B6 - Preventing and Treating Dieases Flashcards
(23 cards)
What is a vaccine
- Small quantities of dead or inactive forms of a pathogen are introduced into the body to stimulate white blood cells to produce antibodies
- If the same pathogen re-enters the body the white blood cells respond quickly to produce the correct antibodies, preventing infection
Herd Immunity
- Vaccinated people destroy a pathogen before it becomes infection, so are less likely to spread the disease
- When large amount of people are vaccinated the spread of disease in reduced
- Even to those who are unvaccinated
What is an antibiotic
Medicines that help cure bacterial disease by killing infective bacteria inside the body
Specific bacteria is killed by specific antibiotics
What are painkillers?
Medicines that are used to treat symptoms of disease but do not kill pathogens
How do resistant bacteria evolve
-Mutations of bacterial pathogens produce new strains. Some of these may be resistant to antibiotics
- When exposed to an antibiotic the resistant bacteria will not die
- There is not competition for space or resources so they can divide by binary fission
- The bacteria spreads and some bacteria can pass resistance to other bacteria
How can you limit the number of resistant bacteria ?
- Doctors should not prescribe antibiotics when treating non-serious or viral infections
- Patients should complete their course so no bacteria survive and become resistant
- agricultural use should be restricted
What does Digitalis treat and where does it come from?
- Heart Drug
- Foxglove
What does Aspirin treat and where does it come from
- Pain Killer
- Willow tree
What does penicillin treat and where does it come from
- Discovered by Alexander Fleming
- From the Penicillium Mould
- Antibiotic
What are new drugs tested for?
Toxicity - How safe the drug is/ side effects
Efficacy - Whether the drug works
Dose - How much of the drug should be taken and how often
Preclinical testing
- Done in a lab
- Using cells, tissue and live animals
What is the order of events for drug testing
Preclinical
Clinical trial on healthy volunteers
Clinical trials on patients
In clinical trial on healthy volunteers what is tested?
Toxicity
What is tested for in clinical trials with patients
Efficacy and Dosage
Double Blind Trial
Neither the patients nor doctors/ scientist know who got the real drug or the placebo
Placebo
Looks like the real drug but does not contain active ingredients
What has to happen before trials are published
Heavy peer reviewing
How are monoclonal antibodies produced?
- Stimulating mouse lymphocytes to make particular antibody
- Lymphocytes are combined with a particular tumour cell to make a hybridoma cell
- The hybridoma cell can both divide and make the antibody.
- A single hybridoma is cloned to produce many identical cells to produce the same antibody
- A large amount of the antibody is collected and purifed
Monoclonal anitbodies come from one clone of a cell so…
- The antibodies are specific to one binding site on one protein antigen
- They can target a specific chemical or specifc cells in the body
What are monoclonal antibodies used for (list)
- pregancy test
- treating cancer
- measure levels of hormones and chemicals in blood
- Test for particular pathogens in blood
MCA - Pregancy Test
Targets a hormone in the urine of pregnant women
MCA - Cancer
They are attached to a radioactive substance, a drug or chemical which stops cancer cells from growing and dividing
MCA - Research
They bind to a florescent dye
