B.5 Mrs Jones Biology project

Key question 1: what makes us ill:

What is communicable disease?

A communicable disease is infectious and is transmitted easily from person to person, communicable disease is caused by pathogens. Examples of communicable disease would be:

Tuberculosis
Flu / colds
COVID19
Measles
Bugs
Chicken pox
Ebola

What is a non-communicable disease?

A non-communicable disease cannot be transmitted from person to person and is sometimes to linked to a person’s lifestyle for example their diet, how much stress, gender, how much exercise they get, mental health problems and depression. Examples of non-communicable disease would be:

Heart disease
Cancer
Diabetes
Arthritis
Obesity
Eczema
Asthma

What is a pathogen?

A pathogen is a microorganism which causes disease.

Describe how pathogens are spread?

Pathogens are spread by people coughing, sneezing and not washing their hands. To stop the spread of pathogens if you have an infectious disease you should wash your hands regularly and cough/sneeze into a tissue and you should change the tissue regularly and put the old one in the bin.

What is the difference between bacteria and viruses? How are they treated? How do they cause disease?

Bacteria and viruses can both cause mild to serious infections and their symptoms can be similar, BUT they are different. This is important to understand because they must be treated in different ways. Bacteria is a simple but complex cell. It can survive on its own inside and outside the body and it can sometimes be useful for example in the gut, it is used to help digest food. On the other hand. Viruses are smaller and are not cells, they need a human or animal to multiply. Viruses cause infections by entering and multiplying inside the ‘hosts’ healthy cells. Bacteria is most often treated with antibiotics, but antibiotics won’t kill viruses. When you have a virus, you get better when the viral infection finishes its ‘course’.

Key question 2: how does the body defend itself for attack?

How does the body prevent organisms getting into the body?

Your skin covers your body and acts as a barrier. It prevents bacteria and viruses entering the tissue beneath. If you damage or cut, you skin the barrier is broken but your body restores it. When a cut bleeds it soon dries up to form a scab. This forms a seal over the cut to stop pathogens getting in.
Healthy skin is covered with microorganisms that help keep you healthy and act as a barrier to the entry of pathogens.

Defences of the respiratory and digestive system:

Your nose is full of hairs and produces a sticky liquid called mucus. The hair and the mucus trap particles in the air that may contain pathogens or irritate your lungs.
The trachea and bronchi also produce mucus that traps pathogens from the air.
The stomach produces acid, and this destroys the microorganisms in the mucus you swallow, as well as most of the pathogens you take in through your mouth from your food and drink.

TBQ: WHY IS IGNAZ SEMMELWEIS STILL THE GREATEST HEALTH PIONEER OF ALL TIME?

Semmelweis was a doctor in the mid 1850’s. At the time many mothers died after giving birth, but no one knew what caused it. Semmelweis noticed that his medical staff went straight from dissecting dead body’s to delivering baby’s without washing their hands. Semmelweis wondered if the staff were carrying the disease from the body to the mothers.

He noticed that another doctor died symptoms identical to childbed fever after cutting himself while working on a body. This convinced Semmelweis that the fever was caused by the infection in the body. He immediately insisted that the staff washed their hands before delivering a baby and immediately few mothers died from the fever.

MY OTHER USEFUL WEBSITES:

- acphd.org

- health direct.gov.au/bacterial-vs-viral-infection

- Nhs.co.uk

- https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/measles

- www.mayoclinic.org