Treating Disease

Drugs and Treatments

Drugs are chemical substances that can change the way the body works and/or help manage diseases by relieving symptoms or killing disease-causing organisms.
Pharmaceuticals are drugs developed for medicinal purposes. These can include antibiotics, pain relievers, and antivirals, among others.
Antibiotics specifically target bacteria by either destroying them or inhibiting their growth. However, they are not effective against viral infections.
Misuse of antibiotics can lead to antibiotic resistance, a serious problem where some bacteria become resistant to the antibiotics designed to kill them.

The development of new medicines involves preclinical testing, clinical trials, and several stages of approval for safety and efficacy.
Preclinical testing involves testing on live cells and animal models to understand the drug’s effects and identify potential side effects.
Clinical trials begin only if preclinical testing shows the drug is likely to be safe and effective. These trials involve phases to test safety, dosage, and efficacy.
New medicines must be approved by regulatory bodies such as the MHRA in the UK before they are prescribed or sold to the public.

Drugs can be derived from natural sources or be synthetic. Natural drugs are derived from plants, animals, or microorganisms and have been used for centuries in traditional medicine.
Synthetic drugs are made in laboratories and are typically more standardised and consistent in their effects.
Both natural and synthetic drugs must go through rigorous testing and approval processes to ensure they are safe and effective.

Lifestyle choices such as diet, physical activity, alcohol consumption, and smoking can significantly impact an individual’s health and risk of diseases.
Regular physical activity and a balanced diet can help maintain a healthy weight and reduce the risk of conditions like heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes.
Alcohol and tobacco use can lead to a variety of health problems, including liver disease, lung cancer, and cardiovascular disorders.

Vaccination is a method of disease prevention that involves introducing a safe form of a pathogen into the body to stimulate an immune response.
This process encourages the production of memory cells that can recognise the pathogen in the future, providing immunity.
Public vaccination programmes can lead to herd immunity, where sufficient immunisation within a population can protect those who are not immune by reducing the chance of disease outbreak.