More Support for our Immune System - Medications
Sometimes our immune system isn't enough to stop us from getting sick. Fortunately we have a number of different treatments available to fight the pathogens you learned about in the previous unit.
Bacterial Infections:
a) What percentage of our body weight consists of microbes? b) How does bacteria harm the tissues of our body? c) What are antibiotics and what do bacteria use them for? d) What was the first Antibiotic discovered by Alexander Flemming? e) How do Antibiotics work? f) What are superbugs? |
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Viral Infections
Antibiotics are useless against viral infections. This is because viruses are so simple that they use their host cells to perform their activities for them. So antiviral drugs work differently to antibiotics, by interfering with the viral enzymes instead. Antiviral drugs are currently only effective against a few viral diseases, such as influenza, herpes, hepatitis B and C and HIV – but research is ongoing. A naturally occurring protein, called interferon (which the body produces to help fight viral infections), can now be produced in the laboratory and is used to treat hepatitis C infections. |
Fungal Infections
Many types of fungal germs (fungi) live harmlessly in the soil, on food, on our skin and in other places in the environment. However, some types of fungi can thrive and multiply on the surface of the body, to cause infection of the skin, nails, mouth or vagina. Fungal infections of the skin, nails, vagina and mouth are quite common. They are rarely serious and don't usually spread deeper into the body. There are several types of antifungal medicines. They come as creams, sprays, solutions, and tablets. Most work by damaging the cell wall of the fungus, which causes the fungal cell to die. |
Current Research - Antibiotic Resistance can be reversed by MANUKA honey 16+
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