Leon2

Leon2

1. Describe the difference between leukocyte and white blood cells. There is no difference between the two, only that the term "Leukocyte" is a more scientific way of saying white blood cells.

2. The term proteins are frequently used in the study of immunology. Explain the term/concept proteins. Some protein are used to fight off early infections, they take the form as Antibodies or Antitoxins. Antibodies attach themselves to a infectious cell and exterminates it or flags it down. Antitoxins are created on the antigen of a toxin cell, so it can kill it.

3. Explain why the Black Death virus, which has caused millions of deaths, was deadly; using concepts of immunology. It was a type of pneumonic, bubonic, septicemic plague, meaning it attacked the lungs, lymph nodes, and blood cells. The black death was all of those plagues combined together that swept through Europe in the 14th century, killing 1/3 of Europe's population. The Bubonic plague is usually rodent borne, meaning it was caught by rodents such as rats, mice, birds and other small mammals. Pneumonia is formed by the initial spread of the bubonic plague. Septicemia was caught because of the immune response to other, serious infections such as the Pneumonic and Bubonic spread.

4. The recent bird flu virus, H7N9, has a 20% fatality rate if one is infected. a) what does it mean - 20% fatality rate? It means that the patients have a 20% chance of having fatal affects from the bird flu.

b) How is this virus different from a common flu virus? This virus is spread via bird feces. Other mammals such as pigs, for instance, can be infected by the bird influenza. This type of flu can be fatal to ones life and is more dangerous compared to other flus, like the common cold.

c) Are there ways to prepare our body immune system against such fatal, deadly virus? Vaccinations. If we are vaccinated with a dose of deactivated or weakened H7N9, we can produce antibodies for this specific disease.

d) The bird flu virus wasn't infectious to humans before; explain why it could become viral and harmful to humans. It was probably caught by a different mammal, as said before; the pig, and we could've been infected by that because it has evolved in the pig.

e) Right now, the flu is unable to infect a person through human to human transmission; if it can infect through human to human transmissions, what could have changed in the virus? It could have affected many more people, and spread like a plague. It could have mutated/evolved, taking a different form so we can't constantly find cures for it.