WHY DO WE FALL ILL 1

13. WHY DO WE FALL ILL

Q.1 What is health?
Ans - Health is a state of being well enough to function well physically,
mentally and socially.
Q.2 What is a disease?
Disease is disturbed ease. Disease means being uncomfortable.
Q.3 Differentiate between acute and chronic diseases.
ACUTE DISEASE CHRONIC DISEASE
i. Some diseases last for only i. Some ailment or diseases can last
very short periods of time, for a long time, or lifetime and
and these are called acute these are called chronic diseases.
diseases.
ii. Ex. Is common cold and cold ii. Ex.Elephantiasis,tuberculosis(TB)
iii. It does not cause major iii. It causes major effects on general
effects on general health.
health.

Communicable diseases: In infectious diseases, many microbial agents

can commonly move from an affected person to someone in a variety of
ways. That is they can be communicated, so are also called
communicable diseases.
Q.4 What are infectious agents?
Ans - Categories or organisms that can cause disease
i. Bacteria-typhoid fever, cholera, tuberculosis, anthrax
ii. Virus-common cold, influenza, dengue fever, AIDS
iii. Fungi-skin diseases
iv. Protozoans(unicellular)-malaria, kalazar
v. Worms(multicellular)-elephantiasis
Q.5 Why antibiotics do not work against viral infections.
Ans - Antibiotics block biochemical pathways that are a cell-wall made by
Bacteria to protect them. But viruses do not use these pathways at all. So
antibiotics do not work against viral infections.
Q.6 What are the means of spread? OR how do infectious diseases spread?
i. Through Air-Some disease causing microbes can spread through the air.
The little droplets thrown out by an infected person who sneezes or
coughs and someone close by can breathe in these droplets, and the
microbes start a new infection. Ex are colon cold, pneumonia and
tuberculosis.

Tara notes
2018-19
 WHY DO WE FALL ILL 2

ii. Through water-Some diseases can be spread through water. If the

excreta from someone suffering from an infectious gut disease, get
mixed with the drinking water used by people living nearby. Thus
microbes enter new hosts when people drink. It is also due to the
absence of safe supplies of drinking water. Ex are cholera
iii. Through Sexual contact or syringe or pregnancy and breast feeding-
Microbial diseases can be transmitted by sexual contact of through
syringe used for injections that is blood to blood contact and pregnancy,
breast feeding from one person to the other. Ex. AIDS(Acquired Immuno
Deficiency) virus or HIV(Human Immunodeficiency Virus),Syphilis
iv. Vectors-Some animals or insects carry the infecting agents from a sick
person to another host. These animals are intermediaries and called
vectors. Ex Mosquitoes.
Q.7 Why Prevention of diseases is better than their cure.
i. Once person has a disease, their body functions are damages,
sometime they are never recovered completely
ii. Treatment will take time
iii. The person suffering from an infectious disease can serve as the
source to spread the disease to other persons. So…
Q.8 List the measures for preventing infectious diseases.
i. Exposure to microbe
-For airborne microbes, we can prevent exposure by providing living
conditions that are not overcrowded.
-For water-borne microbes, we can providing safe drinking water. (By
treating the water to kill microbial contamination.
-For vector-borne infections, we can provide clean environments.
That is public hygiene is very important. This would not allow
mosquito breeding.
ii. Providing proper and sufficient food for everyone to improve
immune system.
iii. Vaccination-Infectious diseases can be prevented by using
immunization.
Q.9 What is immunization?
Ans- When the body attains immunity against any disease, due to vaccination,
this process is called immunization.
DPT-Diphtheria, Pertussis (whooping cough), Tetanus

Tara notes
2018-19