Chapter 10

Diseases and immunity

1. Explain what is meant by a transmissible disease.
ANS: A disease that can be passed from one person (or other organism) to another.
Transmissible diseases are caused by pathogens.
2. The pathogens that cause some transmissible diseases are transmitted by direct contact.
How does the skin help to protect us against the entry of these pathogens?
ANS: Unbroken skin is a physical barrier that stops most pathogens moving through to the
underlying tissues. If skin is broken, a blood clot seals the wound and prevents pathogen
entry.
3. How does stomach acid protect us against transmissible diseases?
Ans: The acid kills bacteria in food, preventing the entry of pathogens that might cause food
poisoning or other infections
4. Explain why a clean water supply is very important to maintain health.
Ans: Water that is not clean contains microorganisms, and some of these are pathogens. If
you drink water containing pathogens or use it in ways that allow the pathogens to get from
the water into your mouth, it can cause serious illness.
5. Suggest why a deep well can provide a safer source of water than a river or lake.
Ans: The water in a well comes from deep underground, where it is less likely to have been
contaminated with urine or faeces. It is therefore less likely to contain pathogens from the
body of an infected person.
6. Explain why food that is not going to be eaten immediately should be:
a. kept covered b. kept in a fridge.
Ans: a. Covering food keeps animals such as houseflies away from it. Houseflies transfer
pathogens on their feet or in their saliva. If the food is in a warm place, these pathogens can
breed quickly, so that by the time someone eats the food there are large numbers of
pathogens, which could cause food poisoning or other illnesses.
b. Keeping the food cold reduces the rate at which bacteria can breed. Even if there are
harmful bacteria on the food, when their numbers remain small there is less chance of
getting ill if you eat them.
7. Explain why cholera outbreaks are most likely to occur when people are displaced from
their homes.
Ans: The cholera bacterium is transmitted in water. At home, people generally have a source
of clean water that they can rely on. When displaced, people may not have a clean water
supply. If many people are living in close proximity in unhygienic conditions, there is a
strong possibility that pathogens in their faeces can get into water that others will use for
drinking, food preparation or washing.
8. People with cholera can be successfully treated by giving them drinks containing water,
glucose and salt (sodium chloride). This is called rehydration therapy. Use the information in
Figure 10.16 to suggest how these drinks can help them to survive
Ans: Glucose, sodium ions and chloride ions in the drinks can be absorbed from the small
intestine into the blood. The extra glucose in the blood reduces its water potential, which
reduces the water potential gradient from the blood into the lumen of the intestine. Less
water therefore moves from the blood into the lumen of the intestine, and therefore there is
less diarrhoea. The chloride ions in the drink help to replace the chloride ions lost from the
blood. So, the drinks help to reverse the loss of water and chloride ions that is the main cause
of fatalities resulting from cholera infection.
9. Explain the difference between an antigen and an antibody.
Ans: An antigen is a molecule on a cell that is not normally found in the body – such as a
pathogen – and that the body recognises as ‘foreign’. An antibody is a protein that is
secreted by lymphocytes, which can bind to its complementary antigen.
10. A learner wrote that antibodies are the same shape as their specific antigens. What is
wrong with that statement?
Ans: The antigen and antibody have complementary shapes, so that they fit together
precisely.
11. Look at the first graph in Figure 10.19.
a. Infection happens at time 0. Explain why the number of antibodies does not begin to rise
until some hours after this.
Ans: It takes time for the lymphocytes that can make the appropriate antibody for this
pathogen to make contact with the antigen on the pathogen, then to divide and produce a
clone of identical cells, which can then make large quantities of the antibody.
b. Describe and explain what happens to the number of bacteria over the four-day period.
Ans: The number rises rapidly between day 0 and day 1, and then decreases more slowly,
reaching 0 at the end of day 3. The number of bacteria is able to increase rapidly at first,
because there are no antibodies to stop them dividing. But as the quantity of antibodies
increases, the bacteria are immobilised or killed, and the rate at which they die becomes
greater than the rate at which they reproduce. Their numbers therefore fall.
12. Look at the second graph in Figure 10.19. Describe and explain what happens to the
number of bacteria the second time a person comes into contact with the bacteria.
Ans: The body now contains memory cells, which are able to react immediately to the
presence of the bacteria and very rapidly produce large quantities of the specific antibody
that binds with the antigen on these bacteria. The number of bacteria therefore has time to
increase only very slightly, and their numbers are reduced to 0 by the end of day 1.
13. Predict and explain what would happen if the person is infected with a different kind of
bacterium, after an immune response like the one in Figure 10.19.
Ans: The response would look like the first graph because the antigens on this new
bacterium would be different. The memory cells produced from the first infection give no
protection against any other type of pathogen.
14. Outline two ways in which active immunity can be gained.
Ans: Through having a transmissible disease and recovering from it; by being given a
vaccination containing weakened pathogens.
15. Outline two ways in which passive immunity can be gained.
Ans: By being given an injection of ready-made antibodies; through breast milk.
16. Describe one difference between active immunity and passive immunity, other than the
different ways that they are gained.
Ans: Active immunity lasts much longer than passive immunity. In active immunity,
memory cells are made, but this does not happen with passive immunity.
17. Explain how vaccination can help to control the spread of a transmissible disease.
Ans: The pathogen is unable to breed in a person who has been vaccinated. If enough people
have been vaccinated, this greatly reduces the number of people who can be a host for the
pathogen, making it much less easy for the pathogen to spread through the population.

EXAM-STYLE QUESTIONS
1. What is the correct term for a microorganism that causes disease?
A antibody B host C pathogen D vector
2. Which disease is not transmissible?
A AIDS, caused by HIV
B coronary heart disease, caused by blockage in the coronary arteries
C influenza, caused by a virus
D malaria, caused by a single-celled organism
3. What is a function of mucus in the passages leading to the lungs?
A making it easy for air to move in and out of the lungs
B providing a low pH that kills pathogens
C secreting enzymes to kill bacteria
D trapping microorganisms before they reach the lungs
4. Which statement about an antibody is correct?
A It is a protein. B It is found on the surface of a pathogen.
C It is secreted by phagocytes. D It is the same shape as a specific antigen.
5. Which statements about active and passive immunity are correct?

1C; 2B; 3D; 4A; 5A;

6 a. Choose words from the list to complete the sentences about diseases.
bacteria enzymes host mucus pathogens viruses
All transmissible diseases are caused by __________________, which are passed from one
__________________ to another. The lining of the respiratory passages helps to prevent this
from happening by producing __________________.
Ans: All transmissible diseases are caused by pathogens, which are passed from one host to
another. The lining of the respiratory passages helps to prevent this from happening by
producing mucus. ;
b. Describe how the body defences help to prevent bacteria entering:
i through the skin ii in food
Ans: b i idea that skin is a barrier to entry of pathogens through it ; blood clots to seal
wounds ;
ii hydrochloric acid is secreted by the stomach ; killing microorganisms in food ;
7 a. Explain how vaccination produces active immunity in a child.
Ans : • introduction of, dead / weakened, pathogens ; • recognised by (specific)
lymphocytes ; • antibodies produced ; • antibodies are specific to, pathogen / antigen ; •
memory cells produced ; • which respond quickly on second entry of same pathogen ;
b. The graph shows the number of cases of measles in the USA between 1944 and 2004.
Measles is caused by a virus. Vaccination for measles was introduced in the USA in 1963.

i. Describe how the number of cases of measles in the USA changed between 1945 and
1958.
Ans: • increased ; • from 15000 to 76 000 (allow some leeway with figures) ; • fluctuated ;
• maximum number of cases was 760000 in, 1957 / 1958 ;
ii. Describe and explain the effect of the introduction of vaccination.
Ans: rapid decrease in number of cases to 0 by 1991 ; many children now immune to
measles ; ref. to herd immunity / few hosts for measles virus ;
8 a. For each of the following events, decide whether it produces active immunity or passive
immunity.
• having a disease and recovering from it
• feeding a baby on breast milk
• being injected with antibodies
• being vaccinated with weakened viruses
Ans: active, passive, passive, active ;
b. An aid worker is asked to travel immediately to an area where a disaster has taken place.
There is a high risk of her being exposed to pathogens that cause serious diseases. Her
doctor recommends that she should have an injection of antibodies, rather than a vaccination
of weakened pathogens, before she travels.
Suggest an explanation for the doctor’s recommendation.
Ans: antibodies give immediate protection ; weakened pathogens stimulate the production
of her own antibodies ; but it takes time for her lymphocytes to, recognise the pathogen /
make antibodies ;
c. Describe how antibodies help to destroy pathogens.
Ans: • pathogen has antigens ; • antibodies have complementary shape to antigen ; •
antibodies bind with antigens ; • (may) destroy the pathogen directly ; • (may) clump the
pathogens / mark them, for destruction by phagocytes ;
9. The electron micrograph shows a group of influenza viruses.

a. Identify the part of the virus labelled A.

Ans: genetic material / DNA / RNA ;
b. New strains of the influenza virus frequently occur. The new strains have different
proteins in their coats. Explain why a person who has recovered from influenza in one year
may not be immune to influenza in the future.
Ans: • proteins in virus coat are antigens ; • lymphocytes make antibodies ; • which have
complementary shape to antigens ; • produce memory cells ; • which can produce antibodies
quickly on next exposure to antigen ; • these antibodies cannot bind with other antigens ; • so
cannot protect against new strains of the virus ;