Sec 4 Combined Science (Biology) Infectious Diseases topical questions

Sort into infectious and non-infectious: influenza, type 2 diabetes, pneumococcal pneumonia, common cold.

Name the two groups of pathogens in the course and one disease each causes.

State two symptoms of influenza and two of pneumococcal pneumonia.

State what a vaccine contains and which cells it stimulates.

Explain how a vaccination protects a person against a later real infection.

Describe three routes by which pathogens spread and one way to block each.

Compare influenza and pneumococcal disease: pathogen type, two distinguishing symptoms, and transmission route.

Explain why antibiotics cannot treat influenza, and state what a patient should do instead.

A student says: "If antibiotics are not working anymore, the bacteria must have learned to dodge the drug." Evaluate this claim using the idea of selection.

A bacterium divides every 20 minutes. (a) How many doublings occur in 2 hours? (b) How many bacteria result from one cell after 2 hours? (c) After a further 1 hour 20 minutes, how many? (d) Use the answers to explain why a flu patient's sneezes are dangerous even before symptoms peak.

A school plans a flu-control programme. Evaluate each measure and name the transmission route it blocks: (a) handing out antibiotics to all students, (b) placing hand-sanitiser stations and teaching cough etiquette, (c) opening classroom windows and spacing desks, (d) offering flu vaccination. Which single measure gives the strongest season-long protection, and why?

Explain, step by step, how the misuse of antibiotics in a community can lead to a pneumococcal infection that no standard antibiotic can treat. Include the roles of susceptible bacteria, resistant bacteria and selection.