1. Why do you think specificity; heterogeneity (diversity), memory, and self-vs. Oneself recognition is vital to the immune system?
2. Define phagocytosis. How do some bacteria avoid or survive the action of phagocytes? How does the phagocyte arrive at the site where it is needed? What happens to a phagocyte after the majority of microorganisms and damaged tissue have been eliminated?
3. The "cliché" "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" means that preventing a disease is less costly economically and to the health of the host than treating the disease once it has occurred. Draw a flow chart (or list) showing the connections between reservoirs of infection; modes of transmission; host susceptibility factors, and portals of entry. These are the steps in the disease cycle that precede the infection of the host. Are there ways of preventing host infection by halting the pathogen at these points? Discuss each step, and what measures can be used to eliminate the treat of potential disease at each point.
4. A new bacterium has been secretly engineered and released by aerosol (spray) into the populace of a large metropolitan city as part of a terrorist scheme. This bacterium produces a lethal neurotoxin; several horrific enzymes; grows rapidly; and has a capsule. After several days, no unusual illnesses have been reported and the terrorists' scheme failed. What factors could the bioengineers have overlooked? EXPLAIN your answer.
5. Differentiate between humoral and cell mediated responses, and develop an example that would involve the activation of both systems, and explain how the two systems would work together, (or not!).
6. How can those microbes cause disease? What are mechanisms of pathogenicity? How do we study and research disease?
7. Explain a penicillin reaction, what is happening, how is the reaction triggered, and what is the allergen?
8. List and briefly discuss the obstacles that must be overcome to produce and AIDS vaccine. (The key is brief but comprehensive)
9. Explain the role of the immune system in a hypersensitivity reaction, you choose the stimulus.
10. Explain, in your own words how vaccinations work.