Preventing and controlling disease
Introduced| English | Meaning |
|---|---|
| vaccine/vækˈsiːn/ | A preparation that trains the immune system to recognise an antigen and develop protective immune memory. |
| insecticide/ˌɪnˈsektɪsaɪd/ | A substance used to kill or control insects. |
| antibiotic/ˌæntɪbaɪˈɒtɪk/ | A medicine that kills bacteria or inhibits their growth. |
| surveillance/səˈveɪləns/ | surveillance |
Stopping disease in its tracks
- Stopping a disease is not just about the science of the pathogen.
- Control has biological, social and economic sides.
- The best methods depend on how each disease spreads.
Disease control chain
Follow how prevention breaks the chain of infection.
Which helps control the spread of an infectious disease?
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Vaccination, hygiene and quarantine all reduce the spread of disease.
Control measures
- cholera: clean water and proper sewage treatment; good hygiene; vaccines 疫苗 in some areas.
- malaria: sleep under nets; remove still water where mosquitoes breed; spray insecticides 杀虫剂; take anti-malarial drugs.
- TB: find and treat patients (long antibiotic 抗生素 course); the BCG vaccine; reduce overcrowding; trace contacts.
- HIV: condoms; clean needles; test donated blood; education. No cure or vaccine yet, but drugs slow the virus.
The most important way to prevent cholera is to:
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Cholera spreads via faeces-contaminated water, so clean water and good sanitation are key.
Match each disease to the best way to control it.
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You control each disease by attacking how it spreads — water for cholera, the mosquito for malaria, body fluids for HIV.
Malaria is controlled by attacking the mosquito ______ — with nets, insecticides and by draining breeding pools.
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The mosquito is the vector; stop it biting (nets) or breeding (drain still water) and you stop malaria spreading.
There is currently no cure or vaccine for HIV, so prevention (condoms, clean needles) matters most.
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HIV has no cure or vaccine yet; prevention and drugs that slow the virus are the main tools.
Three sides to every effort
- biological — the supply of drugs and vaccines, the biology of the pathogen.
- social — people's willingness to change behaviour, and education.
- economic — the cost and resources available.
- All three together decide how well a disease can be controlled.
Plasmodium parasites (ring shapes) inside red blood cells
Why might a good control method still fail to stop a disease?
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Control depends on biological, social and economic factors together — cost and behaviour can block even good science.
A global effort
- Controlling disease needs global cooperation: surveillance 监测, vaccination programmes and sharing data.
- Organisations such as the WHO coordinate responses to outbreaks across borders.
You've got it
- control has biological + social + economic sides
- cholera: clean water & sewage; malaria: nets, remove still water, insecticide
- TB: treat patients (long course) + BCG; HIV: condoms, clean needles, test blood (no cure/vaccine yet)
- cost, behaviour and drug supply all affect success