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Vaccines cause the body to produce white blood cells to protect itself against one particular pathogen.

Biology - Fighting Disease (AQA)

Explore how your immune system, medicines and vaccination work together to fight pathogens, reduce symptoms and protect you from infectious disease.

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Fascinating Fact:

Antivirals don't kill viruses outright; they slow replication so your immune system can win.

In GCSE Science Biology (AQA), you study how the body fights disease. This includes natural defences, the immune response, vaccinations, antibiotics, antivirals and painkillers that help control infection and symptoms.

Key Terms

Pathogen: A microorganism such as a bacterium, virus or fungus that can cause disease.
Immune system: The body's defence system made of cells, tissues and organs that recognise and destroy pathogens.
Antibody: A protein produced by white blood cells that sticks to specific antigens on pathogens to help remove them.

Frequently Asked Questions (Click to see answers)

What does fighting disease mean in GCSE Biology?

In GCSE Biology, fighting disease means how the body defends itself against pathogens using natural barriers, the immune response, and medical treatments such as vaccines, antibiotics and other drugs.

What is the difference between antibiotics and antivirals?

Antibiotics are medicines that target bacteria, for example by damaging cell walls. Antivirals are designed for viral infections and work by interfering with virus replication rather than destroying host cells.

How do vaccines help the body fight disease?

Vaccines contain weakened or inactive forms of a pathogen, or its antigens. They trigger the immune system to make antibodies and memory cells so future infections are controlled quickly.

Try These Related Quizzes

1 .

Why do pathogenic diseases make you feel ill?

They alter all of the chemical reactions in your body

They slow down your metabolic rate

They produce toxins and can damage cells

It is because your immune system is fighting them off

Bacteria produce toxins (poisons). Viruses reproduce inside your cells and damage them as they escape to infect more cells. It is these poisons and the cell damage that cause the symptoms of infectious diseases

2 .

How do antibiotics work?

They absorb the toxins released by the bacteria

They kill the viruses that have got into the body

They ingest the bacteria that are causing the infection

They stop the bacteria from reproducing

That is just one of the ways they work. Penicillin destroys the cell wall of the bacteria so they literally fall apart, other antibiotics affect the bacteria's DNA and others interfere with the chemical reactions that keep the bacteria alive

3 .

What is a pathogen?

Someone who carries out post-mortems

A type of infectious disease

A microorganism that cause infectious diseases

A torch that surgeons wear on their heads during operations

Pathogens include bacteria, viruses, fungi and other single celled organisms

4 .

Which of the following types of drugs is most effective against a bacterial infection?

Painkiller

Hallucinogen

Stimulant

Antibiotic

Whilst painkillers help, they treat only the symptoms and not the cause

5 .

Which of the following statements about the first ever antibiotic is true?

It is called pennysillyum and invented by Alexander Flaming

It is called penicillin and was discovered by accident by Alexander Fleming

It is called penicilliase and was made for use in the First World War

It is called amoxycillin and discovered by James Lister

Although Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928, he wasn't able to find anyone to help him make it. Two scientists, Florey and Chain, first produced it for testing on people in 1940 but it was several years later before a process for making it in large quantities had been found

6 .

Antibiotics are effective against what?

Bacteria only

Viruses only

Both bacteria and viruses

Neither bacteria or viruses

Antibiotics do not work against viruses because they reproduce inside cells. Any substance that destroys the virus would damage your cells too. When you have a viral infection like influenza, if your doctor prescribes antibiotics they are given to combat bacterial infections that may have arisen whilst your body is in a weakened state

7 .

Why do doctors think carefully about prescribing antibiotics?

Because they are expensive

Because they kill harmless viruses as well as pathogenic viruses

Because over use or patients who don't take the whole course can lead to the development of resistant bacteria

Because writing out a prescription for antibiotics is complicated and takes them a lot of time

The use of antibiotics has prevented many deaths from infectious bacterial diseases. New antibiotics must be developed all the time to combat the new resistant bacteria

8 .

Which of the following is not caused by bacteria or viruses?

Salmonella and listeria (food poisoning)

Cholera and typhoid

Whooping cough and sore throats

Scurvy and anaemia

Scurvy and anaemia are illnesses caused by a lack of certain vitamins and minerals in the body

9 .

What do vaccines contain?

Live pathogens but treated to make them harmless

Dead pathogens

Fragments of the pathogen that are harmless but which carry the antigen

Any of the above

Whichever type of vaccine is used, it causes the body to produce white blood cells to protect itself against the particular pathogen targeted by the vaccination

10 .

Before the 19th Century, why did doctors not wash their hands in between dealing with their patients?

They did not understand about infectious diseases

They were too lazy

Soap was not available

It meant that they could move on to the next patient as quickly as possible and make more money

Bacteria and viruses were only recognised as being the cause of infectious diseases in the second half of the 19^th Century. Before that, doctors did not know that disease could be passed on via dirty hands

You can find more about this topic by visiting BBC Bitesize - Infection and response

Author: Kev Woodward (PGCE, Science & Chemistry Teacher, Quiz Writer)