AQA Biology 4.3.1.8
Antibiotics and painkillers
Some medicines kill the pathogen; some only ease the symptoms. Match each to an illness, then keep antibiotics working.
Combined Science · Higher tier
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Paracetamol for a fever.
You have a fever and a sore throat. You take paracetamol, and an hour later you feel much better.
If you had to guess, did the paracetamol kill the germ, or just make you feel better?
What does this medicine do?
Kill the pathogen, or ease the symptoms?
Antibiotics, such as penicillin, help to cure bacterial disease by killing infective bacteria inside the body. Painkillers and other medicines treat the symptoms of disease but do not kill pathogens. Pick an illness and a medicine.
Now pick a medicine.
Specific bacteria should be treated with specific antibiotics. It is difficult to develop drugs that kill viruses without also damaging the body’s tissues.
Antibiotic resistance
Keeping antibiotics working.
The use of antibiotics has greatly reduced deaths from infectious bacterial diseases. However, the emergence of strains resistant to antibiotics, such as MRSA, is of great concern. Developing new antibiotics is costly and slow, and is unlikely to keep up with new resistant strains. Three ways to slow resistance down: tap each.
How a resistant strain takes over: in Bacterial diseases.
Think again · feeling better
“I feel better, so I can stop.”
Your call
ChooseA patient feels better after three days of a seven-day antibiotic course. What should they do?
Sort
Antibiotic or painkiller?
Place each statement.
Tap a card, then tap the box it belongs in. Tap a placed card to take it back.
Command words in this lesson
- Explain
- Why a medicine does or doesn’t help, link by link.
- Give
- One way to slow antibiotic resistance.
- Suggest
- A reason, using what you know.
Key fact
Antibiotics kill bacteria but cannot kill viruses. Painkillers treat symptoms and kill no pathogens.
Key note · AQA 4.3.1.8
Antibiotics and painkillers
- Antibiotics, such as penicillin, cure bacterial disease by killing infective bacteria inside the body. Use specific antibiotics for specific bacteria.
- Antibiotics cannot kill viral pathogens. Drugs that kill viruses are hard to develop without damaging the body’s tissues.
- Painkillers and other medicines treat symptoms but do not kill pathogens.
- Antibiotics have greatly reduced deaths, but resistant strains are of great concern. Slow them: don’t prescribe inappropriately; complete the course; restrict use in farming.
Photograph this card. Tomorrow, cover it and say each line first.
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Not sure why antibiotics don’t work on a cold?
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