Find more at Teaching Science

1. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Attribution— You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Noncommercial — You may not use this work for commercial purposes. Share Alike— If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one. Find more at Teaching Science

2. Immunisation 1/5 Fighting Disease

3. Conditions We Can’t Catch • Heart disease • Asthma • Beri-beri • Depression • Lung cancer • Sunburn • What causes these conditions? How are they different to athlete’s foot, MRSA or flu?

4. Infectious Diseases • When we talk about being infected by disease, it means we have become home to a pathogen, usually a microbe. • Most pathogens can be described as bacteria, fungi or viruses. • We often simply call them ‘germs’.

5. Pathogens Bacteria are single-celled organisms, with some characteristics of plant and animal cells. MRSA is an example of a bacterial infection.

6. Pathogens Viruses are not made of cells. They are tiny particles, very simple, which take over living cells and turn them into virus factories. ‘Flu and HIV are examples of viral infections.

7. Getting Infected • How do these pathogens get into our bodies?

8. Getting Infected • How do these pathogens get into our bodies? • Open cuts (blood contact) • Nose/mouth (aerosol) • Stomach (ingestion) • Sex (technically ‘mucous membranes’)

9. Surviving Diseases • There are 2 basic ways to increase our chances of surviving exposure to an infectious disease: • Don’t catch it (prevent infection) • Kill pathogens in the body • Medical treatment often consists of somehow (e.g. antibiotics) killing the pathogens or supporting the body while it does the job itself.

10. Passive Defence

11. Active Defence • Now that we have a general idea of how the immune system works, it’s time to investigate some infectious diseases. • Some of these used to be common in the UK. • Some are still a big problem worldwide.

12. Teaching the Immune System • When the immune system is exposed to a disease, it ‘remembers’ how to fight it successfully. • Later infections are often much less serious and may not even be noticed. • Vaccinations or immunisations involve deliberately exposing a person to a weakened or dead form of a pathogen, so the body ‘learns’ without the risk of a ‘proper’ illness.

13. Diseases • For each of these you will need to consider how the infection is passed on and how serious it is. • Look for long-term damage as well as percentages killed by a disease. • Some of these diseases tend to affect young people more than adults – the implications of this are worth considering.

14. MMR • In the UK one of several childhood vaccinations recommended is the Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) immunisation. • With appropriate boosters it provides a high-level of protection against these three diseases.