Lesson 1 Flashcards
What is variolation?
Variolation is when someone receives a little bit of a virus to become immune to it.
What is vaccination?
Vaccination is when a weaker or inactive version of an antigen is released into the body to build up immunity.
How did the smallpox virus play a role in vaccine creation and administration?
Allowed for the testing of all kinds of things. They found that a disease from the same family often can help prevent others (e.g. exposure to cowpox helps build resistance against smallpox). This was later applied to a lot of viruses.
How were vaccines originally administered? How has it changed?
Skin would be cut. The disease would enter through said cut.
In modern times we inject dead cells into our body so that our cells attack it and “learn to fight” the virus.
What is a pathogen?
Pathogens are disease causing organisms.
What is a virus?
Viruses are microscopic organisms that can infect hosts.
What is a vaccination?
Vaccination is when a patient is given weak
or dead pathogens so that they can build up immunity to them.
What is an antigen?
An antigen is something that causes your immune system to produce antibodies against it. Your immune system does not recognize the substance and is trying to “fight” it off.
What is an antibody?
Antibodies are proteins that protect you against unwanted substances that have entered your body. They are produced by your immune system.
What is a virus made of?
Every virus is made of nucleic acid and protein. Enveloped viruses also contain carbohydrate in their glycoprotein peplomers and lipid in their envelope.
What are the various types of virus structures?
Helical viruses (spiral like shape, e.g. is tobacco mosaic virus)
Polyhedral viruses (polyhedron shape, e.g. is adenovirus)
Spherical virus (sphere shape, e.g. is infleunza virus)
Complex (weird turret like shape, e.g. is bacteriophage)
What is viral specificity?
When the protein capsid has to match with the other cell.
