20 WHEN THINGS GO WRONG: DISEASES Flashcards
(69 cards)
What did Jerome K. Jerome discover about his health after reading a medical textbook?
He found he had typhoid fever and St. Vitus’s Dance, among other ailments.
Jerome K. Jerome humorously reflects on self-diagnosing various conditions.
What was the initial illness suspected in Akureyri, Iceland, in 1948?
It was initially suspected to be poliomyelitis.
The outbreak affected nearly five hundred people.
What symptoms were associated with the Akureyri disease?
Muscle aches, headaches, nervousness, restlessness, depression, constipation, disturbed sleep, loss of memory.
Symptoms varied widely among victims.
What other names has the Akureyri disease been known by?
Post-viral syndrome, atypical poliomyelitis, epidemic neuromyasthenia.
These names reflect the evolving understanding of the disease.
What was notable about the spread of outbreaks of the Akureyri disease?
Outbreaks occurred in distant places rather than neighboring communities.
This geographical spread was puzzling to researchers.
How did the 1970 Lackland Air Force Base outbreak relate to previous outbreaks?
It reignited interest in the previously overlooked disease, affecting 221 people.
Symptoms lasted from a week to up to a year for some victims.
What was the conclusion of the Journal of the American Medical Association regarding the Lackland outbreak?
Victims suffered from a ‘subtle but nevertheless primarily organic illness.’
This indicated a lack of understanding of the disease’s nature.
What is a significant characteristic of infectious diseases mentioned in the text?
Some appear randomly and then become dormant before re-emerging elsewhere.
This behavior complicates tracking and understanding infectious diseases.
What does the case of the Bourbon virus illustrate about emerging diseases?
It represented a new class of virus, with unknown origins and limited cases reported.
The Bourbon virus was first identified in Kansas in 2014.
What four factors determine whether a disease becomes epidemic?
Lethality, ability to find new victims, containment difficulty, vaccine susceptibility.
These factors influence the spread of diseases significantly.
What is the paradox regarding Ebola’s transmission?
Despite being highly infectious, it incapacitates victims quickly, limiting its spread.
Ebola’s nature makes it both terrifying and less effective at widespread transmission.
What was the impact of the Spanish flu of 1918?
It resulted in a global death toll of tens of millions, despite a relatively low lethality rate.
Its persistence and transmissibility contributed to its widespread impact.
What was the historical significance of the invention of agriculture according to Jared Diamond?
It was termed a ‘catastrophe from which we have never recovered.’
This reflects on the negative health implications of agricultural societies.
What percentage of infectious diseases are estimated to be zoonotic?
About 60 percent.
Zoonotic diseases are those that jump from animals to humans.
What disease struck more than 200,000 people annually in the U.S. before the vaccine was introduced?
Diphtheria.
Diphtheria was particularly deadly for children.
What was the unique characteristic of Legionnaires’ disease outbreaks?
It spread through air-conditioning ducts and affected even those who had not entered the infected area.
This was evident in the 1976 American Legion convention outbreak.
What does the emergence of Heartland virus suggest about underreported diseases?
Many diseases may infect more people than are documented.
This highlights the challenges in disease detection and reporting.
What does the term ‘diphtheria’ mean in Greek?
Leather
The term ‘diphtheria’ comes from the Greek word for ‘leather’ due to the leathery coating that forms in the throat.
How is diphtheria pronounced?
Diff-theria
It is commonly mispronounced as ‘dip-theria’.
How many cases of diphtheria were reported in the most recent decade in the United States?
Five cases
What disease did Louis Pasteur lose three of his five children to?
Typhoid fever
What is the major difference between typhoid and typhus?
Typhoid is caused by salmonella bacillus; typhus is caused by rickettsia bacillus.
What percentage of typhoid carriers show no symptoms?
Between 2 and 5 percent
Who was known as ‘Typhoid Mary’?
Mary Mallon
