Pollution and Human Health Flashcards
1
Q
Why is it difficult to figure out what causes human health issues?
A
Humans experience exposure to a variety of chemicals and pollutants
2
Q
Dysentery
- Pathogen/Vector
- Health Impacts
- Cause
A
- Caused by untreated sewage in streams and rivers
- Diarrhea, intestinal problems
- Mostly a bacteria
3
Q
Mesothelioma
- Pathogen/Vector
- Health Impacts
- Cause
A
- Caused mainly by exposure to asbestos
- Difficulty breathing
- No pathogen/vector, kind of lung cancer
4
Q
What can elevated levels of tropospheric ozone cause?
A
- respiratory problems
- impact lung function
5
Q
How has climate change affected the range of diseases?
A
- As equatorial-type climate zones spread north and south into what is currently subtropical and temperate climate zones, pathogens, infectious diseases, and any associated vectors are spreading into these areas where the disease has not previously been known to occur
6
Q
How do impoverished conditions affect the infection rates of disease?
A
- Poverty-stricken, low-income areas often lack sanitary waste disposal and have contaminated drinking water supplies, leading to havens and opportunities for the spread of infectious diseases
7
Q
What use services encourage greater infection rates?
A
- daycare
- cleaning services
- food prep service
- spa and beauty
8
Q
How do beauty parlors/barbershops increase infection rates?
A
- extra services adds to additional reservoirs of pathogens, vectors, and transmission risk
9
Q
How are public facilities like health clubs and gyms increasing the risk of infection?
A
- mycobacterium is found in indoor pools and hot tubs, many pathogens have adapted to be chlorine-resistant
10
Q
How has globalization led to higher disease risk?
A
- allows pathogens to “hitchhike” their way to new hosts in new parts of the world
11
Q
How has urbanization led to higher disease risk?
A
- any concentration of people will increase the risks of disease transmission
12
Q
How do natural disasters lead to higher disease risk?
A
- Floods, El Nino, hurricanes, earthquakes in cities bring a high risk of disease because flooded water carries pathogens, displaced people have to congregate in shelters in close proximities
13
Q
Plague
- Pathogen/Vector
- Health Impacts
- Cause/How It Spreads
A
- a disease carried by organisms infected with the plague bacteria (usually via fleas on rats)
- flu-like symptoms such as feces, headache, chills, weakness, and swollen, tender lymph glands
- transferred to humans via the bite of an infected organism or through contact with contaminated fluids, tissues, or animal feces
14
Q
Tuberculosis
- Pathogen/Vector
- Health Impacts
- Cause/How It Spreads
- Cure
A
- Bacteria
- Damages lungs, Historically deadly
- Spread by coughing, sneezes, breathing in bacteria, or by body fluids
- Antibiotics treat and cure, but resistant strains are coming back
15
Q
Malaria
- Pathogen/Vector
- Health Impacts
- Cause/How It Spreads
- Cure
- Global Hotspot
A
- Protozoa carried by mosquitos, transferred through mosquito bites
- Fever, chills. Kills millions each year
- Mainly in Sub-Saharan Africa
- Medicine will cure, but hard to get in Africa. Mosquito nets prevent infection. DDT also prevents.
