Viruses
Name one viral disease
Common cold, flu, COVID-19, chicken pox, mumps, measles, herpes, smallpox, warts, HIV
What would streptococcus bacteria look like?
A chain of little spheres
Name one bacterial disease
Strep throat, tetanus, diphtheria, botulism, whooping cough, acne, tooth decay, pneumonia, salmonella food poisoning, Lyme disease, cholera
What is one built-in protection our body has to help prevent infections?
Skin, immune system, mucous membranes at entrances/exits to body
What is the basic structure (parts) of a virus
DNA or RNA and a protein coat
Do bacteria have nuclei?
No, bacteria do not have any membrane-bounded organelles
What term do we use for a bacterium that causes disease?
Pathogen
What does a vaccine do to make the person immune to a virus or bacterium?
Stimulate the immune system to produce antibodies to the virus, bacterium, or portion of it that was injected. From there, the immune system remembers how to make the antibodies and can produce them quickly and in great quantity if the body "sees" that pathogen again.
What do we call the cycle when a virus enters a cell, embeds its DNA into the DNA of the host cell, and is replicated along with the host's DNA?
Lysogenic cycle
What do we call an extra layer or coating around the outside of some bacteria (outside the cell wall)
Capsule
Name two ways to prevent bacterial disease related to food
Refrigerate, freeze, dehydrate, salt, or highly sugar food (such as jams), high heat, radiation, sealing the heated food in a container without oxygen.
What do we call a virus that infects bacteria?
Bacteriophage
Explain the lytic cycle of virus infection
Virus enters a cell, hijacks the host cell's DNA replication system, makes copies of itself, and causes the cell to burst, releasing more viruses
What are fimbriae?
Little hairlike projections or bristles around the surface of the bacterial cell in some bacteria; they help bacteria to adhere to surfaces.
What cautions should be taken in prescribing antibiotics, and why? Name at least one caution.
Take them only for bacterial infections, take them only when needed and not for just "any" illness, take the entire prescription, see the doctor again if the infection is not improving.
What did William Jenner use to inject people to stimulate immunity against smallpox?
Cowpox (similar but non-fatal infection)
How might you go about designing a vaccine against a particular virus?
Possible ways:
Kill the virus and inject it
Modify or weaken the virus (dead or alive) so it does not infect, but does cause an immune response
Purify a part of the virus (such as the protein coat or some other structure) and inject that part
True or false: Bacteria have ribosomes
True
What is one way to prevent bacterial infections, that Dr. Semmelweis discovered (and was controversial at the time)
Hand washing
Why can't we make a vaccine that would prevent us from ever getting a cold?
The cold virus mutates too rapidly, so the vaccine would not be useful for more than a few weeks before a new virus would be infecting people.