PurFact

Diseases & Pathogens

12 questions · Health & Medicine

From the harmless cold to the worldwide epidemic, diseases have accompanied humankind for as long as it has existed and the fight against them has driven medicine forward over the centuries. Some are easily treatable today, others remain a challenge, but knowing their features makes news reports and doctor's visits much easier to follow. This pack gives an overview of well-known diseases and their causes: recognise the sugar disease diabetes and pneumonia, high blood pressure and the seizure disorder epilepsy, the joint disease arthritis and true influenza, the vitamin-deficiency disease scurvy and the nerve disease Parkinson's, the memory disease Alzheimer's and the highly contagious measles, as well as the respiratory disease asthma and mosquito-borne malaria: recognise them by their features and learn how varied the causes of illness can be. Some are triggered by viruses or bacteria, others by lifestyle, age or genes and it is exactly this variety that makes medicine so fascinating.

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All questions with answers

What is the chronic disease with persistently high blood sugar called?

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Diabetes

In type 1 insulin is missing entirely.

💡 Did you know? Many patients must monitor blood sugar.

What is inflammation of the lungs, often from bacteria or viruses, called?

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Pneumonia

Fever, cough and breathlessness are typical.

💡 Did you know? Vaccines exist against some pathogens.

What is hypertension called in everyday language?

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High blood pressure

Over time it strains the heart and vessels.

💡 Did you know? It often goes unnoticed for years.

What is the disorder with recurring seizures of the brain called?

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Epilepsy

It arises from sudden electrical bursts in the brain.

💡 Did you know? Medication usually controls the seizures well.

What is the painful inflammation of the joints called?

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Arthritis

The joints swell and hurt.

💡 Did you know? The ending “-itis” means inflammation.

What is the contagious viral respiratory illness, the “true flu”, called?

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Influenza

A yearly vaccine can protect against it.

💡 Did you know? It is more than a simple cold.

Which deficiency disease results from a lack of vitamin C?

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Scurvy

Bleeding gums are a typical sign.

💡 Did you know? Sailors especially feared it in the past.

What is the nerve disease with tremor and slowed movement called?

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Parkinson's

The brain increasingly lacks the messenger dopamine.

💡 Did you know? It usually appears in later life.

What is the most common form of dementia with progressive memory loss?

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Alzheimer's

Harmful proteins build up in the brain.

💡 Did you know? It is named after physician Alois Alzheimer.

What is the contagious childhood disease with fever and a red rash called?

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Measles

A vaccine reliably protects against it.

💡 Did you know? They are highly contagious.

What is the airway disease with sudden narrowing of the bronchi called?

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Asthma

An inhaler widens the airways in an attack.

💡 Did you know? Triggers can be allergens or exertion.

Which mosquito-borne tropical disease is caused by parasites?

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Malaria

The Anopheles mosquito transmits it.

💡 Did you know? Recurring fevers are typical.

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