infection and response

• what is an infectious disease

  a disease that is caused by a pathogen that can be spread from one individual to another
• what is a non infectious disease

  a disease caused by the body malfunctioning, lifestyle or environment
• what is a pathogen

  a micro organism that causes diseases
• what is bacteria

  prokaryotes, tiny cells that reproduce rapidly in your body
• bacteria can cause harm by

  multiplying in the body, producing toxins which harm your body
• viruses are

  not cells, so small they have to be viewed with an electron microscope
• viruses cant

  be killed by antibiotics
• how do viruses cause harm

  by getting inside cells and using DNA to make more, and the viruses burst the cell open
• what is an airborne infection

  cough sneezing breathing (eg cold)
• direct contact

  skin to skin
• what can eating contaminated food cause

  salmonella
• if a pathogen enters the body

  immune white blood cells help to defend by ingesting
• what are white blood cells

  blood cells that perform the function of destroying disease-causing microorganisms
• what is a vector

  a small organism that carries pathogens from person to person
• what are vaccinations

  when you introduce a small amount of dead/inactive pathogens to simulate white blood cells to produce antibodies
• antibiotics are used to

  cure bacterial disease
• how do antibiotics work

  damage the bacterial cells without damaging your own cells
• what is an advantage of antibiotics

  they treat most bacterial infections
• what is a disadvantage of antibiotics

  they cannot treat viruses
• what is antiseptic

  a substance that destroys micro-organisms that carry disease without harming body tissues
• what are blood clots

  things that form around injury site to prevent toxins entering the body
• what does stomach acid do

  hydrochloric acid kills pathogens in stomach
• what is the function of mucus and cilia

  mucus traps pathogens and cilia waft mucus towards the throat to be swallowed into the stomach
• white blood cells produce antibodies 


  to specific antigens
• bacteria can become

  resistant to antibodies from random mutations
• what are the four stages of drug testing

  -in labs on cells

  -on animals

  -on volunteers

  -on patients
• vaccines provide

  herd immunity
• gonorrhoea symptoms

  greenish discharge
• what is dosage

  the concentration of medicine and how often it should be taken
• what is peer review

  the formal process of submitting research for examination by the scientific community
• what is a double blind trial

  when neither researchers or participants are aware of who's in the experimental or control group