(T4.3, L8) Antibiotics and Painkillers

Question 1

What do painkillers do?

Answer 1

Relieve pain and symptoms but do not tackle the cause.

Question 2

What do antibiotics do? (2)

Answer 2

Kill the bacteria causing the problem but do not work on viruses. Viruses are hard to kill as they live inside the body’s cells.

Question 3

How do antibiotic-resistant bacteria reproduce?

Answer 3

Antibiotics kill non-resistant bacteria but mutated, resistant bacteria survive and quickly reproduce to form a newly mutated population.

Question 4

What do antiviral drugs do to you? (2)

Answer 4

Cause awful side effects as they harm your cells in order to fight viruses. Doctors will not prescribe these drugs unless absolutely necessary, they will tell you to take painkillers.