cell and hijack that cell’s parts to make copies of the virus. These new virus particles can burst out of the cell and infect others.
What are pathogens?
Any microorganism that can cause an infectious disease.
Antibiotics are medicines that can …
kill infective bacteria, such as a chest or ear infection.
Name an antibiotic
Penicillin
Specific _________ target specific __________
antibiotics, bacteria
How does resistance to antibiotics happen?
Through random mutations and natural selection
What can we do to prevent resistance to antibiotics?
Finish the whole antibiotics course.
What is a very strong antibiotic thats only used in bad cases of infection?
Methicillin
Why can’t antibiotics be used to kill viruses?
Antibiotics interfere with one of the life processes that bacteria carry out, but viruses do not carry out life processes. Also, viruses are inside your cells so its hard to kill them without damaging your cells.
Which type of white blood cells ingest pathogens?
Phagocytes
What type of white blood cells produce antibodies or antitoxins?
Lymphocytes
What do antibodies do?
They lock onto particular antigens on the pathogen’s surface. Once the pathogen is coated with antibodies in can be ingested by phagocytes.
How do mutations affect vaccines?
Mutations cause viruses to have slightly different antigens.
