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Sci9 - 13 - Why Do We Fall Ill
Sci9 - 13 - Why Do We Fall Ill
13.1.2 PERSONAL
uestions
1. State any two conditions
essential for good health.
2. State any two conditions
essential for being free of disease.
3. Are the answers to the above
questions necessarily the same
or different? Why?
13.2.3 C HRONIC
HEALTH
13.2.5 INFECTIOUS
AND NON-INFECTIOUS
CAUSES
180
uestions
1. 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?
2. In which of the following case do
you think the long-term effects on
your health are likely to be most
unpleasant?
if you get jaundice,
if you get lice,
if you get acne.
Why?
SCIENCE
AND TISSUE -
SPECIFIC MANIFESTATIONS
185
immunisation.
Immunisation
Traditional Indian and Chinese medicinal
systems sometimes deliberately rubbed the
skin crusts from smallpox victims into the
skin of healthy people. They thus hoped
to induce a mild form of smallpox that
would create resistance against the
disease.
Famously, two centuries ago, an
English physician
named Edward
Jenner, realised
that milkmaids
who had had
cowpox did not
catch smallpox
even
during
epidemics.
Cowpox is a very
mild
disease.
Jenner
tried
deliberately giving
cowpox to people
(as he can be seen doing in the picture), and
found that they were now resistant to
smallpox. This was because the smallpox
virus is closely related to the cowpox virus.
Cow is vacca in Latin, and cowpox is
vaccinia. From these roots, the word
vaccination has come into our usage.
We can now see that, as a general principle,
we can fool the immune system into
developing a memory for a particular infection
by putting something, that mimics the microbe
we want to vaccinate against, into the body.
This does not actually cause the disease but
this would prevent any subsequent exposure
to the infecting microbe from turning into
actual disease.
Many such vaccines are now available for
preventing a whole range of infectious
diseases, and provide a disease-specific
means of prevention. There are vaccines
against tetanus, diphtheria, whooping cough,
measles, polio and many others. These form
the public health programme of childhood
SCIENCE
uestions
1. Why are we normally advised to
take bland and nourishing food
when we are sick?
2. What are the different means by
which infectious diseases are
spread?
3. What precautions can you take
in your school to reduce the
incidence of infectious diseases?
4. What is immunisation?
5. 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?
What
you have
learnt
Exercises
1. How many times did you fall ill in the last one year? What were
the illnesses?
(a) Think of one change you could make in your habits in order
to avoid any of/most of the above illnesses.
(b) Think of one change you would wish for in your
surroundings in order to avoid any of/most of the above
illnesses.
2. A doctor/nurse/health-worker is exposed to more sick people
than others in the community. Find out how she/he avoids
getting sick herself/himself.
3. Conduct a survey in your neighbourhood to find out what the
three most common diseases are. Suggest three steps that could
be taken by your local authorities to bring down the incidence
of these diseases.
4. 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?
5. Under which of the following conditions is a person most likely
to fall sick?
(a) when she is recovering from malaria.
(b) when she has recovered from malaria and is taking care of
someone suffering from chicken-pox.
(c) when she is on a four-day fast after recovering from malaria
and is taking care of someone suffering from chicken-pox.
Why?
6. Under which of the following conditions are you most likely to
fall sick?
(a) when you are taking examinations.
(b) when you have travelled by bus and train for two days.
(c) when your friend is suffering from measles.
Why?
188
SCIENCE