GCSE Biology: More Communicable Diseases and Monoclonal Antibodies

Each exam board names its own set of example diseases, and the pathogens material already in this category follows one of those lists (measles, HIV, tobacco mosaic virus, salmonella, gonorrhoea, rose black spot and malaria). This material adds the other diseases that students meet on different boards' lists — for example, the Pearson Edexcel specification names cholera, tuberculosis, Chalara ash dieback, Helicobacter, Ebola and chlamydia — together with monoclonal antibodies, which several boards teach as separate Biology, Higher tier content. Check your own board's specification to see which named diseases you need.

For each disease you learn the type of pathogen, the main symptoms and how it spreads, and then how its spread is reduced. Cholera is a bacterial disease spread in contaminated water, controlled by clean water supplies and sanitation. Tuberculosis is a bacterial lung disease spread through the air, reduced by vaccination, isolation, ventilation and long courses of antibiotics. Chalara ash dieback is a fungal disease of ash trees spread by airborne spores and by moving infected young trees. Helicobacter causes stomach ulcers and is swallowed in contaminated food or water. Ebola is a virus spread in body fluids, controlled by isolation, protective clothing, hygiene and safe burials. Chlamydia is a bacterial sexually transmitted infection that often has no symptoms but can cause infertility. The questions repeatedly test one principle that examiners like: antibiotics work against bacteria but not against viruses.

The second part explains monoclonal antibodies. You follow how they are produced — mouse lymphocytes stimulated to make one antibody, fused with a tumour cell to make a hybridoma that can both divide and make the antibody, then cloned — and why each antibody binds to one binding site on one protein antigen. You then apply this to pregnancy tests, to measuring hormones and detecting pathogens in laboratories, to locating molecules with fluorescent dyes, and to delivering drugs or radioactive substances to cancer cells, before weighing up why they are not yet as widely used as first hoped.

Four formats are offered. The quiz has twelve questions with explanations. The flashcards cover each disease and the key terms, from hybridoma cell to antigen. The printable written sheet has eight longer questions — including the spread and control of named diseases with short data calculations, the production of monoclonal antibodies, how a pregnancy test works and an evaluation of their use in cancer treatment — to complete by hand and photograph for feedback. The oral exam lets you talk the topic through with an examiner who asks one question at a time and gives brief feedback at the end.

Numbers used in the questions are illustrative.

• Name the pathogen type, symptoms and method of spread of cholera, tuberculosis, Chalara ash dieback, Helicobacter, Ebola and chlamydia
• Explain how the spread of each disease can be reduced, and why antibiotics do not work against viruses
• Higher: describe how monoclonal antibodies are produced using hybridoma cells
• Explain why a monoclonal antibody binds to only one antigen
• Describe how monoclonal antibodies are used in pregnancy tests, laboratories, research and cancer treatment
• Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of monoclonal antibodies

Practice material written by Zestly, based on the DfE GCSE biology subject content and exam-board specification content (for example, the named diseases in the Pearson Edexcel GCSE Biology specification and the monoclonal antibodies content of AQA GCSE Biology 8461). Numbers in the questions are illustrative.