levo

Health, Disease and the Development of Medicines

Antibiotics and developing new medicines

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 1

Overview

Why antibiotics treat bacterial but not viral infections, the discovery, development, preclinical and clinical testing of new medicines, low doses and placebos, peer review and publishing trial results for scientists and the public, and calculating clear zone areas with πr² to compare new antibiotics.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Key term

Which type of pathogen can antibiotics treat?

Process

Name one process in a bacterium that an antibiotic can inhibit.

Key term

Explain why antibiotics cannot be used to treat a cold.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Which type of pathogen can antibiotics treat?

    Model answer

    Antibiotics only treat infections caused by bacteria.

  2. 2

    Explain why an antibiotic kills bacteria without harming the patient's cells.

    Model answer

    It inhibits cell processes that occur in bacteria but not in human cells.

  3. 3

    Name one process in a bacterium that an antibiotic can inhibit.

    Model answer

    The building of the bacterial cell wall.

  4. 4

    Explain why antibiotics cannot be used to treat a cold.

    Model answer

    A cold is caused by a virus, which does not carry out the cell processes that antibiotics inhibit.

  5. 5

    Explain why viral infections are hard to treat with drugs without harming the patient.

    Model answer

    Viruses reproduce inside the patient's own cells, so a drug that destroys them usually damages the host cell as well.

  6. 6

    Explain why a doctor should not prescribe an antibiotic for a mild viral illness.

    Model answer

    It will have no effect on the virus, and unnecessary use makes resistant bacteria more likely to develop.

Other ways to work this

The same content, four other ways.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

1Closed book
2Open book
3Closed book

The 3-step method, run for you

Answer cold, learn it, then prove it stuck. Levo tracks the jump between your first attempt and your last.

Key Concepts in Biology
Cells and Control
Genetics
Natural Selection and Genetic Modification

Cram a whole paper in one sitting

Sort every topic into what you know and what you do not, then drill only the weak ones.

Type 2 .
diabetescancercholera

Blank Blitz makes facts automatic

Rapid timed gap-fills on the terms and numbers you need to recall without thinking.

ANitrates cause an algal bloom that blocks the light.
BWater plants die and decay.
CThe decomposers use up the dissolved oxygen.

Build It gets the exam shape right

Assemble a full-mark answer from its marking points, in the order an examiner wants them.

A millimetre is 10⁻³ of a metre.
TrueFalse

Test It catches misconceptions

Spot the fault in a statement. The traps are the mistakes students actually make.

721941163128510

Brain Breaks between sessions

Short focus games to reset attention, so the next set lands better than the last.

Every question in Health, Disease and the Development of Medicines, on a schedule.

Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.

Or £46 a year, about £3.83 a month. Cancel anytime.