Vaccines, drugs and development of drugs Unfinished Flashcards
How does a vaccine work?
-A vaccine injects a small quantities of dead or inactive
pathogen into the body
-The modified pathogen has antigens on its outer surface
-Inside the body, the antigens stimulate white blood cells
to produce antibodies
-The specific antibodies attach to the antigen as if it were
a live pathogen and white cells produce memory cells
-Memory cells stay in your blood and quickly make the
same antibodies when the live pathogen infects you.
How do vacciness reduce the spread of a pathogen?
By immunising a large proportion of the population, the pathogen is readuced as there are less popel to cathc teh disease from
What can happen to epidemics due to vaccines?
Due to vaccines, epidemics can be prevented through herd immunity
What is an antibiotic?
An antibiotic is a drug that helps to cure a bacterial disease by killing the infective bacteria inside the body.
Can antibiotics be used to treat viral diseases?
Antibiotics cannot be used to treat viral pathogens.
Why is it difficult to develop drugs that kill/treat viruses?
It is difficult to develop drugs to kill viruses without harming body tissues because viruses live and reproduce inside cells.
What has the use of antibiotics resulted in?
Using antibiotics has greatly reduced deaths.
What type diseases can antibiotics cure?
Bacterial diseases
What is a well known example of an anitbiotic?
Penicillan
What is happening to strains of diseases?
There are antibiotic resistant strains of disease meaning that they cannot treated by existing antibiotics.
What is important when treating bacterial diseases with antibiotics?
It is important specific bacteria should be treated by specific antibodies
What are painkillers & other medicines use to treat?
Painkillers & other medicines use to treat symptoms of disease but don’t kill pathogens.
