Biology · AQA Paper 1
Defence Against Disease
How the body defends itself against pathogens with its barriers and its immune system, how vaccination protects individuals and populations, how antibiotics and painkillers are used and why antibiotic resistance matters, and how new medicines are discovered, tested and trialled. Matches AQA GCSE Biology 4.3.1.6 to 4.3.1.9. Every lesson is for both Combined Science and separate Biology, at Foundation and Higher.
Lessons
Ticks are remembered on this device only.
-
1
Human Defence Systems
Your body has several lines of defence against pathogens. This lesson covers the barriers that try to keep pathogens out, and the white blood cells of the…
8 terms -
2
Vaccination
Vaccination trains the immune system before a dangerous pathogen arrives. This lesson explains how a vaccine works, how immunising many people protects the…
8 terms -
3
Antibiotics and Painkillers
Antibiotics cure bacterial disease, but they are useless against viruses, and bacteria are becoming resistant to them. This lesson covers antibiotics and…
8 terms -
4
Discovery and Development of Drugs
A new medicine takes years to reach the pharmacy. This lesson describes where drugs come from, how they are tested in the laboratory and in clinical trials…
8 terms
Key terms in this chapter
All 32, gathered from every lesson.
- Non-specific defence
- A defence that works in the same way against all pathogens, such as the skin.
- Immune system
- The white blood cells that destroy pathogens inside the body.
- Phagocytosis
- The engulfing and digestion of a pathogen by a white blood cell.
- Antibody
- A protein made by white blood cells that sticks to a particular antigen.
- Antigen
- A molecule on the surface of a pathogen that triggers the immune system.
- Antitoxin
- A protein made by white blood cells that neutralises a toxin.
- Mucus
- A sticky liquid made in the airways that traps pathogens.
- Cilia
- Tiny hair-like structures that move mucus along the airways.
- Vaccination
- Introducing a dead or inactive form of a pathogen into the body to stimulate the production of antibodies.
- Vaccine
- The preparation containing dead or inactive pathogens that is used in vaccination.
- Immune
- Protected against a disease because the body can make the right antibodies quickly.
- Memory cell
- A white blood cell that stays in the body and allows a faster response next time.
- Herd immunity
- Protection of a whole population when most people are immune.
- Eradication
- Wiping out a disease completely.
- Inactive
- Not able to cause disease.
- Immunisation
- Making a person immune to a disease, usually by vaccination.
- Antibiotic
- A medicine, such as penicillin, that kills bacteria inside the body.
- Penicillin
- The first antibiotic, discovered by Alexander Fleming.
- Painkiller
- A medicine that reduces pain and other symptoms, but does not kill pathogens.
- Resistant
- Not killed by an antibiotic.
- Mutation
- A change in a gene.
- Strain
- A particular type of a species of bacterium.
- MRSA
- A strain of bacteria that is resistant to many antibiotics.
- Symptom
- A sign of illness that a patient feels, such as a fever or pain.
- Toxicity
- How harmful a drug is to the body.
- Efficacy
- How well a drug works to treat a disease.
- Dose
- The amount of a drug given.
- Preclinical testing
- Testing a drug on cells, tissues and live animals in the laboratory before it is given to people.
- Clinical trial
- A test of a new drug on healthy volunteers and patients.
- Placebo
- A dummy treatment with no drug in it.
- Double-blind trial
- A trial in which neither the patients nor the doctors know who has the drug and who has the placebo.
- Peer review
- Checking of scientists' work by other scientists before it is published.