Disease - GS questions based on daily current affairs

1)   Which of the following diseases are eradicated from India?

1. Polio
2. Maternal and neonatal tetanus
3. Guinea worm disease
4. Yaws
5. Small Pox


a. 1,2
b. 1,2,5
c. 1,3,5
d. All
Answer  Explanation 

ANSWER: All

Explanation:
- India was certified a Guinea worm disease free country in February 2000 by the World Health Organization.
- The national guinea worm eradication programme was launched in 1983.
- Guinea worm disease is also known as dracunculiasis, which in Latin means affliction with little dragons. In Africa it is also called empty granary as it erupts around harvest time debilitating the farmer and thus affecting the local food supply. It is a parasitic disease caused by the roundworm parasite Dracunculus medenesis.
- The affliction has been around for thousands of years and is so ancient that it has even been found in Egyptian mummies. It got its name Guinea worm after the Europeans saw the disease on the Guinea coast of West Africa in the 17th century.
- South Sudan, Mali, Ethiopia, and Chad — reported cases of guinea worm in 2014. 56% of all cases reported in 2014 were in South Sudan.
- Yaws has been eliminated from the country in 2006. This disease primarily affects tribal population living in remote, hilly and forest areas having difficult terrain.
- Yaws belongs to a group of chronic bacterial infections (endemic treponematoses, nonvenereal spirochetal diseases) caused by treponemes. Other diseases belonging to this group are bejel (endemic syphilis) and pinta.
- Yaws is the most common of all and occurs primarily in the warm, humid and tropical areas of Africa, Central and South America, the Caribbean, Indian peninsula and the equatorial islands of South-East Asia.


2)   Which of the following statements are correct about Dengue?

1. It is also called as breakbone fever
2. Dengue is transmitted by several species of mosquito within the genus Aedes, principally A. aegypti.


a. Only 1
b. Only 2
c. Both
d. None
Answer  Explanation 

ANSWER: Both

Explanation:
Dengue is a mosquito-borne tropical disease caused by the dengue virus. Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle and joint pains, and a characteristic skin rash that is similar to measles. In a small proportion of cases, the disease develops into the life-threatening dengue hemorrhagic fever, resulting in bleeding, low levels of blood platelets and blood plasma leakage, or into dengue shock syndrome, where dangerously low blood pressure occurs.


3)   Which of the following country is declared free from maternal and neonatal tetanus?

a. Mali
b. Sudan
c. India
d. Pakistan
Answer  Explanation 

ANSWER: India

Explanation:
The WHO has declared that mothers and newborns are free from tetanus at the time of birth in India. Tetanus, also known as lockjaw, is an infection characterized by muscle spasms.Spasms may be so severe that bone fractures may occur. Other symptoms may include fever,sweating, headache, trouble swallowing, high blood pressure, and a fast heart rate. Onset of symptoms is typically three to twenty one days following infection. It may take months to recover. About 10% of those infected die.