20 WHEN THINGS GO WRONG: DISEASES Flashcards
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
What was Mary Mallon’s profession?
Cook and housekeeper
Why was Mary Mallon held in protective custody?
She was an asymptomatic carrier of typhoid.
What happened in 1915 that led to Mary Mallon’s recapture?
Twenty-five people developed typhoid at the Sloane Hospital for Women.
How long did Mary Mallon spend under house arrest?
Twenty-three years
How many confirmed deaths was Mary Mallon personally responsible for?
Three confirmed deaths
What is the estimated annual global incidence of typhoid fever?
More than 20 million people
What is the estimated annual death toll from typhoid fever?
Between 200,000 and 600,000
What disease is considered the most devastating in human history?
Smallpox
What percentage of smallpox victims died?
About 30 percent
How many people are thought to have died from smallpox in the twentieth century?
Around 500 million
In what year did smallpox officially get declared eradicated?
1980
Who was the last person to die from smallpox?
Janet Parker
What caused Janet Parker to contract smallpox?
Exposure via an air duct from a lab
What is the current deadliest infectious disease?
Tuberculosis (TB)
How many deaths from tuberculosis occur annually worldwide?
Between 1.5 and 2 million
What was tuberculosis previously known as?
Consumption
Who discovered the tubercle bacillus?
Robert Koch
What is ‘spes phthisica’?
A phenomenon where TB patients become optimistic before dying
What percentage of TB deaths occur in low- or middle-income countries?
95 percent
What is a significant concern regarding tuberculosis today?
Drug-resistant strains account for 10 percent of new cases.
What is the average annual incidence of bubonic plague in the United States?
Seven cases
What are neglected tropical diseases?
Diseases that affect more than a billion people worldwide.
What is lymphatic filariasis?
A disfiguring parasitic infection affecting millions.
What compound could eliminate lymphatic filariasis?
A simple compound added to table salt.
Who is considered the father of tropical medicine?
Theodor Bilharz
What did Howard Taylor Ricketts discover?
The bacterial group rickettsia.
What is Huntington’s disease caused by?
A mutation in the HTT gene.
How many genetic diseases were known twenty years ago?
About five thousand
How many genetic diseases are known today?
Seven thousand
What is the general trend regarding genetic diseases?
The number is constant; our ability to identify them has improved.
What is a common characteristic of many diseases?
They involve multiple genes and complex triggers.
What is huntingtin?
One of the largest and most complex proteins in the human body
Its specific function remains unclear.
How many genes have been implicated in inflammatory bowel disease?
Over a hundred
At least forty genes are linked to type 2 diabetes.
What is a key characteristic of multiple sclerosis?
It is a disease of the central nervous system characterized by gradual onset of paralysis and loss of motor control
Typically begins before the age of forty.
Which geographical region has a higher incidence of multiple sclerosis?
Northern Europe
Individuals from warmer climates have lower rates of the disease.
What genetic disorder is Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec thought to have suffered from?
Pycnodysostosis
Characterized by disproportionate growth of the trunk and legs.
How is a rare disease defined?
A disease that afflicts no more than one person in two thousand
There are about seven thousand rare diseases affecting approximately one in seventeen people in the developed world.
What are mismatch diseases?
Diseases brought on by modern lifestyles that differ from those of our ancestors
Examples include type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
What percentage of diseases that kill us could be preventable according to Professor Daniel Lieberman?
70 percent
This is tied to lifestyle changes.
What is the estimated annual death toll from the flu in the United States?
About thirty to forty thousand
This is during a so-called good year.
What proteins are found on the surface of flu viruses?
Hemagglutinin and neuraminidase
These proteins are responsible for the virus’s naming convention (e.g., H5N1).
What does H5N1 represent in terms of flu virus classification?
The fifth known iteration of hemagglutinin and the first known iteration of neuraminidase
H5N1 is commonly known as bird flu.
What was the effectiveness of the flu vaccine in the 2017–18 season?
36 percent less likely to get flu than those unvaccinated
This resulted in a high death toll that year.
What is a major concern regarding flu vaccine production during an outbreak?
We may not be able to produce the vaccine fast enough
This is especially true if a new, devastating flu strain emerges.
What does the term ‘infectious disease’ refer to?
A disease caused by a microbe
This differs from ‘contagious disease’, which is transmitted by contact.
