Understand the role of pathogens, such as viruses and bacteria, in causing infectious diseases in both animals and plants.
Explain how pathogens depend on a host organism to provide the necessary conditions and nutrients for growth and reproduction.
Describe how pathogens frequently produce toxins that cause tissue damage and subsequent illness.
Evaluate strategies for avoiding diseases by reducing contact with harmful pathogens.
Describe the body's natural barrier systems against pathogen entry.
Explain how the internal immune system is triggered upon pathogen entry to destroy the pathogen and prevent the onset of severe disease.
Understand how the body's natural defense systems can be artificially enhanced through the use of vaccination against unusual or highly dangerous diseases.
Assess the historical success of antibiotics since the 1940s against a number of lethal bacterial diseases.
Evaluate the significant modern challenge posed by the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and the urgent need to develop entirely new sets of antibiotics.
