Infectious diseases

Infectious Diseases: Pathogens and TransmissionSign up

understand how Mycobacterium tuberculosis and human immunodeficiency virus infect human cells, causing symptoms that may result in death · know the major routes pathogens may take when entering the body · understand the role of physical/chemical barriers protecting the body from infection: skin, stomach acid, gut and skin flora

Prevention and Control of Infectious DiseasesSign up

discuss the BIOLOGICAL factors in the prevention and control of cholera (clean water supplies, sanitation/sewage treatment, oral rehydration therapy, vaccination), malaria (vector control via insecticides, insecticide-treated bed nets, draining/managing standing water, prophylactic and treatment drugs), TB (BCG vaccination, contact tracing, isolation of infectious cases, full antibiotic courses/DOTS) and HIV (no cure or effective vaccine; barrier protection, screening blood products, needle-exchange schemes, antiretroviral drugs, preventing mother-to-child transmission) · discuss the SOCIAL factors in prevention and control (health education and public-awareness campaigns, behaviour change, contact tracing, cultural and behavioural barriers, stigma, access to and uptake of healthcare and screening) · discuss the ECONOMIC factors in prevention and control (cost of clean-water and sanitation infrastructure, of drugs, vaccines, bed nets and surveillance/monitoring, and the economic burden of the disease on individuals and on developing economies) · relate each prevention/control strategy to the specific mode of transmission of cholera, malaria, TB and HIV (details of the malarial parasite life cycle are not required)

Antibiotics and Antibiotic ResistanceSign up

understand how individuals develop immunity (natural, artificial, active and passive) · understand how the evolutionary arms race between pathogens and hosts is supported by pathogen evasion mechanisms · understand the difference between bacteriostatic and bactericidal antibiotics · CORE PRACTICAL 14: investigate the effect of different antibiotics on bacteria · know how understanding the contributory causes of hospital-acquired infections has led to codes of practice on antibiotic prescription and infection control