Unit 4 9C: Approches to pathogenic evolution

Question 1

Bacterial resistance

Answer 1

the ability of bacteria to survive and reproduce in the presence of an antibiotic that has been designed to slow their growth or kill them; arises by mutation and becomes widespread when antibiotics are over-used

Question 2

Conjugation

Answer 2

The process by which genetic material is exchanged between a donor bacterium and a recipient bacterium; occurs through a tube via direct cell-cell contact; also known as horizontal gene disorder

Question 3

Epidemic

Answer 3

The rapid spread of an infectious disease to a large number of people within a population

Question 4

Pandemic

Answer 4

The outbreak of infectious disease that occurs over a wide geographical area, affecting a large number of people

Question 5

Antigenic drift

Answer 5

Due to the accumulation of mutations over time, altering viral surface antigens, making the virus unrecognisable to the hosts’s immune system - results in epidemics

Question 6

Antigenic shift

Answer 6

When several different viruses infect host cell at the same time and segments of its genome are reassorted
Results in pandemics