Health and Disease

Question 1

What is health?

Answer 1

Health is the state of physical and mental wellbeing.

Question 2

What is often responsible for causing ill health?

Answer 2

Diseases.

Question 3

What are communicable diseases?

Answer 3

Diseases that can spread from person to person or between animals and people.

Question 4

What can communicable diseases be caused by?

Answer 4

Bacteria, viruses, parasites and fungi. They’re sometimes described as contagious or infectious diseases.

Question 5

Give two examples of communicable diseases.

Answer 5

Measles, malaria.

Question 6

What are non-communicable diseases?

Answer 6

Diseases that cannot spread between people. They generally lost for a long time and get worse slowly.

Question 7

Examples of non-communicable diseases.

Answer 7

Asthma, cancer, coronary heart disease.

Question 8

What is a pathogen?

Answer 8

A term for a microorganism that can cause disease when it infects its host.

Question 9

Give examples of when a disease can interact and cause other physical and mental health issues that don’t always seem related.

Answer 9

1. People who have problems with their immune system have an increased chance of suffering from communicable diseases such as influenza (flu) because their body is less likely to be able to defend itself against the pathogen that causes the disease.
2. Some types of cancer can be triggered by infection by certain viruses. E.g. infection with some types of hepatitis virus can cause long-term infections in the liver, where the virus lives in the cells. This can lead to an increased chance of developing liver cancer.
3. Infection with HPV (human papilloma virus) can cause cervical cancer in women.
4. Immune system reactions in the body caused by infection by a pathogen can sometimes trigger allergic reactions such as skin rashes or worsen the symptoms of asthma for asthma sufferers.
5. Mental health issues such as depression can be triggered when someone is suffering from severe physical health problems, particularly if they have an impact on the person’s ability to carry out everyday activities or if they affect the person’s life expectancy.

Question 10

Give some examples of factors other than a disease that can also affect your health.

Answer 10

1. Diet - where or not it is a good, balanced diet that provides your body with everything it needs, and in the right amounts.
2. Amount of stress
3. Life situation - where you have easy access to medicines to treat illness, or access to things that can prevent you from getting ill in the first place, e.g. being able to buy healthy food.