Order this Assignment Now: £129 VALID THRU: 17-Feb-2025
Assignment Briefs
10-14-2024
Briefly introduce early ideas of how disease spreads and why these ideas came about. Include a short discussion of the ways that people attempted to prevent the spread of disease.
Unit 14 Infection and Immunity
Disease has been part of the human story since the dawn of time. The earliest known disease that we have evidence for is leprosy, which has been found in skeletons dating back 4000 years. Smallpox is nearly as old and has been found in ancient Egyptian mummies dating as far back as 1350BCE.
Thanks to modern medicine most diseases are no longer deadly. Leprosy, once thought to be a result of sinful behaviour, is now known to be caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium leprae and is spread by inhalation of droplets from coughing and sneezing. It is easily treated with antibiotics and is now very rare indeed. Smallpox, variola virus, was once the deadliest disease in the world. It was estimated to have killed up to 300 million people in the 20th century and around 500 million people in the last 100 years of its existence. It has now been completely eradicated by a global vaccination program, with the last smallpox case anywhere in the world occurring in 1979.
Your task is to produce an illustrated report that not only demonstrates your understanding of diseases, how they spread and how we recover from them, but also charts some of the key turning points in medical discovery.
Your report must include the following sections.
SECTION ONE
This section covers the development of modern medicine.
Briefly introduce early ideas of how disease spreads and why these ideas came about. Include a short discussion of the ways that people attempted to prevent the spread of disease.
Describe how Dr Ignaz Semmelweis and Dr Robert Koch contributed to the idea of Germ Theory and their contributions to modern healthcare practices.
Describe the contribution of Dr John Snow to the development of epidemiology, the branch of medicine which deals with the incidence, distribution, and possible control of diseases and other factors relating to health.
Explain the history of the development of vaccination, including the contributions of Dr Edward Jenner and Dr Louis Pasteur.
You should use images and diagrams to support your commentary where appropriate.
SECTION TWO
Show that you understand the cause and transmission of different pathogens by describing the structure of a range pathogens, including bacteria and viruses, and compare them to eukaryotic cells.
Identify and briefly describe range of contagious diseases with different modes of transmission and explain how they enter the human body. Explain how each of these causes disease and include the symptoms.
You should use images and diagrams to support your commentary where appropriate.
SECTION THREE
Show that you understand how the human body responds to infection by: -
Describing the range of first line defences and non-specific responses to infection including fever.
Explaining the roles of the different types of white blood cells.
Explaining the mechanism of the specific immune response and how it can significantly reduce the chances of you catching the same disease twice.
You should use images and diagrams to support your commentary where appropriate.
SECTION FOUR
Show that you understand how vaccinations can prevent an infection through,
Describing the different types of vaccine and how they work.
Explaining how vaccination increases the chance that you will become immune to a pathogen and how this can reduce the spread of a disease.
You should use images and diagrams to support your commentary where appropriate.
SECTION FIVE
Show that you understand how antibiotics work and their limitations through,
Explaining what antibiotics are and, briefly, how they were discovered.
Describing the mechanism of action of antibiotics and explain why they only work on bacteria and no other pathogens.
Explaining how bacteria can become resistant to antibiotics and the consequences of this for public health.
Guidance
The report should be written using the recommended structure and format for an illustrated report as outlined in the study materials for the Academic Writing Skills unit.
Relevant theory must be referenced where appropriate and you must provide a references list and bibliography.
Your report should also contain appropriate drawings and diagrams to support your commentary. If these are taken from published sources, they must be cited and referenced accordingly.
The report should be a maximum of 3,000 words in length.
Grade Descriptor
Indicative Content for Merit
Indicative Content for Distinction
Understanding of the subject
The student, student’s work or performance demonstrates very good grasp of the relevant knowledge base.
The student, student’s work or performance demonstrates excellent grasp of the relevant knowledge base.
Application of knowledge
The student, student’s work or performance makes use of relevant ideas, facts and concepts, has breadth or depth that goes beyond the minimum required to Pass, and has very good levels of insight.
The student, student’s work or performance makes use of relevant ideas, facts and concepts, has breadth and depth, and has excellent levels of insight.
Quality
The student, student’s work or performance puts forward arguments or ideas which are generally unambiguous but which are in a minor way limited or incomplete, and taken as a whole demonstrates a very good response to the demands of the brief/assignment.
The student, student’s work or performance puts forward arguments or ideas which are consistently unambiguous and cogent, and taken as a whole demonstrates an excellent response to the demands of the brief/assignment.
Section One: The Development of Modern Medicine
Early Ideas on Disease Transmission
Throughout history, various civilizations developed their own theories about how diseases spread, often based on superstition, religion, or observation rather than scientific understanding. The ancient Egyptians, for example, believed that diseases were caused by supernatural forces, such as evil spirits or angry gods. In Ancient Greece, Hippocrates proposed the humoral theory, which suggested that disease was the result of an imbalance of the four bodily fluids, or `humours`—blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile.
In the Middle Ages, many people in Europe believed that diseases were a form of divine punishment for sinful behaviour. The outbreak of the bubonic plague (Black Death) in the 14th century, which killed millions, reinforced these religious interpretations. There were also theories about `miasma,` the idea that diseases were spread by foul-smelling air, or `bad air,` which arose from decomposing organic matter. This belief persisted until the 19th century, guiding public health measures such as the removal of waste and the closure of foul-smelling areas in towns and cities.
Early Attempts at Disease Prevention
Before modern scientific understanding, attempts to prevent disease were largely based on trial and error, cultural practices, or religious rituals. During the Black Death, for example, people tried to ward off the disease by burning incense, carrying fragrant herbs, or wearing masks filled with perfumes to protect themselves from the `miasma.` Quarantine also emerged as a key preventative measure. In Venice during the 14th century, ships arriving from plague-infected areas were isolated for 40 days (`quaranta giorni`), a practice which eventually spread across Europe.
Continued...
Order this Assignment Now:£129
100% Plagiarism Free & Custom Written, Tailored to your instructions