Science Homework Help

Reply to these two discussions. 1.PART II

1. Would the villagers need to drink repeatedly or only once from the treated wells to obtain a sufficient dose to serve as a cure? What is the basis of your answer?

– The villagers would need to drink from the treated wells repeatedly. A single serving of the treated water would not be enough to remove all the bacteria from the body. This is based on the Europeans coming back a few days later to find that symptoms of those in the village were improving.

4. Should the villagers be concerned that this bacterial virus will be harmful to their microbial fora (such as their intestinal bacteria)? Why or why not?

– The villagers should not be concerned with the bacterial virus being harmful to microbial flora because cholera targets the intestines and with combating cholera it will help with treating the intestines.

PART III

2.This experiment does not capture some of the complexities of administering treatments in a human body. What are some of the factors that would affect the effectiveness of these treatments in a human body that are not measured in these flasks? How might these factors affect treatment?

-Some factors that affect the effectiveness of the treatments are body temperature and a person’s immune system. Treatment would vary from person to person due to the different body temperatures and the strength of the immune system.

PART IV

3. I believe that restrictions should be loosened. I feel that the pharmaceutical companies only care about making money versus actually trying to treat the individual patient. Everyone does not react the same to treatments that may be given. With phage therapy it can be used in places that antibiotics cannot be used.

2nd discussion:

PART II

1. Would the villagers need to drink repeatedly or only once from the treated wells to obtain a sufficient dose to serve as a cure? What is the basis of your answer?

The villagers need to drink the water only once from the treated wells to obtain a sufficient dose to serve as a cure because the supplied bacteriophages in the water need to be constantly there for the leftover bacteria. It is important that all the bacteria is being prevented and the only way to achieve that would be to provide a one dose from the phages which would then reproduce and through the lytic process kill the bacteria. The lytic cycle helps to produce more protein to keep the constant killing of the bacteria.

2. Once a person ingests a dose of phages, how long will the treatment remain effective in his or her body? In other words, what is the time course of the treatment? Would you expect the effectiveness of this treatment to increase or decrease over time? Why?

Once a person ingests a dose of phages, the treatment will remain effective in his or her body until all the bacteria has been destroyed. The dose will also need to be maintained by making sure to drink clean water or else it might be ineffective. The phage cells need a host to live off of, so in that case the production of protein can occur without any impact.

PART III

3. What are some advantages of antibiotics over phages in the treatment of infection in humans?

As mentioned in the article, Antibiotics are chemicals that can prevent the growth of bacteria or even kill them. In that case, antibiotics are an advantage there but only until when the bacteria start getting less susceptible to the antibiotic. When it comes to phages, they can mutate along with the bacteria to keep infecting them as compared to antibiotics. It is a huge advantage that the bacteria cannot build up resistance to them like the antibiotics but the phages change with them as well.

PART IV

3. Do you think restrictions on the use of phage therapy in North America should be loosened? Why or why not?

The use of phage therapy has been greatly beneficial towards killing specific bacteria but because of that reason it can be dangerous. It requires personalized treatment which can be very time consuming and costly. The use of phage therapy should not be loosened for these reasons because antibiotics can get the job done. This therapy can end up not working and be fatal towards humans. It might be able to do a better job at locating specific bacteria that antibiotic cannot but it is not worth the risk of it possibly being fatal.