Why do we fall ill?

Health

• It is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being of a person and not
merely absence of a disease or infirmity.
• Health depends on the surrounding or environment of the organisms.

Disease

Any physical and functional change from the normal that causes discomfort and disability or
impairs the health of a living organism.

Symptoms
A manifestation of disease which gives definite indication of the presence of disease.

Signs

Signs of a disease are what doctors look for to identify the disease on the basis of symptoms.

Conditions necessary for good health are: -

• Good physical and social environment which includes clean drinking water, clean
surroundings, proper sanitation etc.
• Good economic status which includes good job opportunities, for earning money to get
nutritious food and lead a healthy life.

Causes of disease
• Pathogens like virus, bacteria, fungi, protozoa, or worms.
• Heredity or genetics
• Environmental pollution.
• Poor health and undernourishment.
• Lack of proper treatment or immunization.

Recap
Q1. State any two conditions essential for good health.
Q2. State any two conditions essential for being free of disease.
Q3. Are the answers to the above questions necessarily the same or different? Why?

Acute disease Chronic disease

Lasts for a short period of time Lasts for a long period of time
 Do not cause long term bad effect on the Causes drastic long term effects on
health. human health.
Ex- Cold, Typhoid, Cholera Ex- Arthritis, Cancer, Diabetes

Common cold
Arthritis

Causes of a Disease
1. Immediate Cause (actual cause)
(Ex. Malaria is caused by plasmodium)
a. Infectious
b. Noninfectious
2. Contributory Cause (sharing or being partly responsible)

Infectious disease Noninfectious disease

Caused by infectious agents like bacteria,
virus, fungi, protozoa, nematodes etc.
Easily transmitted from infected person to
healthy person.
Ex- Tuberculosis, Influenza, Measles, Chicken
pox etc.
Caused due to factors other than infectious
agents like dietary deficiencies, unclean living
conditions etc.
Does not get transmitted.
Ex- Diabetes, Cancer, High or Low BP.
Arthritis.

PATHOGEN DISEASE
Bacteria Typhoid, Cholera, Tuberculosis
Virus AIDS, Influenza, Chicken pox, Dengue, Measles,
Polio etc.
Fungi Ringworm, Eczema, Athletes foot
Protozoa Malaria,Kalazar
Nematodes Filariasis (Elephantiasis)
Read about peptic ulcer from the box given on page 180 of NCERT tx bk.

Recap Solve blue questions from NCERT txbk from given on page 180.

Transmission of Infectious Diseases

Diseases spread through:

• Air (Common Cold, Tuberculosis, Pneumonia)

• Water (Cholera, Dysentery)
• Vectors (Malaria, dengue, yellow fever)
• Sexual Contact (AIDS, Syphilis)

Refer page 181

Look at the pictures given, learn the microbes and the disease that they cause.

Organ and Tissue Specific Manifestation

Manifestation of the disease depends upon the point of entry of pathogen.

Disease Transmission Point of entry Target Tissue Symptoms

TB Air Nose Lungs Cough and
breathlessness
Hepatitis Food or Water Mouth Liver Jaundice
AIDS Sexual contact or Blood vessels Blood Impaired immune
the blood system
Meningitis Air or Direct Nose Brain Head ache,
contact Vomitting,Fits,
Unconsciousness
Japanese Mosquito blood Brain Brain Fever
Encephalitis
Principles of treatment

There are two approaches of treating a disease.

1. Reduce the effect of disease by taking bed rest to conserve energy and to reduce the symptoms.
2. To kill the cause of disease by taking medicines or antibiotics.

What are Antibiotics and how do they work?

• Antibiotics are chemicals which act against microorganisms to destroy them.

• They block the biochemical pathway of bacteria which help them to make their cell
walls.
• Bacteria fail to make their cell wall and die.

•
Making antibacterial drugs is easier than antiviral drug. Give reason.

Viruses have very few biochemical pathways of their own to aim at. They use host cells machinery or
mechanism to carry out their activities whereas bacteria have biochemical pathways of their own, so it is
easy to make antibacterial drugs than antiviral drugs.

Same type of antibiotic can be used against many types of bacteria. Give reasons.

Many types of bacteria use the same biochemical pathways in making their cell wall. So, one type of
antibiotic can destroy many types of bacteria including the useful bacteria present in our stomach.
AIDS (Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome)

• Caused by HIV (Human Immuno Virus)

• Spread through
1. Sexual contact with infected person.
2. Blood transfusion from infected person.
3. Use of HIV infected needles and syringes.
4. HIV infected mother to fetus.
5. Infected mother breast feeding her baby.

NOTE

HIV attacks the WBC of blood and weakens immune system and thereafter the person becomes
vulnerable to many diseases.

Prevention of AIDS

• Spreading awareness
• Use disposable needles and syringes.
• Testing blood before transfusion.
• Be faithful to your partner.

Prevention is better than cure

It is so because treating a disease has three limitations:

• Once someone has disease their body functions are damaged and may never recover at all
completely.
• Treatment will take time which means someone suffering from the disease is likely to be
confined to bed for some time.
• The person suffering from an infectious disease can serve as the source from where the
infection may spread to other people.

Preventive measures

• Spreading awareness
• Vaccination
• Person and public hygiene
• Good nutritious diet

Immunity
 It is the body’s ability to fight against foreign substance like virus or bacteria by producing
antibodies or cells that kill or neutralize foreign bodies.

Immunization
It is the term used for introducing dead or weakened or attenuated germs into the body of living
beings for stimulating the body to produce antibodies which will remain as memory cells in the
body.
.

Basis of Principles of Immunization

• If a pathogen enters the body, the immune system will recognize it and respond against it.
• For each type of pathogens, the immune system produces cell that are specific for pathogen.
• Next time the same pathogen enters the body, the immune system responds with great vigor,
eliminating the infection more quickly than the first time.

Solve text book questions given on page 187.