Principles of Treatment: Disease Types, Cause, Spreading Means

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Collegedunia Team

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Principle of Treatment refers to the different measures undertaken to prevent or control a disease. Health is a state of well-being that includes a person's physical, mental, and social well-being. Every person is born with an immune system that helps the body stay well and protect itself from outside effects. However, the function or structure of specific body components or organs can be impacted at times. These disruptions are referred to as illnesses.

Keyterms: Treatment, Disease, Health, Immune system, Illnesses, Organs, Specific body, Living creature, Germs, Viruses, Malnutrition

Also Read: Human Diseases


What is Treatment?

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Diseases can be caused by germs or viruses, malnutrition, or other factors. To cure these disorders, every living creature requires specific care, which is referred to as treatment.

Before starting to explain what is the principle of treatment? We should know about the types of diseases.


Disease Types

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There are mainly two types of disease

Acute Disease: An acute disease develops unexpectedly and lasts only for a short time. This is in contrast to chronic disorders, which emerge gradually and persist for months at a time. The influenza virus and the common cold are two examples.

Chronic Disease: Chronic diseases are described broadly as problems that persist a year or longer and necessitate continuing medical attention, impede daily activities, or both. Chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes are the main causes of mortality and disability.

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Causes of diseases

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The various causes of diseases are mentioned below.

Immediate Cause: These are the root factors of a disease. These reasons can be both infectious and non-infectious. For Example, Bacteria, Fungi, Viruses, Germs, etc.

Contributory Cause: These are not direct causes, but rather variables that contribute to the development of a disease. For example poor diet, unhealthy lifestyle, polluted environment, and so on.


Infectious Disease

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Infectious diseases are illnesses caused by organisms like bacteria, viruses, fungus, or parasites. Numerous creatures live in and on our bodies. They are usually innocuous or even beneficial. However, some microbes can cause disease under particular conditions. Some infectious diseases are contagious and can spread from person to person.

Spreading Means of Infectious Diseases

Infectious diseases can be spread by the following four means. 

  • Airborne – TB, Common cold, Measles, etc.
  • Waterborne – Hepatitis, Cholera, etc.
  • Sexual transmitted – Syphilis, AIDS, etc.
  • Animal borne – Rabbis

General ways of prevention of infectious diseases 

The general ways of prevention of infectious diseases are as follows.

Sanitation: One of the most important factors in the prevention of infectious (communicable) diseases is public hygiene.

Vector eradication: Vector-borne illnesses can be avoided by eradicating vectors. The environment should be kept clean. Vector breeding sites should be eliminated, and adult vectors should be killed using appropriate procedures.

Sterilization: Patients' environment and items used by them should be sterilized. Soap, phenyl, Dettol, and antiseptic lotion can be used as needed.

Isolation: A person infected with an infectious disease should be kept isolated so that others do not become infected from him.

Awareness: People should be taught about infectious diseases so that they can protect themselves from such ailments.

Proper Diet (nutritious): Making proper (nutritious) and sufficient food available to everyone will keep people healthy and able to resist infections.

Vaccination: It is the acquired way of improving disease immunization.

Read More: Infectious Diseases 


Non-Infectious Diseases

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Non-infectious diseases are not caused by germs and cannot be passed from person to person. Non-infectious diseases, on the other hand, are caused by factors such as heredity, malnutrition, the environment, and lifestyle. Cancer, Alzheimer's disease, and epilepsy are examples of non-infectious disorders.


Treatment Principle

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Treatment principle is the different methods undertaken to control or prevent a disease. The general treatment principle to control any type of disease is mentioned below.

Reduce the effect of the disease

Medicines are given to patients to alleviate pain or reduce fever. In other words, symptomatic treatment may assist to lessen the severity of a condition, but it may not completely cure it as some illnesses, such as the common cold, do not have a cure, treating the symptoms will help to ease the discomfort or illness to some extent.

Bed rest is recommended to allow the body to rest. Maintaining personal hygiene also lowers the disease's impact. However, even this does not eliminate the virus, rather it just reduces the severity of the sickness. Using sterilized goods and consuming nutritious foods also helps to keep the disease at bay.

Kill the cause of the disease

Use antibiotics to kill infections. Each microbe goes through a unique biochemical life phase that aids in its survival. Certain medications that inhibit these metabolic pathways can aid in the death of the pathogenic microorganism. 

Anti-viral drug production is more challenging than anti-bacterial medication production. This is because the virus enters the host's body and relies on its cellular machinery to survive. Despite this, the researchers were successful in developing anti-viral medications that reduced the impact of HIV infection.


Principles of Prevention

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It is an indispensable need to not only cure the disease but also to prevent it from further infection. The principles of prevention are elucidated below.

General method

The general method of disease prevention includes

  • Preventing microorganism exposure 
  • Enhancing the immune system.

Preventing Microorganism Exposure: We can avoid exposure to airborne microorganisms by avoiding congested and untidy environments. We can avoid exposure to water-borne microorganisms by preventing contamination of water and reduce exposure to vector-borne diseases by maintaining a clean environment.

Boosting the immune system: Our immune system is critical in fighting off microorganisms that invade our bodies. Many diseases can be avoided by strengthening the immune system. A healthy diet that includes all of the necessary nutrients, as well as vitamins and minerals, is required for our immune system to work properly.

Specific method

Specific method refers to disease preventive strategy. It is accomplished through immunization, which is the process of introducing a weakened pathogen into the host's body to stimulate the host's immune system to produce antibodies against that specific disease so that the next time the disease strikes the host's body with full vigour, the body will be able to protect itself with the help of these antibodies.

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Things to Remember

  • Principle of Treatment refers to the different measures undertaken to prevent or control a disease.
  • Health is a state of well-being that includes a person's physical, mental, and social well-being.
  • There are two types of diseases namely acute and chronic diseases.
  • The diseases may be caused due to immediate and contributory factors.
  • The general treatment principle to control or prevent any type of disease consists of reducing the effect of the disease and killing the cause of the disease.
  • The principle of prevention consists of two methods namely the general and specific method. 
  • The general method constitutes the use of antibiotics and medicines whereas the specific method refers to a disease preventive strategy.

Read More: Auto-Immune Allergy 


Sample Questions

Ques. Why can't antibiotics be used to treat viral infections? (2 marks)

Ans. Because it lacks its bio-mechanism, the virus persists in the host body by relying on the cellular mechanisms of the host. As a result, antibiotics are ineffective against them.

Ques. What are some of the most prevalent infectious diseases? (2 marks)

Ans. Infectious diseases include influenza, tuberculosis, typhoid, chickenpox, flu, and others.

Ques. What is a Vector? (2 marks)

Ans. A vector is a live organism that spreads an infectious agent from one infected animal to another. Mosquitoes, ticks, flies, fleas, and lice are common arthropod vectors.

Ques. What is Vaccination? Give the details, how it works in the human body. (2 marks)

Ans. Vaccines contain weakened or inactive portions of a certain organism (antigen), which causes an immunological reaction in the body. Newer vaccinations contain the blueprint for generating antigens rather than the antigen itself.

Ques. What do you mean by active and passive immunization? (2 marks)

Ans. When we give you a vaccine, your immune system goes into overdrive and sets in motion a series of reactions in your body that deceive your body into thinking you've actually had the disease. Passive immunization is the process by which you obtain pre-formed antibodies.

Ques. State any two conditions for good health. (2 marks)

Ans. Two conditions essential for good health are:

  1. State of physical, mental and social well-being.
  2. Better surroundings or -environment.

Ques. Why are we normally advised to take bland and nourishing food when we are sick? (2 marks)

Ans. We are advised to take bland and nourishing food when we are sick because our body needs energy to release cells to overcome the infection, the wear and tear of the body organs. The nourishing food provides nutrients to our body that will further provide energy and make new cells. No spices in the food make its digestion process faster, does not release acids in the body that can interfere in the treatment and cure.

Ques. What are the different means by which infectious diseases are spread? (3 marks)

Ans. The different means by which infectious diseases spread are:

(a) Through air: They are also called air-borne diseases. The air carries bacteria, virus and the diseases that can be caused are common cold, influenza, tuberculosis etc.

(b) Through food and water: When one eats/drinks contaminated food/water, that contains bacteria, viruses, worms etc. it can cause diseases like cholera typhoid, hepatitis.

(c) Through contact: Many diseases spread by contact from an infected person to a healthy person. For example, fungal infections, skin diseases, scabies etc.

(d) By sexual contact: Many diseases can be transmitted, for example, syphilis, AIDS.

(e) By body fluids: Fluids like blood, semen, mother’s milk, when infected,

can also cause diseases. For example, AIDS.

(f) Vectors: The organism that spreads disease by carrying pathogens from one place to another is called a vector. For example, mosquitoes are vectors that carry pathogens like protozoa.

Ques. What is immunisation? (2 marks)

Ans. When the body attains immunity against any disease, due to vaccination. This process is called immunisation.

Ques. A doctor/nurse/health worker is exposed to more sick people than others in the community. Find out how she/he avoids getting sick herself/himself? (2 marks)

Ans. A doctor/nurse/health worker when exposed to sick people they keep their nose and mouth covered, take care of hygiene, wash hands with soap before drinking water or eating food. They use masks, gloves, etc to avoid direct contact with the person suffering from infectious diseases.

Ques. State two main causes of disease. (2 marks)

Ans. Two main causes of disease are immediate cause and contributory cause. Immediate cause: This is due to the organisms that enter our body and cause disease. Examples are viruses, protozoa, bacteria.

Contributory cause: These are the secondary factors that lead these organisms to enter our bodies. For example, dirty water, unclean surrounding, contaminated food etc.

Ques. Define vaccines and name two vaccines. (2 marks)

Ans. A vaccine is a chemical /drug given in advance to a body to give immunity against certain diseases.

Vaccines given to children are:

(a) BCG—for tuberculosis prevention

(b) Polio drops—for polio prevention

Ques. What is antibiotic penicillin? Give its function. (2 marks)

Ans. Penicillin antibiotic blocks the bacterial processes that build the cell wall. Due to this drug, the bacteria are unable to make a protective cell wall and dies easily. It is used to cure diseases and infections caused by bacteria.

Ques. How does cholera become an epidemic in a locality? (2 marks)

Ans. Cholera is an infectious disease that spreads due to unsafe water. It can spread in a locality; if a person suffering from cholera lives in the locality and

the excreta of this person, get mixed with the drinking water used by people living nearby. The cholera-causing microbe enters the new hosts through the water they drink and cause disease in them.

Ques. How do we kill microbes that enter our bodies and cause diseases? (2 marks)

Ans. Microbes can be killed by using medicines These microbes are of different categories—viruses, bacteria, fungi or protozoa. Each of these groups of organisms has some essential biochemical life processes which are peculiar to a particular group and is not shared by others. These pathways are not used by us. By using drugs that block the microbial synthesis pathway without affecting us can kill the microbes.

Ques. Why can’t we make antiviral medicines/drugs? (2 marks)

Ans. The viruses lie on the borderline of living and non-living organisms. The viruses can live, grow and multiply only inside the host body. They cannot be grown or cultured and their biological pathways cannot be affected. Hence, antiviral medicines/drugs are difficult to make.


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