ExpertEasy1 markMultiple Choice
AQA GCSE · Question 01.6 · Infection and Response
A vaccine for HIV is important because it is difficult to develop safe drugs to destroy viruses.
Why is it difficult to develop safe drugs to destroy viruses?
Tick (✔) one box.
A vaccine for HIV is important because it is difficult to develop safe drugs to destroy viruses.
Why is it difficult to develop safe drugs to destroy viruses?
Tick (✔) one box.
Answer options:
A.
Drugs that destroy viruses also damage body tissues.
B.
There are too many viruses for the drugs to destroy.
C.
Viruses are too big for the drugs to destroy.
How to approach this question
Think about where viruses live and reproduce inside the body. How does this location make them difficult to target with drugs without causing side effects?
Full Answer
A.Drugs that destroy viruses also damage body tissues.✓ Correct
Viruses are not living cells themselves; they are intracellular parasites. This means they invade host cells (our body cells) and use the host cell's machinery (like ribosomes and enzymes) to replicate. Because the virus is so integrated with the host cell, it is very difficult to find a drug that can target and destroy the virus without also damaging the host cell. This is why antiviral drugs can have significant side effects.
Common mistakes
✗ Thinking viruses are large; they are in fact very small.\n✗ Confusing the difficulty of development with the number of viruses.
Practice the full AQA GCSE Biology Foundation Tier Paper 1
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