Environmental Hazards and Human Health

Question 1

What is bloodletting?

Answer 1

Bleeding a patient to restore the balance of the four humours

Question 2

What are the four humours?

Answer 2

Blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile

Question 3

What is water cure?

Answer 3

When icy cold water is applied to draw blood away from injured or infected organs

Question 4

What is the Germ Theory of Disease?

Answer 4

The belief that some diseases are caused by microorganisms too small to see without magnification

Question 5

What two discoveries stemmed from the germ theory?

Answer 5

Immunizations and antibiotics

Question 6

What is a non-transmissible disease?

Answer 6

A disease not caused by living organisms that isn’t contagious

Question 7

What are a few examples of non-transmissible diseases?

Answer 7

Heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s, and diabetes

Question 8

What is an infectious disease?

Answer 8

A transmissible disease caused by living organisms

Question 9

What percentage of the water on Earth is saline and freshwater?

Answer 9

97% saline

3% freshwater

Question 10

What are the percentages of the three types of freshwater?

Answer 10

30% groundwater
69% frozen
1% surface water

Question 11

How much water is on earth?

Answer 11

330 million cubic miles of water

Question 12

Give an example of a disease caused by multicellular parasites

Answer 12

Tapeworms

Question 13

Give an example of a disease caused by fungi

Answer 13

Ringworm

Question 14

Give an example of a disease caused by Protozoa

Answer 14

Malaria

Question 15

Give an example of a disease caused by bacteria

Answer 15

Food poisoning

Question 16

Give an example of a disease caused by viruses

Answer 16

Common cold

Question 17

Give an example of a disease caused by prion

Answer 17

Mad cow disease

Question 18

What was the cause of the 1993 intestinal outbreak in Milwaukee?

Answer 18

Cryptosporidium

Question 19

What is an emergent disease?

Answer 19

A disease not previously known that has re-emerged

Question 20

What is the hypothesized origin of HIV?

Answer 20

Chimpanzees

Question 21

What is the hypothesized origin of SARS?

Answer 21

Masked palm civet

Question 22

What is the hypothesized origin of H1N1 influenza?

Answer 22

Swine farm in Mexico

Question 23

What is the hypothesized origin of the Spanish flu of 1918?

Answer 23

A swine or avian source

Question 24

In what type of climate is the malaria Protozoa most likely to be found?

Answer 24

Warmer, humid climates

Question 25

Three strategies used to deal with malaria in the 1940’s?

Answer 25

Applying massive amounts of pesticide to kill mosquitoes, treating infected individuals with antimalarial drugs to kill the protozoan parasite, and draining the wetland areas where mosquitoes breed

Question 26

What is resistance?

Answer 26

The ability to survive after exposure

Question 27

What type of diseases do antibiotics treat?

Answer 27

Diseases caused by bacteria

Question 28

What are the five chemical regulating agencies?

Answer 28

CERCLA, CAA, RCRA, CWA, and SDWA

Question 29

Why are bacteria able to evolve resistance more quickly than other organisms?

Answer 29

They reproduce quickly

Question 30

What are the four misuses of antibiotics that encourage the development of resistance?

Answer 30

When antibiotics are prescribed for a viral infection, given when the person could recover fully without them, a person starts prescription but doesn’t finish it, and antibiotics are used in animal agriculture

Question 31

What does it mean if a substance is toxic?

Answer 31

It can cause permanent/temporary harm to a living organism

Question 32

What are the effects of carcinogens?

Answer 32

Increase the risk of cancer

Question 33

What are the effects of teratogens?

Answer 33

Cause birth defects in an unborn fetus

Question 34

What are the effects of neurotoxins?

Answer 34

Disrupt the function of the brain, spinal cord, and nerves

Question 35

What are the effects of hormone mimics?

Answer 35

Amplify the effects of hormones

Question 36

What are the effects of hormone blockers?

Answer 36

They prevent natural hormones from attaching to their target organ

Question 37

What is BPA?

Answer 37

Hormone mimic

Question 38

What does toxicity measure?

Answer 38

How harmful a substance is to the health of a living organism

Question 39

Any synthetic or natural chemical had the potential to cause harm if…

Answer 39

The level of exposure is high enough

Question 40

Which type of solubility is more likely to lead to the accumulation of a toxin in the body?

Answer 40

Oil soluble toxins

Question 41

What is chemical persistence?

Answer 41

When a chemical does not degrade easily

Question 42

How does bioaccumulation work?

Answer 42

As the substance passes up a food chain, it accumulates at the higher levels

Question 43

What does mortality tell you?

Answer 43

The percentage of the population killed by the dose

Question 44

What does the LD50 tell you?

Answer 44

The dose of a chemical that will kill 50% of the population within a given time period

Question 45

What is risk assessment?

Answer 45

Estimating the likeliness or severity of a specific hazard to human death

Question 46

What is an acceptable risk with a high probability of exposure? Why is it acceptable?

Answer 46

Mercury; it has low severity

Question 47

What is an acceptable risk with high severity? Why is it acceptable?

Answer 47

Nuclear power plant; low probability of exposure

Question 48

What is the greatest cause of death in the U.S.? Lowest?

Answer 48

Heart disease; storm

Question 49

What is the Miasma Theory of Disease?

Answer 49

The belief that diseases were caused by a poisonous vapor or mist filled with particles from decomposed matter