Antibiotics and symptom relief have different targets
| English | 中文 | Pinyin |
|---|---|---|
| antibiotic/ˌæntɪbaɪˈɒtɪk/ | 抗生素 | kàng shēng sù |
| painkiller/ˈpeɪŋkɪlə/ | 止痛药 | zhǐ tòng yào |
What would explain this observation?
- A medicine can make someone feel better without killing the pathogen. Always state whether the intended target is a bacterium, a viral process or a symptom.
- Start with a prediction. State the quantities or features you would compare, then decide what evidence could distinguish two explanations.
Build the model
- Antibiotics 抗生素 such as penicillin are medicines that kill or inhibit bacteria. Different antibiotics are effective against different bacteria; resistant strains can survive a medicine that affects susceptible bacteria. Antibiotics do not kill viruses. Painkillers 止痛药 relieve symptoms such as pain but do not necessarily kill the pathogen causing the disease.
- antibiotic: A medicine that kills or inhibits bacteria; painkiller: A medicine used to relieve pain rather than necessarily remove its cause.
Why are drugs against viruses difficult to develop?
Viruses reproduce inside host cells. A drug that interferes with reproduction must avoid unacceptable damage to the host’s own cells and tissues, which makes development difficult. This does not imply that no antiviral medicines exist: antiretroviral control of HIV is one example already studied.
Match each technical term to its precise meaning.
Use the definitions to distinguish related quantities and processes.
Choose evidence that can test it
- Viruses reproduce inside host cells. A drug that interferes with reproduction must avoid unacceptable damage to the host’s own cells and tissues, which makes development difficult. This does not imply that no antiviral medicines exist: antiretroviral control of HIV is one example already studied.
- Interpret supplied laboratory summaries using an identified bacterium, antibiotic and stated conditions. Compare inhibition evidence without choosing a treatment for a real person. School antimicrobial practicals use only approved strains, concentrations, closed cultures and supervised disposal; no trial on human participants is appropriate.
Which two habits make the investigation or model in this case more defensible?
Interpret supplied laboratory summaries using an identified bacterium, antibiotic and stated conditions. Compare inhibition evidence without choosing a treatment for a real person. School antimicrobial practicals use only approved strains, concentrations, closed cultures and supervised disposal; no trial on human participants is appropriate.
Work from known quantities
- State the known values and their units. Choose the relation because its assumptions fit this case, then rearrange before substitution.
- Known: a fictional approved culture starts with 120 colonies in a control and shows 30 under a stated treatment condition. The reduction is 90, or 75% of the control count. The comparison measures this model’s growth outcome; it does not by itself establish a safe human dose or prove complete bacterial killing.
A fictional control has 80 colonies and a stated condition has 20. Calculate percentage reduction. Use the same sequence: known quantities → model → relation → substitution → unit and interpretation.
A fictional control has 80 colonies and a stated condition has 20. Calculate percentage reduction.
The result is 75 %. Known: a fictional approved culture starts with 120 colonies in a control and shows 30 under a stated treatment condition. The reduction is 90, or 75% of the control count. The comparison measures this model’s growth outcome; it does not by itself establish a safe human dose or prove complete bacterial killing.
Check the conclusion and its limits
- Antibiotic effectiveness is not the same as pain relief. A medicine that relieves fever does not demonstrate that it killed the virus. Resistant bacteria survive because of their characteristics; the person is not becoming genetically resistant to an antibiotic.
- Return to the original observation. Explain what the result supports, which conditions it assumes, and one way to test a competing explanation.
A painkiller necessarily kills the disease-causing pathogen. This claim is false: Antibiotic effectiveness is not the same as pain relief. A medicine that relieves fever does not demonstrate that it killed the virus. Resistant bacteria survive because of their characteristics; the person is not becoming genetically resistant to an antibiotic.
Antibiotics and symptom relief have different targets: Viruses reproduce inside host cells. A drug that interferes with reproduction must avoid unacceptable damage to the host’s own cells and tissues, which makes development difficult. This does not imply that no antiviral medicines exist: antiretroviral control of HIV is one example already studied.
A painkiller necessarily kills the disease-causing pathogen.
Antibiotic effectiveness is not the same as pain relief. A medicine that relieves fever does not demonstrate that it killed the virus. Resistant bacteria survive because of their characteristics; the person is not becoming genetically resistant to an antibiotic.
A medicine that kills or inhibits bacteria: write the technical term.
antibiotic means A medicine that kills or inhibits bacteria.