Fighting Disease - Drugs

Created by

Kia

Cards (18)

Painkiller are drugs that relieve pain
Painkillers don't kill pathogens they just reduce symptoms
antibiotics kill bacteria without harming the body's cells. different types of antibiotics kill different types of bacteria
antibiotics don't work for viruses because they reproduce using your body cells so it's difficult to develop something that doesn't damage your body cells
bacteria can mutate causing them to be resistant to an antibiotic
bacteria can be resistant to antibiotics when you have an infection
to slow down the rate development of resistant strains it important to not overprescribe antibiotics.
many drugs originally come from plants
aspirin is used as a painkiller and lower fever
the chemical used in aspirin is found in willow
digitalis is used to treat heart conditions. the chemical is found in foxgloves
Stage One (Drug Testing) :
In preclinical testing drugs are tested on human cells and tissues in a lab
However, you cannot use human cells or tissues for drugs that effect whole body systems
Stage Two (Drug Testing) :
The next steps in preclinical testing is to test drugs on live animals to test its efficacy (Whether the drug produces the correct effect) to find it toxicity and to find the best dosage.
The British law states that drugs must be tested on two live mammals.
In stage three of drug testing, the drug is first tested on human volunteers in a clinical trial to check for harmful side effects.
The drug is then tested on people with an illness to find the optimum dosage, which is most effective and has the fewest side effects.
During clinical trials, patients are randomly put into two groups, one is given the new drug, the other is given the placebo, to see the difference of working drugs and a placebo.
Clinical tests are blind, neither the patient nor doctor knows which is the placebo until all results are collected.
The results of drug testing aren't published until they've been through peer review to prevent false claims.