Grade 8 Science Chapter 3 - Health: The Ultimate Treasure Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards generated from Grade 8 Science Textbook Chapter 3, covering essential terms related to physical, mental, and social health, communicable and non-communicable diseases, immunity, vaccines, antibiotics, and historical scientists.

Health

As defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease.

Aspects of Health

The three interconnected dimensions of well-being recognized by the World Health Organization: physical, mental, and social health.

Dinacharya

In Ayurveda, the daily routine followed to help maintain a balance of body, mind, and surroundings.

Ritucharya

In Ayurveda, the seasonal routine followed to maintain the balance of body, mind, and surroundings.

Prakriti

In Ayurveda, an individual's unique body constitution, which determines suitable diet and lifestyle choices.

Pranayama

Simple breathing exercises practiced in yoga to support overall well-being and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Air Quality Index (AQI)

A measurement used to indicate how clean or polluted the air is in a specific location.

Symptom

A subjective feeling or change experienced by an unwell individual, such as pain, tiredness, or dizziness.

Sign

An objective indicator of illness that can be seen, observed, or measured by others, such as fever, rash, high blood pressure, or swelling.

Disease

A condition that affects the normal working of the body or mind, occurring when one or more organs or organ systems stop functioning properly.

Pathogens

Disease-causing organisms, including bacteria, viruses, fungi, worms, and protozoa.

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs)

Diseases not caused by pathogens that do not spread from one person to another, usually linked to lifestyle, diet, or environmental factors (e.g., cancer, diabetes, asthma).

Communicable diseases

Diseases caused by pathogens that can spread from an infected person to a healthy person (e.g., typhoid, dengue, flu, chickenpox, COVID-19).

Vectors

Organisms, such as insects like mosquitoes and houseflies, that carry and spread disease-causing pathogens from one host to another.

Parasites

Organisms that live in or on another living host organism and feed on its nutrients.

Deficiency diseases

Non-communicable conditions caused by a prolonged lack of specific essential nutrients in a person's diet, such as scurvy, anaemia, and goitre.

Chronic diseases

Long-term diseases that persist for an extended period (typically more than 3 months) and require regular treatment or care.

Immunity

The natural ability of the body to fight off pathogens and protect itself against diseases.

Immune system

The specialized biological system in the body that recognizes and fights against harmful pathogens to maintain health.

Vaccine

A biological preparation made from weakened, dead, or harmless parts of pathogens (or instructing cells to produce germ parts) that trains the immune system to attack specific germs.

Acquired immunity

Protection developed by the body's immune system after exposure to a pathogen or following vaccination.

Variolation

A traditional Indian immunization method used against smallpox long before modern vaccines, involving using material from a smallpox sore to scratch the skin and induce mild infection.

Teekedaars

Traditional practitioners in India who performed variolation to protect people against smallpox.

Edward Jenner

An English doctor who in the late 1700s discovered that cowpox infection protected people from smallpox, leading to the invention of the first vaccine.

Kamal Ranadive

A pioneering Indian biomedical researcher (1917–2001) who studied links between hormones, viruses, and cancer, and highlighted how tobacco, diet, and pollution raise cancer risk.

Maharaj Kishan Bhan

An Indian doctor, scientist, and Secretary of the Department of Biotechnology who played a key role in developing the Rotavirus vaccine to protect children from diarrhoea.

Antibiotics

Medicines prescribed by doctors to treat bacterial infections by killing bacteria or preventing them from multiplying.

Penicillin

The first antibiotic discovered in 1928 by Alexander Fleming, derived from a mould that produced a substance capable of killing bacteria.

Alexander Fleming

A bacteriologist from London who discovered penicillin in 1928 after observing that a mould on a discarded petri dish killed surrounding bacteria.

Antibiotic resistance

A phenomenon where bacteria previously killed by a given antibiotic adapt, survive, and multiply despite treatment, making infections difficult to treat.