• With a partner make a list of diseases you can catch.
• Divide your list into those caused by bacteria, viruses and fungi and those you are not sure about.

1. What are the differences between bacteria and fungi?

2. Why is a virus different from all other living things?

3. What are antibodies and how do they help to fight disease?

4. The HIV virus destroys white blood cells. Why does this make people with AIDS vulnerable to many diseases?

5. Your younger brother is horrified to find out that TB jabs contain the bacteria that cause the disease. Explain to him how the vaccine works and why it is safe to use.

6. Make a list of the events that led to the production of the smallpox vaccine which helped to eliminate this deadly disease.

7. What conditions help microbes to grow fast?

8. You have been given some soil returned from Mars by a space probe. What experiments would you do to see if the soil contained microbes?
How would you protect yourself and others from any diseases that Martian microbes could cause?

9. You go to the doctor with a bad cold. She tells you to take paracetomol, go to bed and drink lots of fluids. Why doesn’t she prescribe antibiotics?