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Andrea Bassett AP Biology Case Study: An Infectious Cure Part 1 1) The European men must have poured either

chlorine or iodine into the wells in order to treat them. Another proposed treatment could be to boil the well water before consumption in order to prevent any more villagers from gaining cholera. By boiling the contaminated well water, the bacteria will denature and become harmless to the villagers. Antibiotics or bacteriophage can be used to treat cholera by fighting off the cholera and allowing the villagers to build a defense to the cholera bacteria. 2) The Europeans who implemented the treatment did not fully understand the treatment before they enforced it onto the villagers. They did not know any side effects or damages that could come from the treatment and did not know if the treatment was going to be successful or not due to the fact that they had only used it once before. By forcing the treatment onto the villagers the Europeans could have done a lot more damage and could have killed the villagers by not getting their permission before testing. 3) The Europeans were not justified in enforcing treatment onto the villagers. The Europeans, most likely the British, were treating the villagers wells for their own financial benefit instead of for the benefit of the villagers. Most of the production of cotton and fabric came from India so the Europeans probably wanted to keep the money and goods flowing in and out of India. In order to make the situation more acceptable the Europeans could have asked permission from the villagers, done more testing to reassure the villagers of the benefits of the treatment and they could have only treated the wells of villagers who agreed to the treatment instead of risking the health of all the villagers. 4) It is never appropriate to force a cure on a population unless the cure has been fully researched and all side effects of the cure are found and could be treated. A cure should not hurt those taking it so all testing and research has to be done before anything can be forced onto a population. The North American water supply may have fluoride in it, but the amount of fluoride is regulated and even if a person gets too much fluoride in their system, better known as Fluorosis, the only down side is losing aesthetic appeal when it comes to his or her teeth. Fluorosis actually makes teeth stronger and more resistant to cavities and decay. 5) The records only state the early reaction of the villagers and the earlier effects of the treatment. In order to better understand the effects of the treatment records need to be more substantial with facts and less anecdotal. The observations are purely from European record, even though it is in the point of view of the villager, and conclusions from the treatment will be weak. Conclusions that can be drawn from this treatment so far are that it seems to be successful and the treatment seems to be helping the villagers, but because the treatment was previously done once the information is not scientifically reliable.

Part 2 1) The villagers would need to drink more than once from the treated wells in order to obtain a sufficient does of phages and to make sure that a sufficient amount of phages remaining living inside of the body to started producing phages designated to killing the bacteria. The phages remain alive only when inside a living cell so to insure that the phages remain alive it would be easier for the villagers to take repeated samples from the well. 2) Once a person ingests a dose of phages the phages will remain active as long as the phage is inside a cell. The treatment will continue to be effective as the phages use the host cells energy and machinery to produce more phages specific for fighting bacteria. The effectiveness of the treatment will continue to grow as more phages are produced in the cells of the body and the phage produces two proteins to rupture the cell wall of the bacteria to kill it. 3) Bacterial and viral co-evolution can continue on indefinitely. As a bacterium adapts to antibodies or bacteriophage the bacteriophage will need to adapt to find a new way to eliminate the bacteria. As the bacteria mutates, the phage will also have to adapt and evolve to be able to fight the newly mutated bacteria creating a cycle of co-evolution between the phages and the bacteria. 4) The villagers should not be concerned that the bacteriophage will act their microbial flora because the bacteriophages contain a base plate and tail fibers that are composed of protein. The base plate and tail fibers are uniquely shaped and will only attach to the bacteria that they match, like a key and a lock. The bacteriophage is specifically made for specific bacteria and will only affect those bacteria. 5) By attacking the cholera bacteria and getting rid of it in a short amount of time can cause instability in the small intestine and leave the small intestine vulnerable to other infections. The cholera bacteria specifically affect the small intestine and cause dehydration throughout the body. A negative consequence of treating the infection to fast is that it will leave the body prone to other infections and bacteria as the bodys immune system attacks only the one type of bacteria. 6) The bacteriophage has specific structures that will only latch onto the bacterias cell wall that matches it. The phages tail fibers and base plate are formed of protein making their function specific to structure. Also, the bacteriophages need to multiply inside of a cell and only the genetic make-up of a bacteria cell will fuel the production of more phage. 7) During the lysogenic cycle the viral genome integrates into the bacterial genome so that each time the bacterium replicates it contains a copy of the viral genome repressing the virus. So instead of the virus being wiped out, the treatment in the wells would only repress the virus and make it less harmful to the villagers.

8) Once the cholera bacteria runs out the bacteriophage becomes inactive and useless to the body. The bacteriophage need a cell to replicate so without the presence of a virus the bacteriophage get recycled in the body and do not affect any other bacteria present in the body/cell. 9) The presence of bacteriophage can cause the bacteria to mutate and create another form to infect a cell. If the bacterium keeps developing new forms the bacteriophage will have to take time to adapt to the bacteria in order for the phage to work. A consequence is that the bacteria will mutate so much that the phage will be ineffective creating a bacteria immune to cells/bodys defenses. 10) When the bacterium affects the next cell the bacteria will have its DNA replicated and with its DNA is the bacterial DNA. As replication and packaging occurs the cholera toxin is replicated and packaged with the bacteria. As the bacteria lyses the cell wall the cholera toxin travels to other cells where it will be replicated and transported again. The human with the bacteriophage will become infected with the cholera toxin and with suffer from dehydration and death as the bodys immune system cannot fight off the new cholera toxin. 11) This form of treatment is very safe as it does not require chemicals to be imputed into the body making natural. The body will build an immune to the bacteria and the bacteriophage present will be able to co-evolve with the virus present to ensure that the bacterium is removed from the body. I would subject myself to this form of treatment because it seems to be the most effective and removing and repressing viruses. Part 3 1) The phages where able to stop the growth of the Staphylococcus and keep the virus from replicating. The antibodies were able to halt the replication of Staphylococcus, but the virus was able to replicate at the point it was halted. The replication was leveled by the antibodies but not stopped. 2) The rate of replication could be different in the human body than inside of the flasks. Also the antibodies might not be able to take effect in the bodys cells. The bacteria would have to adapt to the environment and defense mechanisms that the human body has and would have to survive in a temperature much higher than present in a flask. 3) Antibiotics are made to be selectively toxic to certain bacteria and viruses and will only damage the cells in a patients body that are infected making the elimination of the disease quicker. Bacteriophage need time to develop proteins and replicate in order to fully eliminate the bacteria present

4) Bacteriophages are an advantage over antibiotics in the way that the bacteriophage will develop and evolve alongside the bacteria while antibiotics only affect a certain

form of bacteria. Phages can also last longer inside the body and be present to eliminate long lasting infections unlike antibiotics which will wear off or be used up within 2 to 4 weeks. Phages also do not stop replicating until the target bacteria is eliminated from the body. Part 4 1) Bacteriophage One disease- one treatment (Specific) Evolves and adapts with bacteria Does not stop replicating until bacteria is eliminated Needs to be matched with specific bacteria Needs time to develop and replicate Able to reach areas of body antibiotics cannot

Antibiotics Works on range of bacteria General, does not adapt Antibiotics last between 2 to 4 weeks inside of the body before running out Can be applied without matching Works once administered into body Does not need to be customized

2) Bacteriophage therapy is more likely to work on bacterial infections that cannot be treated by antibiotics alone as they are more specific and can develop new adaptations as the bacteria continues to grow inside a body. Antibiotics can be used to treat wide ranges of infections like sinus infections that needs to be treated fast and that is in its simplest form. Antibiotics are mainly for non-complex and non-mutated forms of bacteria that are common in populations. 3) I do not think that the restrictions on the use of phage therapy in North America should be loosened until there is a better understanding of how the therapy would work, when the therapy could be used, how long the therapy needs to prepare for and other factors that could affect how well the phage works and how long it will take for the page to work. Until more research and testing is done phage therapy in North America should remain restricted.

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