Module 7: Infectious Disease

Question 1

Infectious disease

Answer 1

Causes of infectious diseases
Responses to pathogens
Immunity
Prevention, treatment and control

Question 2

How are diseases transmitted?

Answer 2

Variety of infectious diseases caused by pathogens, including microorganisms,
macroorganisms and non-cellular pathogens, and information relating to disease transmission
- classifying different pathogens that cause disease in plants and animals
- investigating the transmission of a disease during an epidemic
- design and conduct a practical investigation relating to the microbial testing of water or food
samples
- investigate modes of transmission of infectious diseases, including direct contact, indirect
contact and vector transmission
Work of Robert Koch and Louis Pasteur, to explain the causes and transmission of infectious diseases
- Koch’s postulates
- Pasteur’s experiments on microbial contamination
Causes and effects of diseases on agricultural production
- plant diseases
- animal diseases
Adaptations of different pathogens that facilitate their entry into and transmission
between hosts

Question 3

How does a plant or animal respond to infection?

Answer 3

Response of a named Australian plant to a named pathogen through practical and/or secondary-sourced investigation
- fungal pathogens
- viral pathogens
Responses to the presence of pathogens by assessing the physical and chemical
changes that occur in the host animals cells and tissues

Question 4

How does the human immune system respond to exposure to a pathogen?

Answer 4

Model the innate and adaptive immune systems in the human body
How the immune system responds after primary exposure to a pathogen, including innate
and acquired immunity

Question 5

How can the spread of infectious diseases be controlled?

Answer 5

Wide range of interrelated factors involved in limiting local, regional and global spread of a named infectious disease
● investigate procedures that can be employed to prevent the spread of disease, including but not
limited to: (ACSBL124)
– hygiene practices
– quarantine
– vaccination, including passive and active immunity (ACSBL100, ACSBL123)
– public health campaigns
– use of pesticides
– genetic engineering
● investigate and assess the effectiveness of pharmaceuticals as treatment strategies for the
control of infectious disease, for example:
– antivirals
– antibiotics
● investigate and evaluate environmental management and quarantine methods used to control an
epidemic or pandemic
● interpret data relating to the incidence and prevalence of infectious disease in populations, for
example:
– mobility of individuals and the portion that are immune or immunised (ACSBL124,
ACSBL125)
– Malaria or Dengue Fever in South East Asia
● evaluate historical, culturally diverse and current strategies to predict and control the spread of
disease (ACSBL125)
● investigate the contemporary application of Aboriginal protocols in the development of particular
medicines and biological materials in Australia and how recognition and protection of Indigenous
cultural and intellectual property is important, for example:
– bush medicine
– smoke bush in Western Australia