Lesson 4.1.1d

4.1.1d Vaccination, medicines and antibiotics Quiz: OCR Biology, Unit 3

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson 4.1.1d, Vaccination, medicines and antibiotics: 20 multiple choice questions for the OCR Biology (H020), Unit 3: Communicable diseases, disease prevention and the immune system, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. Which component of a vaccine stimulates the primary immune response?

    • Opsonins
    • Antigens
    • Antibodies
    • Interleukins

  2. Antibiotics are used mainly against which type of pathogen?

    • Protoctists
    • Bacteria
    • Fungi
    • Viruses

  3. When was penicillin widely introduced for treating bacterial infections?

    • Late 21st century
    • Mid-20th century
    • Late 16th century
    • Early 19th century

  4. What is the primary population-level goal of mass vaccination programmes?

    • Herd immunity
    • Passive immunity
    • Autoimmune protection
    • Natural active immunity

  5. Which common antibiotic medicine was originally discovered in a species of fungus?

    • Morphine
    • Penicillin
    • Aspirin
    • Digitalis

  6. What patient information is used to formulate personalised medicines?

    • Blood type
    • Antibody concentration
    • Genetic profile
    • Pathogen genome

  7. What major biological risk arises from the excessive use of antibiotics?

    • Destruction of antibodies
    • Selection of resistance
    • Development of autoimmunity
    • Inactivation of interleukins

  8. Why do rare resistant bacteria quickly dominate a population after antibiotic treatment?

    • Antigenic variation
    • Natural selection
    • Clonal selection
    • Genetic drift

  9. Which cell type provides long-term immunity following vaccination?

    • Memory cells
    • Plasma cells
    • Helper T cells
    • Mast cells

  10. What phenomenon protects unvaccinated individuals when most of a population is vaccinated?

    • Autoimmunity
    • Herd immunity
    • Passive immunity
    • Natural selection

  11. What process causes pathogens to change their antigens, requiring vaccines to be updated?

    • Phagocytosis
    • Opsonisation
    • Antigenic variation
    • Agglutination

  12. Which treatment provides artificial passive immunity to a patient?

    • Injected antibodies
    • Active pathogen exposure
    • Attenuated pathogen vaccine
    • Transplacental antibodies

  13. How do bacteria primarily acquire initial resistance to an antibiotic?

    • Passive immunity
    • Antigenic shift
    • Vaccination
    • Random mutation

  14. Why is maintaining biodiversity important for the pharmaceutical industry?

    • Reduces natural selection
    • Prevents herd immunity
    • Source of medicines
    • Increases bacterial mutation

  15. Which medical practice helps prevent the development of antibiotic resistance?

    • Routine preventative use
    • Using broad-spectrum drugs
    • Stopping treatment early
    • Completing prescribed courses

  16. Which mechanism requires influenza vaccines to be reformulated every year?

    • Active immunity
    • Clonal expansion
    • Antigenic drift
    • Clonal selection

  17. Which term describes medical treatments tailored to an individual's genetic profile?

    • Passive immunity
    • Gene therapy
    • Synthetic biology
    • Personalised medicine

  18. What challenge occurs when developing vaccines for pathogens with high mutation rates?

    • Reduced memory cells
    • Decreased phagocytosis
    • Altered surface antigens
    • Failed agglutination

  19. From which group of organisms were original antibiotics naturally derived?

    • Insects
    • Mammals
    • Microorganisms
    • Viruses

  20. Why is vaccination continued for diseases eradicated locally but present globally?

    • Risk of reintroduction
    • Antigenic drift
    • Declining herd immunity
    • Antibiotic resistance

All OCR Biology quizzes