Questions and Answers

Explain how development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, including MRSA, can be minimised by using antibiotics only when essential

State that antibiotics kill bacteria but do not affect viruses

Describe a drug as any substance taken into the body that modifies or affects chemical reactions in the body

Describe the effects of tobacco smoke and its major toxic components (nicotine, tar and carbon monoxide): strong association with bronchitis, emphysema, lung cancer, heart disease, and the association between smoking during pregnancy and reduced birth weight of the baby

Describe the effects of excessive consumption of alcohol: reduced self-control, depressant, effect on reaction times, damage to liver and social implications

Explain that the cholera bacterium produces a toxin that causes secretion of chloride ions into the small intestine, causing osmotic movement of water into the gut, resulting in diarrhoea, dehydration and loss of ions from the blood

Explain the importance of a clean water supply, hygienic food preparation, good personal hygiene, waste disposal and sewage treatment in controlling the spread of cholera (details of the stages of sewage treatment are not required)

Describe the role of the mosquito as a vector of disease

Describe that a pathogen may be transmitted: (a) through direct contact, including through blood or other body fluids (b) indirectly, including from contaminated surfaces or food, from animals, or from the air

Describe a pathogen as a disease-causing organism