Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Q1: Define Health? What do you interpret when we say a person is in good health?
Answer: Health is a state of physical, mental and social well being of an individual not merely absence
of a disease or infirmity.
When we say a person is in good health, it implies the different body systems and organs of that
person function well and as a whole body strike a balance with physical, mental and social
environment.
1. Physical Dimension: A person is disease free, his/her skin is shining, has bright eyes, normal
metabolism etc. define the physical dimensions of being healthy.
2. Mental Dimension: Able to judge his strengths and weaknesses, does not overestimate or
underestimate things etc.
3. Social Dimension: Able to adjust with his/her family members and society, free from
interpersonal conflicts etc.
Q4: Kidneys of a person do not filter urine properly. How does it affect physical, mental and
social dimensions of that person?
Answer: If the kidneys of the person do not filter urine, the toxic substances will start collecting in the
body and affect on other organ systems. In such conditions, the brain will not think properly. The
person will stay socially isolated, his physical movement will be restricted.
Q5: State any two conditions essential for being free of disease.
Personal Hygiene
Community Hygiene
Balanced Diet
Q6: Are the answers to the above questions (Q2 and Q5) and necessarily the same or
different? Why?
Answer: Yes the answers to these questions are inter-related. Personal and community hygiene and
cleanliness reduces the risk of getting any infection or being unhealthy. Physical exercise keeps the
body function normally and prepares it to fight against any disease.
Answer: A balanced diet is one that provides all the required nutrients to the body in correct
proportion. It includes the correct proportion of carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, minerals and
roughage in your diet.
Q8: A hefty boy of 12 years often picks fights with others. Do you think he is in good health? If
so, then explain your answer.
Answer: No the boy is not in good health. His persistent impulsiveness (constant fighting with others)
indicates that the boy may have mental and/or social issues. He does not feel empathy when others
are hurt. It tells he may be psychologically "unhealthy".
Answer: The condition of malfunctioning of the organ system or systems is called disease. In layman
terms, disease means "without ease". Disease leads to an abnormal condition in which our body or
body organ does not work properly.
Q10: Is there any difference between 'being healthy' and 'disease free'?
Answer: Yes there is difference between the two. A person may be in poor health but he is not
suffering from any disease. Having poor health increases the risk that he may suffer from any
disease. In general when we talk think about health, we think at society or community level. When we
talk about disease, we think about individual sufferers.
Answer:
Symptoms Signs
1. Symptoms are the indicators that 1. Signs provide information about the
possibility of a particular disease.
there is some abnormality in the body.
Q13: List any three reasons why you would think that you are sick and ought to see a doctor. If
only one of these symptoms were present, would you still go to the doctor? Why or why not?
Cough
Fever
Constant Headache
Yes I will still visit the doctor if only one of these symptom is present because it makes me
uncomfortable and bed-ridden. Ignoring the symptom for a a longer duration may have serious
consequences.
Chronic Diseases
Q15(NCERT): In which of the following case do you think the long-term effects on your health
are likely to be most unpleasant?
a. if you get jaundice,
b. if you get lice,
c. if you get acne. Why?
Answer: (a) Jaundice is a chronic disease in which liver is affected. Jaundice has long-term effects on
the body. It will take a long time to recover.
(b) Lice can be treated easily and has short-term effect on our health.
(c) Acnes may exist for longer time but do not have any adverse effect on our health.
Answer:
Answer: Congenital diseases refer to diseases or abnormalities present since birth. It may be due to
gene mutations (genetic factor) or environmental factors.
Examples: Colour blindness, Down's syndrome, cleft lip or palate.
Q20: Name a disease which was earlier considered to be chronic but now can be treated in
short duration?
Q21(NCERT): A baby is not able to tell her/his caretakers that she/he is sick. What would help us
to find out
(a) that the baby is sick?
(b) what is the sickness?
Answer: (a) Various symptoms can help us find if baby is sick or not:
1. constant crying,
4. vomiting etc.
(b) An examination and diagnosis of symptoms and signs of the baby by a doctor will help in
identifying the particular disease.
Answer: The diseases which develop after birth are called acquired diseases. These are classified as:
Q23: Write few common signs and symptoms of a disease if brain is affected.
Q24: List any two differences between infectious and non-infectious diseases. Write any one
example of each disease.
Answer:
Q25: What are infectious agents? What are the different infectious agents?
Answer: The microorganisms which spread the disease from one person to other are called
infectious agents. Different infectious or causative agents or pathogens are:
1. Viruses
2. Bacteria
3. Fungi
4. Protozoans
5. Worms
Answer: Louis Pasteur proposed 'germ theory of disease. Accord to this theory he stated that micro-
organisms are the causes of many diseases. It is also called pathogenic theory of medicine.
1. The microorganism or other pathogen must be present in all cases of the disease.
2. Pathogens can be isolated from the diseased host and grown in pure culture.
3. Pathogens from the pure culture must cause the disease when inoculated into a healthy,
susceptible laboratory animal.
4. Pathogen must be re-isolated from the new host and shown to be the same as the originally
inoculated pathogen
1. Influenza
2. Dengue fever
3. Common Cold
4. AIDS
5. Chicken Pox
6. Measles
7. Hepatitis
1. Tuberculosis
2. Antrax
3. Typhoid
4. Tetnaus
1. Kala-azar (Leishmaniasis)
2. Malaria
3. Amoebiasis
Answer: Leishmania
Q36: What is the scientific name of roundworm? Where do we find it commonly in human
body? Name the disease caused by it.
Answer: Members of each one of these groups – viruses, bacteria, and so on – have many biological
characteristics in common. these categories are important factors in deciding what kind of treatment
to use. It implies many important life processes are similar in the bacteria group but are not shared
with the virus group. As a result, drugs that block one of these life processes in one member of the
group is likely to be effective against many other members of the group. But the same drug will not
work against a microbe belonging to a different group.
Q38: How do antibiotics (say Penicillin) work on bacteria but not on human beings?
or
Q(IMP): Define antibiotic? Explain how it is able to control bacterial infections but not viral
infections.
Answer: Antibiotics (anti means against, biotic - living) are types of medications that destroy or slow
the growth of bacteria. They are often termed as antibacterials. They work against the life processes
of bacteria. They commonly block biochemical pathways important for bacteria. Many bacteria, for
example, make a cell-wall to protect themselves. The antibiotic penicillin blocks the bacterial
processes that build the cell wall. Thus bacteria fail to build their cell-wall, stop multiplying and die out.
Human cells don’t make a cell-wall anyway, so penicillin cannot have such an effect on us.
Q39(IMP): Explain why antibiotics are more effective in curing bacterial diseases than viral
diseases.
or
Answer: Antibiotics are effective in curing bacterial and fungal infections (e.g. tuberculosis) but they
are ineffective in viral diseases (like common cold). Antibiotics affect on life processes of bacteria and
inhibit their growth. On the other hand virus is just a piece of DNA (or RNA), not a well defined life
form. Viruses can reproduce inside host cells. They do not use common biochemical pathways as
used by other microbes (bacteria, fungi and parasites). That's why antibiotics are ineffective in viral
infections.
It should be noted that despite this limitation, there are now effective anti-viral drugs, for example, the
drugs that keep HIV infection under control.
Q42: Why are we normally advised to take bland and nourishing food when we are sick?
Answer: When we are sick, generally it affects on our digestion and we lose appetite. Bland food is
low-fibre, non-spicy and easy to digest food. It helps in digestion and provides necessary
nourishment. In case of patients suffering from gastrointestinal problems like ulcer, bland diet helps
recover from such problems. Bland diet helps in improving the immunity and regeneration of healthy
body tissues.
On the other hand oily, spicy and fried food cannot be easily digested by sick patients and this food is
not recommended.
Q43: What are the different means by which infectious diseases are spread?
Answer: Infectious diseases can spread through various means like through air, water, by direct and
indirect contact, vectors (animals, mosquitos, flies etc.).
1. Through Air: Spread through sneezing, coughing, open defecation. Air Borne Diseases are
common cold, pneumonia, tuberculosis, measles, SARS, chicken-pox.
5. Through vectors: Animals, Flies, Mosquitos etc. carry infecting agent from sick person to
healthy person. Vector borne diseases are: rabies, malaria, dengue, yellow fever, dysentery,
diarrhea etc.
Q44: If a person has persistent cough and breathlessness, most likely which of the following
organ is affected
(a) lungs
Female Anopheles
credits:wikimedia
(b) liver
(c) brain
(d) intestinal tract
Q45: What is the alternate name of brain fever? Which vector is responsible for this disease?
Answer: Japanese encephalitis caused by a virus which enters through mosquito bite.
Aedes aegypti
credits:wikimedia
Q46: Name the vector which causes malaria.
Q47: Name the vector which causes dengue, chikengunia and yellow fever.
Answer: Cholera, Typhoid, Dysentry, Diarrhoea, Tuberculosis etc. may spread via houseflies.
Answer: Most of the animals included humans can be infected and all of them can spread the
disease. Dogs, rats, cats, monkeys, squirrels, cattle, wolves, raccoons, bears etc. can spread this
disease. In India, mostly it spreads through dog bites and monkey bites.
Answer: A doctor or a nurse or a health worker avoids getting sick by taking the following precautions:
use hand gloves, masks and wash their hands after examining a patient.
create awareness among co-workers and educate people about cleanliness, regular exercise
and healthy diet.
Q52: What precautions can you take in your school to reduce the incidence of infectious
diseases?
Answer: To reduce the incidence of infectious diseases, following precautions can be taken in
schools:
proper sanitation and cleanliness in school premises and its surroundings and not to allow
any mosquitoes (vector) breeding.
encouraging students and their parents to take vaccinations against infectious diseases.
encourage students and teaching staff to stay home and seek medical advice when infected.
aware students about hygienic practices like wash hands before taking food and after going to
washroom. And cover face while sneezing etc.
encourage students to adopt healthy eating practices e.g. adopt fruit+salad food breaks.
Answer: When a pathogen invades our body, it releases toxins in bloodstream or in tissues. This toxin
or foreign protein entering our body is called antigen.
Answer: The proteins produced by our immunity system (lymphocytes, WBCs etc.) to neutralize or
detoxify antigens are called antibodies.
Q57: What is colostrum? Why is mothers milk strongly advised to new borns?
Answer: Colostrum also called first milk is the milk produced by mother in late pregnancy. It is rich in
antibodies. New born babies have weak immunity system at birth. Through mother's milks, antibodies
are transferred to baby. It persist in the baby’s body for several weeks and provides her passive
immunity to fight against many diseases.
Q58(NCERT): What are the immunisation programmes available at the nearest health centre in
your locality? Which of these diseases are the major health problems in your area?
Answer: At the nearest health centre various immunization programmes are available, such as:
Answer: (a) A disease or condition which affects a large number of people at the same time is called
epidemic. e.g. out break of plague in China in 2009.
Endemic disease is disease or condition that is constantly present in a particular community or
localized region. e.g. Hepatitis A, Malaria, Dengue are endemic in India.
Answer: WBCs or leukocytes play an important role in defense mechanism of a body. When a foreign
body or microbe (e.g. bacterium) enters the blood stream, leukocytes surround the microbe and
engulf them. Thus the microbes are destroyed. This process of engulfing and destroying foreign
bodies is called phagocytosis.
Answer: Hepatitis A, a type of jaundice is caused by a virus. This virus is transmitted through water. In
many regions of India, this virus is found in drinking water. By the time the children reach age of five
for Hepatitis A vaccination, they already have become immune to this disease. Therefore it is not
necessary to give Hepatitis A vaccine to children.
Q62: What are the basic principles involved in medical treatment for diseases?