1.

6 PROTECTION FROM MICROBES

TREATMENTS FROM NATURE

 First Peoples in British Columbia have a strong tradition

of using resources from nature for medicinal purposes
 Plants, animals, and even clay deposits are used to treat
illnesses
INDIAN HELLBORE

 Found in open forests

 Used by Nuxalk Nation to treat skin and
scalp conditions
 Smoke from a burned plant can be used as a
decongestant Figure 1.23: Indian hellbore
(Veratrum viride)
DEVIL’S CLUB

 Grows along the coast and in the B.C.

interior
 Treats breathing and digestive disorders,
arthritis, and diabetes
Figure 1.23: Devil’s club
(Opolopanax horridus)
PACIFIC YEW TREE

 Grows along the coast

 Tea from the needles and bark treats pain and
internal injuries
 Bark contains a cancer-fighting chemical that is
the basis of the drug Taxol (used to treat breast Figure 1.23: Pacific yew
and ovarian cancers) (Taxus brevifolia)
VACCINES

 Vaccine: a substance that causes a response in

the body that protects it against a specific disease
 Can be injected or taken orally

 Vaccines contain small amounts or pieces of a live

or killed pathogen that causes disease
 Vaccines cause an immune response from the body
 Immune system “remembers” the exposure to the
pathogen and can defend the body against it
 A vaccinated person has immunity against the disease
WHY GET VACCINATED?

 Help protect each person who receives them against deadly

diseases and diseases that can cause permanent damage
 It helps stop the spread of diseases
 It can also help stop an outbreak from turning into an epidemic
or pandemic!
ANTIBIOTICS

 Antibiotics: a substance that fights infections

by interfering with the life processes of bacteria
 They either kill or prevent them from
growing/reproducing
 Each type is effective against a specific type of bacteria
 NOT useful against viruses or other microbes

 Penicillin is derived from mould by accident but

has since developed other antibiotics that has Figure 1.24: The area near the
mould does not have bacteria
benefited our world! growing around it.
PROBLEMS WITH ANTIBIOTICS

 Many types of bacteria have become resistant to antibiotics

 Those bacteria will populate which results in the antibiotics being
ineffective!
 “Superbugs” is used to describe bacteria that are resistant to
several types of antibiotics