Kalle2

Kalle

1. Describe the difference between leukocyte and white blood cells. Leukocytes are white blood cells, but it is a scientific name for all of the cells such as memory cells that remember if a disease has struck, b-cells that reproduce antibodies and t-cells that fight off the infection that has been binded by the antibodies and destroy it. I don't think there is any difference between leukocytes and white blood cells.

2. The term proteins are frequently used in the study of immunology. Explain the term/concept proteins. Proteins are cells (molecules) that help your body in things such as health. They are kind of like vitamins that are good for certain parts in the body for example if you don't have vitamin c your teeth would fall off.

3. Explain why the Black Death virus, which has caused millions of deaths, was deadly using concepts of immunology. The black death was actually a pathogen that was spread by the rats by the time when people from Spain, England and many other countries visited south america and the rats that were on the ships carried a really lethal disease. The reason how it spread was that before there were no such things as antibiotics or vaccines and also they did not know about such things as white blood cells & the immune system. The disease spread like a large flu, but a one that could kill people. The pathogen was spread by being around people and some did not even know that they had the certain disease. It was spread by things such food, what some people have touched or a rat had ate it a little bit, and when the person would have took a bite of the loaf of bread for example the black death would have spread to him also. Maybe the immune system was not prepared and the disease easily could cause deaths.

4. The recent bird flu virus, H7N9, has a 20% fatality rate if one is infected.

a) what does it mean - 20% fatality rate? This means that if one person is infected by the disease it is 20% likely that the person would die because of the bird flu. The higher the fatality rate is, it is more likely that you would die because of it. It is maybe because the

b) How is this virus different from a common flu virus? A virus is a little more dangerous than a normal flu because a virus can spread easily and also the flu virus can be defeated easily by the t & b cells.

c) Are there ways to prepare our body immune system against such fatal, deadly virus? A vaccine is usually a small disease that is put in your body. When put in the body you usually feel sick for a few minutes and it is because of the disease. The reason why the disease is inserted in your body is that the white blood cells would be reproduced more and get ready if the disease strikes.

d) The bird flu virus wasn't infectious to humans before; explain why it suddenly turned viral and harmful to humans. Now the pathogens are called superbugs because all of the antibiotics & vaccines make them stronger now. Also it has got more fatal over the years so now it is hard to kill them.

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 has become larger and it maybe also reproduces more of the cells so fast that the body's immune system cannot fight it off.