vaccination

• how do vaccines work?

  • dead or inactive pathogens are put inside body
  • white blood cells are stimulated to produce antibodies
  • a memory white blood cell memorises the antibody used to destroy the antigen
  • if the same pathogen re-enters, the white blood cells can produce the correct antibody and kill the pathogen
• what is herd immunity?

  • if al are proportion of the population are immune to a disease, the spread of the pathogen is greatly reduced
• how do antibiotics and painkillers work?

  • painkillers reduce symptoms but do not kill pathogens
  • outside the body, antiseptics and disinfectants but they are poisonous inside the body
  • antibiotics work inside the body to kill bacterial pathogens. strains of antibiotic resistant bacteria can be found.