Key Stage 4
Meaning
Medicine is any treatment, including drugs which can improve the health of an organism or prevent an organism from becoming unhealthy.
About Medicine
- All medicine has some side effects as it changes the way the body works.
- When taking medicine it is important to decide whether the side effects are worse than the disease you are attempting to treat.
- Medicines must go through a strict process of testing to prove they work and are safe before they can be given to the general public. Anything that has not been proven to work or has been proved not to work is called Alternative Medicine.
Some common medicine types you may have heard of:
- Vaccines - Prevent infection by some pathogens.
- Pain Killers - Can reduce or eliminate pain.
- Antibiotics - Weaken pathogenic bacteria when you have an infection.
- Antihistamines - They reduce the symptoms of hay fever.