The Cause of Disease in Humans

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------------------------------------------------- The Cause of Disease in Humans Plan: Disease can be caused by: * Genetics sex linkage/Mutations/ Interbreeding * Bad immune system vaccinations * Transmission Bad hygiene * Genetic engineering scientific mistakes? (swine flu?) * Lifestyle smoking /diet/exercise * Pathogens TB = Air-born diseases * Disease in humans is caused by many different factors, both biotic and abiotic. The main reasons for diseases are down to lifestyle and genetics. Each choice a person makes can affect and cause a disease. Genetics is a major factor in cause of disease as the genes passed onto offspring contain the alleles that directly affect the phenotype of the offspring. Disease can often be linked to the sex of the offspring as well. Some diseases such as haemophilia are directly linked to the sex of the child and so shows that genetics is an important factor in disease. The probability of contracting a genetic disease can be increased due to interbreeding. Communities such as the Amish people or royals have a higher chance of contracting recessive diseases as the chance of both parents carrying the gene is significantly higher in the population within the specific community. When both parents have a recessive gene, then the probability of the offspring having the disease is increased to 25%. Other types of disease related to genetics are not necessarily inherited, but are created due to the mutations of the DNA during replication. The change in the code or base sequence of the DNA causes a change in what it code for. When there is a change in the base sequence for a protein, the tertiary shape of it changes, causing the ‘active site’ to be modified and cannot bind and form an enzyme-substrate complex. It is important to note that not all mutations and changes in the base sequence will have

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