Question 1 Medium
What does a vaccine contain: live pathogen, antibodies, or dead or weakened pathogen?
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Answer: dead or weakened pathogen
- It carries antigens but cannot cause disease.
- It is a dead or weakened pathogen.
Defence against disease and vaccination: GCSE Combined Science Biology practice questions
A second set of questions on defence against disease and vaccination. They are different from the ones on the topic page. Try each, then open the answer and compare your working.
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Question 2 Medium
Name the structures in the trachea that sweep mucus upwards.
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Answer: cilia
- They are tiny hairs on cells.
- They are cilia.
Question 3 Medium
Does a vaccine contain antigens or antibodies?
Show answer
Answer: antigens
- A vaccine has parts of a pathogen.
- These carry antigens.
Question 4 Medium
Name one disease that vaccination has wiped out.
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Answer: smallpox
- Vaccination has removed one disease completely.
- This disease is smallpox.
Question 5 Hard
Is the secondary response to a pathogen faster or slower than the primary response?
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Answer: faster
- Memory cells are already present.
- So the secondary response is faster.
Question 6 Hard
Name the chemicals made by white blood cells that neutralise the poisons released by bacteria.
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Answer: antitoxins
- The poisons are toxins.
- They are neutralised by antitoxins.
Question 7 Hard
Why can a vaccine be useless if a pathogen mutates? Give one word for the surface markers that change.
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Answer: antigens
- The immune system recognises antigens.
- If they change, the antibodies no longer match.
Question 8 Hard
Why does vaccination not cure someone who is already ill? Give the word for what the body needs time to make.
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Answer: antibodies
- The vaccine needs time to trigger a response.
- The body must make antibodies.
Quick checks
Short questions with options. Choose one before you open the answer.
Check 1
Name three non-specific defences of the body.
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Skin, mucus and cilia in the airways, and stomach acid.
Check 2
What do nose hairs and mucus do?
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They trap particles and pathogens.
Check 3
What does stomach acid do?
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It kills most pathogens in food and drink.
Check 4
What is phagocytosis?
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A phagocyte engulfing and digesting a pathogen.
Check 5
What is an antibody?
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A protein made by lymphocytes that attaches to a specific antigen.
Check 6
What is an antigen?
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A marker on the surface of a pathogen.
Check 7
What are antitoxins?
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Chemicals that neutralise the toxins made by pathogens.
Check 8
What are memory cells?
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Lymphocytes that stay in the body and respond quickly to a pathogen met before.
Check 9
What is the primary response?
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The slow, small antibody response to a first infection.
Check 10
What is the secondary response?
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The fast, large antibody response to a second infection.
Check 11
What is in a vaccine?
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A dead or weakened pathogen, or parts of it, that carry antigens.
Check 12
Why does a vaccine not make you ill?
Show answer
The pathogen in it is dead or weakened.
Check 13
What is herd immunity?
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When most of the population is immune, so the pathogen cannot spread easily.
Check 14
Who is protected by herd immunity?
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People who are not vaccinated, such as babies and those with weak immune systems.
Check 15
Why might a vaccine stop working over time?
Show answer
The pathogen can change its antigens.
Check 16
Name a disease that vaccination has wiped out.
Show answer
Smallpox.
Check 17
What is a pathogen?
Show answer
A microorganism that causes disease.
Check 18
What is a phagocyte?
Show answer
A white blood cell that engulfs and digests pathogens.
Check 19
What is a lymphocyte?
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A white blood cell that makes antibodies.
Check 20
Why does an antibody for one pathogen not work on another?
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Antibodies are specific. Each fits only one antigen.
Check 21
How does the skin protect the body?
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It is a barrier, and it seals cuts with blood clots.
Check 22
What are cilia?
Show answer
Tiny hairs that sweep mucus up the airways.
Check 23
Why can the first infection make you ill?
Show answer
The primary response is slow, so pathogens multiply first.
Check 24
Does a vaccine cure someone who is already ill?
Show answer
No. It protects in advance.
Check 25
Why are babies protected by herd immunity?
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Few infected people are around, so the pathogen spreads less.
Check 26
What is an epidemic?
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Many cases of a disease at the same time.
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