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Aids to Health — Part 1: Vaccines, antitoxins, serums and antibiotics

Beta

Lesson

Aids to Health

Part 1 — medicines and injections that protect us from germs.

In this lesson you will

Explain how a vaccine produces immunity and distinguish vaccination from immunisation
Explain when an antitoxin or serum is given instead of a vaccine
State what antibiotics act against and why they must be used carefully

Concept

How the body fights a germ

Table of the terms antigen, antibody, memory cells and immunity with their meanings
Term	Meaning
Antigen	A germ, or part of a germ, that the body treats as foreign
Antibody	A protein made by white blood cells that fights one kind of germ
Memory cells	White blood cells that remember a germ, so that the next attack is met quickly
Immunity	Resistance of the body to a disease

Concept

What a vaccine is

Table of the kinds of material in a vaccine and why each is safe
A vaccine may contain	Why it is safe
Weakened living germs	Too weak to cause the disease
Killed germs	Dead, so they cannot multiply
A harmless form of a poison made by the germ	It cannot poison, but the body still makes antibodies
A harmless part of the germ	It cannot cause the disease