plumiPathogens and infections: Edexcel GCSE Combined Science questions
Every Edexcel GCSE Combined Science exam question on Pathogens and infections (specification points 5.4–5.6, 5.8), 2018–2025, with its mark scheme and examiner’s report.
Paper
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Calculations
Q1(a)
The whole paper ↗Q4(a)(iii)
The whole paper ↗Q4(a)(iv)
The whole paper ↗Q5(a)(i)
The whole paper ↗Your answerQ5(a)(ii)
The whole paper ↗Q5(a)(iii)
The whole paper ↗Q2(a)(i)
The whole paper ↗Your answerQ2(a)(ii)
The whole paper ↗Q6(a)(i)
The whole paper ↗Your answerQ6(a)(ii)
The whole paper ↗Q2(a)
The whole paper ↗Q2(b)(i)
The whole paper ↗Q6(a)
The whole paper ↗Q6(b)(i)
The whole paper ↗Q2(a)(i)
The whole paper ↗Q2(a)(ii)
The whole paper ↗Q2(a)(iv)
The whole paper ↗Q2(b)
The whole paper ↗Q1(a)
The whole paper ↗Your answerQ1(b)
The whole paper ↗
All 49 questions on Pathogens and infections, as a list
- June 2025, Biology Paper 1 Higher, Q1(a) (2 marks): Tuberculosis is a disease that is spread through airborne droplets. Give two ways of reducing or preventing the spread of tuberculosis. (2) 1 2
- June 2025, Biology Paper 1 Higher, Q4(a)(iii) (1 mark): State one symptom of the disease caused by Vibrio cholerae. (1)
- June 2025, Biology Paper 1 Higher, Q4(a)(iv) (1 mark): State how the disease caused by Vibrio cholerae is transmitted. (1)
- June 2025, Biology Paper 1 Foundation, Q5(a)(i) (1 mark): Which type of organism causes chlamydia? (1) A bacteria B fungi C protists D viruses
- June 2025, Biology Paper 1 Foundation, Q5(a)(ii) (1 mark): Calculate the increase in the number of new cases of chlamydia diagnosed from 2020 to 2022. (1) cases
- June 2025, Biology Paper 1 Foundation, Q5(a)(iii) (2 marks): Tuberculosis is a disease that is spread through airborne droplets. Give two ways of reducing or preventing the spread of tuberculosis. (2) 1 2
- June 2024, Biology Paper 1 Higher, Q2(a)(i) (1 mark): Which type of pathogen causes malaria? (1) A a bacterium B a fungus C a protist D a virus
- June 2024, Biology Paper 1 Higher, Q2(a)(ii) (1 mark): State how the pathogen that causes malaria is spread. (1)
- June 2024, Biology Paper 1 Foundation, Q6(a)(i) (1 mark): Which type of pathogen causes malaria? (1) A a bacterium B a fungus C a protist D a virus
- June 2024, Biology Paper 1 Foundation, Q6(a)(ii) (1 mark): State how the pathogen that causes malaria is spread. (1)
- June 2023, Biology Paper 1 Higher, Q2(a) (2 marks): Calculate the number of bacteria in a colony after five hours, if each bacterium reproduces every 30 minutes. (2) bacteria
- June 2023, Biology Paper 1 Higher, Q2(b)(i) (1 mark): State the meaning of the term pathogen. (1)
- June 2023, Biology Paper 1 Foundation, Q6(a) (2 marks): Calculate the number of bacteria in a colony after five hours, if each bacterium reproduces every 30 minutes. (2) bacteria
- June 2023, Biology Paper 1 Foundation, Q6(b)(i) (1 mark): State the meaning of the term pathogen. (1)
- June 2022, Biology Paper 1 Higher, Q2(a)(i) (1 mark): State the sexually transmitted infection that has the median number of people diagnosed. (1)
- June 2022, Biology Paper 1 Higher, Q2(a)(ii) (2 marks): The population of the UK in 2017 was 66 million people. Calculate the total number of people diagnosed with chlamydia in the UK in 2017. (2) people
- June 2022, Biology Paper 1 Higher, Q2(a)(iv) (1 mark): Give one way the transmission of chlamydia can be prevented. (1)
- June 2022, Biology Paper 1 Higher, Q2(b) (2 marks): HIV is another sexually transmitted infection. Explain how HIV can lead to the onset of AIDS. (2)
- June 2022, Biology Paper 1 Foundation, Q1(a) (1 mark): Which word describes an organism that causes disease? (1) A pathogen B culture C antibiotic D platelet
- June 2022, Biology Paper 1 Foundation, Q1(b) (2 marks): Draw one straight line from each disease to the main way that the disease is spread. (2) disease main way the disease is spread in the air by animal vectors cho
- June 2022, Biology Paper 1 Foundation, Q1(c)(i) (1 mark): Plot the points on the graph for the number of bacteria at 10 °C. The first two points have been plotted for you. (1)
- June 2022, Biology Paper 1 Foundation, Q1(c)(ii) (1 mark): Draw a line of best fit on the graph for 10 °C. (1)
- June 2022, Biology Paper 1 Foundation, Q1(c)(iii) (2 marks): Describe how the growth of bacteria at 10 °C was different from the growth of bacteria at 20 °C. (2)
- June 2022, Biology Paper 1 Foundation, Q6(a)(i) (1 mark): State the sexually transmitted infection that has the median number of people diagnosed. (1)
- June 2022, Biology Paper 1 Foundation, Q6(a)(ii) (2 marks): The population of the UK in 2017 was 66 million people. Calculate the total number of people diagnosed with chlamydia in the UK in 2017. (2) people
- June 2022, Biology Paper 1 Foundation, Q6(a)(iv) (1 mark): Give one way the transmission of chlamydia can be prevented. (1)
- November 2021, Biology Paper 1 Higher, Q2(b)(ii) (2 marks): Explain one way that the spread of tuberculosis (TB) can be reduced or prevented. (2)
- November 2021, Biology Paper 1 Higher, Q2(b)(iii) (2 marks): A student researched the number of people with TB in some countries. Figure 3 shows the student’s data. Belgium 1000 Portugal 2400 UK 5400 people Germany 5800 i
- November 2021, Biology Paper 1 Higher, Q2(c) (2 marks): Explain why people with AIDS are more susceptible to TB. (2)
- November 2021, Biology Paper 1 Foundation, Q6(b)(ii) (2 marks): Explain one way that the spread of tuberculosis (TB) can be reduced or prevented. (2)
- November 2021, Biology Paper 1 Foundation, Q6(b)(iii) (2 marks): A student researched the number of people with TB in some countries. Figure 11 shows the student’s data. Belgium 1000 Portugal 2400 UK 5400 people Germany 5800
- November 2020, Biology Paper 1 Higher, Q1(a) (1 mark): The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) can cause AIDS. Which type of cell is destroyed by the HIV virus? (1) A red blood cell B nerve cell C white blood cell D
- November 2020, Biology Paper 1 Higher, Q1(c)(i) (3 marks): The population of Belgium in that year was 11.18 million. Calculate the number of people in Belgium diagnosed with measles. Give your answer to three significan
- November 2020, Biology Paper 1 Higher, Q1(c)(ii) (1 mark): Countries do not report the total number of people diagnosed with measles. Countries report the number of people diagnosed with measles per million of the popul
- November 2020, Biology Paper 1 Foundation, Q5(a)(i) (1 mark): What can a virus also be classified as? (1) A a bacterium B a fungus C a pathogen D a protist
- November 2020, Biology Paper 1 Foundation, Q5(b) (1 mark): The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) can cause AIDS. Which type of cell is destroyed by the HIV virus? (1) A red blood cell B nerve cell C white blood cell D
- November 2020, Biology Paper 1 Foundation, Q5(d)(i) (3 marks): The population of Belgium in that year was 11.18 million. Calculate the number of people in Belgium diagnosed with measles. Give your answer to three significan
- November 2020, Biology Paper 1 Foundation, Q5(d)(ii) (1 mark): Countries do not report the total number of people diagnosed with measles. Countries report the number of people diagnosed with measles per million of the popul
- June 2019, Biology Paper 1 Higher, Q5(c) (6 marks): Gonorrhoea is a sexually transmitted bacterial infection. Figure 7 shows the number of people diagnosed with gonorrhoea in the UK. 30 000 male 25 000 20 000 num
- June 2019, Biology Paper 1 Foundation, Q2(a)(i) (1 mark): Chlamydia is transmitted by (1) A insect vectors B sneezing C sexual intercourse D contaminated food
- June 2019, Biology Paper 1 Foundation, Q2(a)(ii) (1 mark): The type of pathogen that causes chlamydia is a (1) A bacterium B fungus C protist D virus
- June 2019, Biology Paper 1 Foundation, Q2(b)(i) (2 marks): Describe the trend in the number of cases of chlamydia between 1996 and 2013. (2)
- June 2019, Biology Paper 1 Foundation, Q2(b)(ii) (1 mark): State the number of cases of chlamydia per 100 000 in 2013. (1)
- June 2019, Biology Paper 1 Foundation, Q2(b)(iii) (2 marks): The population of the United Kingdom in 2013 was 64 000 000. Calculate the number of people with chlamydia in 2013. (2)
- June 2018, Biology Paper 1 Higher, Q3(a)(i) (2 marks): Give two precautions a doctor should take when treating a patient who is infected with Streptococcus. (2)
- June 2018, Biology Paper 1 Higher, Q3(a)(ii) (2 marks): From September 2013 to March 2014 there were 2 830 cases of scarlet fever in the UK. From September 2014 to March 2015 there were 5 943 cases of scarlet fever.
- June 2018, Biology Paper 1 Foundation, Q1(a) (2 marks): Pathogens cause disease. Draw one straight line from each type of pathogen to the disease that is caused by that pathogen. (2) type of pathogen disease AIDS mal
- June 2018, Biology Paper 1 Foundation, Q1(c) (2 marks): Figure 1 shows the number of white blood cells in blood samples from three patients. Patient X Patient Y Patient Z Number of white blood 8 500 5 700 12 500 cell
- June 2018, Biology Paper 1 Foundation, Q1(d) (2 marks): HIV is diagnosed by blood tests. State two safety precautions that need to be taken when handling blood samples. (2) 1 2
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