Scenario
“TB is a bacterial infection. TB that affects the lungs (pulmonary TB) is the most contagious type, but it usually only spreads after prolonged exposure to someone with the illness. In most healthy people, the body’s natural defence against infection and illness (the immune system) kills the bacteria and there are no symptoms. Sometimes the immune system can’t kill the bacteria, but manages to prevent it spreading in the body … With treatment, TB can almost always be cured. A course of antibiotics will usually need to be taken for six months. Several different antibiotics are used because some forms of TB are resistant to certain antibiotics … The BCG vaccine offers protection against TB, and is recommended on the NHS for babies, children and adults under the age of 35 who are considered to be at risk of catching TB” (NHS, 2018).
This assignment assess outcomes 1, 2, 4 and part of outcome 3
Understand the contributions of Snow, Semmelweiss, Pasteur, Jenner and Koch to
the understanding of infectious disease.
How the human body responds to infection.
How infections can be prevented and the mechanism of action of antibiotics.
Task 1
Produce a 1500 word report on Tuberculosis (TB). The report should include: –
An introduction identifying the causative organism of TB and a labelled diagram of the causative organism. A table comparing the structure of bacteria and viruses to eukaryotes (Criteria 3.1) A brief description of the main non specific responses to infection and how TB enters the body (Criteria 2.1). (About 150 words, text in the table is not included in word count).
A description of the role of inflammation and fever in the non-specific response to TB. The following terms and processes should be discussed: 4 signs of inflammation, chemotaxis, histamine, diapedesis, phagocytosis, pyrogen, hypothalamus (Criteria 2.1) (About 200-300 words).
An explanation of the role of types of white blood cells in both the non-specific and specific
responses to TB. The following cells, terms and processes should be discussed: T cells (T helper, and T cytotoxic/killer cells), B cells, plasma cells, neutrophils, macrophages, basophils, antigen, antibody, clonal selection, agglutination, memory cells, natural killer cells (Criteria 2.2 and 2.3) (About 400-500 words).
An explanation of the general mechanisms of action of antibiotics (Criteria 4.1) (About 150 words). Identify the 2 main antibiotic(s) used to treat TB and state whether these act on cell wall, nucleic acid or protein synthesis.
An explanation of the mechanisms by which TB has become resistant to antibiotics. The terms conjugation, transduction and transformation should be discussed (About 150 words).
Explain the history of the development of vaccination, including the contributions of Jenner and Pasteur (Criteria 1.2) and describe the three different types of vaccines (Criteria 4.1) (About 200 words).
An explanation of how the vaccine for TB, the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccine (BCG), promotes immunity. You should also discuss the mechanism of the Mantoux test and why BCG vaccination is not part of the routine NHS vaccination schedule in the UK (Criteria 4.2) (About 200 words).
A conclusion (About 50 words)
The work should be written in an academic style, with intext citation and a bibliography using Harvard referencing style.
Task 2
Produce a short report (300-500 words) on the immunological benefits of breastfeeding including the role of IgG IgM IgA lactoferrin, bifidus factors, lactoperoxidase and lysozyme.You should include a graph showing immunoglobulin levels. The work should be written in an academic style, with intext citation and a bibliography using Harvard referencing style. (Criteria 4.3).
Task 3
A short essay (300-500 words) on the contribution of Semmelweiss and Koch to the Germ Theory of disease and the early development of epidemiology by Snow (Criteria 1.1).The work should be written in an academic style, with intext citation and a bibliography using Harvard referencing style.
