Science 8 - Health: The Ultimate Treasure Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards reviewing core definitions, pathogens, diseases, immunity concepts, and historical discoveries from Chapter 3: Health: The Ultimate Treasure.

Health

A state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, as defined by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Infirmity

The state of being weak or ill.

Pathogen

A microorganism or biological agent—such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, protozoa, or parasitic worms—that causes disease in a living host.

Communicable Diseases

Diseases caused by pathogens that can spread from person to person through air, water, direct contact, contaminated food, insects, and other means.

Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs)

Diseases that are not caused by germs and do not spread from one person to another, usually developing slowly and persisting for a long time.

Deficiency Diseases

Diseases that occur due to a lack of essential nutrients in the diet.

Rickets

A deficiency disease caused by a lack of vitamin D, leading to weak bones.

Scurvy

A deficiency disease caused by a lack of vitamin C, leading to bleeding gums.

Anaemia

A deficiency disease caused by a lack of iron, resulting in weakness and fatigue.

Goitre

A deficiency disease caused by a lack of iodine, resulting in a swelling in the neck.

Obesity

A condition in which a person's body has an excessive amount of fat, occurring when the number of calories consumed is greater than the number of calories used by the body.

Diabetes

A disease in which the body cannot properly control the level of sugar (glucose) in the blood because it either does not produce enough insulin or cannot use insulin effectively.

Hypertension

High blood pressure occurring when the force of blood against the walls of the arteries remains too high, often referred to as a silent killer.

Immunity

The natural ability of the human body to defend itself against harmful germs like bacteria and viruses.

Innate Immunity

A form of immunity that provides immediate, general protection against many germs.

Acquired Immunity

Immunity that develops after the body encounters a specific germ or receives a vaccine, relying on antibodies and memory cells to respond quickly to future infections.

Antibiotics

Medicines prescribed to kill bacteria or stop them from multiplying by acting on structures found in bacterial cells.

Antibiotic Resistance

A serious problem caused by the overuse and misuse of antibiotics, where surviving harmful bacteria develop resistance, multiply, and make infections difficult to treat.

Penicillin

The world's first antibiotic, discovered in 1928 by Alexander Fleming after observing that mould growing on an unused petri dish prevented nearby bacteria from growing.

Edward Jenner

An English doctor who created the first vaccine in 1796 after observing that milkmaids infected with cowpox did not catch smallpox.

Variolation

An ancient Indian disease prevention practice against smallpox involving scratching material from a smallpox sore onto the skin to build immunity, performed by skilled individuals called teekedars.

Interferon

A protein produced by the body's defense mechanism in response to viral invasion that stops viral multiplication and the manifestation of diseases.

Fungi

Non-green plant-like organisms lacking chlorophyll, primarily made up of thread-like structures called hyphae, that thrive best in dark, warm, and moist conditions.

Protozoa

Single-celled microorganisms that can move and vary in shape and size, found in environments including freshwater, saltwater, and soil.

Entamoeba histolytica

A protozoan living in the human intestine that causes amoebic dysentery, resulting in severe diarrhoea and abdominal discomfort.

Entamoeba gingivalis

A protozoan found in dental tartar that causes pyorrhoea, leading to inflammation and infection of the gums.

Plasmodium

The protozoan responsible for malaria, whose life cycle involves the female Anopheles mosquito and a human host.

Vectors

Organisms that carry and transmit pathogens from one host to another without being harmed themselves, such as mosquitoes.

Tainted

Contaminated, spoiled, or damaged.

Air Quality Index (AQI)

A metric telling how clean or polluted the air is, where a lower number indicates cleaner air and a higher number indicates more pollution.

Cardiovascular

Related to the heart and the blood vessels that circulate blood throughout the body.

Ascariasis

A disease caused by parasitic worms that primarily infect the intestines, transmitted through contaminated food and water.