Communicable Diseases, Disease Prevention and the Immune System

What Communicable Diseases, Disease Prevention and the Immune System covers

Communicable diseases, disease prevention and the immune system opens Module 4, examined on Biological Diversity. It covers the four types of pathogen and how they spread, the defences of plants and animals, phagocytosis and the specific immune response, antibodies, the forms of immunity and vaccination, and antibiotic resistance.

The 8 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

• Pathogens and how disease is transmittedBacteria, viruses, protoctista and fungi with a named disease of each, and the vectors, spores, climate and social factors that spread them.Open →
• Plant defences and non-specific animal defencesChemical defences and callose deposition in plants, and skin, blood clotting, wound repair, inflammation, expulsive reflexes and mucous membranes in animals.Open →
• Phagocytes and phagocytosisHow a phagocyte engulfs a pathogen, the phagosome and the lysosomes that destroy it, and the roles of opsonins, cytokines and antigen-presenting cells.Open →
• The specific immune responseB and T lymphocytes, clonal selection and expansion, plasma cells, T helper and T killer cells, and how the secondary response differs from the primary.Open →
• AntibodiesThe four polypeptide chains and the variable and constant regions, and how antibodies act as opsonins, agglutinins and anti-toxins.Open →
• Types of immunityActive and passive immunity, natural and artificial immunity and how each is acquired, and what happens when the system attacks the body's own tissue.Open →
• VaccinationWhat a vaccine contains and how it produces long-term immunity, herd immunity and the prevention of epidemics, and why programmes change over time.Open →
• Medicines and antibiotic resistanceWhere medicines come from and what personalised medicine means, and how antibiotic resistance arises, what accelerates it and what it means for treatment.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take Communicable Diseases, Disease Prevention and the Immune System further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

• Antigen vs Antibody

  Antigen: foreign surface molecule that triggers a specific immune response. Antibody: specific Y-shaped glycoprotein secreted by plasma cells.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What type of pathogen are bacteria classified as in the context of communicable diseases?

   Model answer

   Bacteria are pathogens that can cause communicable diseases in both plants and animals.

2. 2

   Name a bacterial disease that affects humans.

   Model answer

   Tuberculosis (TB).

3. 3

   Which bacterial disease affects potatoes and tomatoes?

   Model answer

   Ring rot.

4. 4

   What type of pathogen are viruses, and what can they infect?

   Model answer

   Viruses are pathogens that can cause communicable diseases in both plants and animals.

5. 5

   Name a viral disease that affects humans.

   Model answer

   HIV/AIDS.

6. 6

   Which viral disease affects animals such as birds and pigs?

   Model answer

   Influenza.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

Communicable Diseases, Disease Prevention and the Immune System revision questions

What does Communicable Diseases, Disease Prevention and the Immune System cover in OCR A-Level Biology?

8 subtopics: pathogens and how disease is transmitted, plant defences and non-specific animal defences, phagocytes and phagocytosis, the specific immune response, antibodies, types of immunity, vaccination and medicines and antibiotic resistance. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is Communicable Diseases, Disease Prevention and the Immune System organised?

By the OCR H420 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.