Read the given passage and answer the following question:
The term health is very frequently used by everybody. How do we define it? Health does not simply mean ‘absence of disease’ or ‘physical fitness’. It could be defined as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being. When people are healthy, they are more efficient at work. This increases productivity and brings economic prosperity. Health also increases the longevity of people and reduces infant and maternal mortality. When the functioning of one or more organs or systems of the body is adversely affected, characterised by the appearance of various signs and symptoms, we say that we are not healthy, i.e., we have a disease. Diseases can be broadly grouped into infectious and non-infectious. A wide range of organisms belonging to bacteria, viruses, fungi, protozoans, helminths, etc., could cause diseases in man. Such disease-causing organisms are called pathogens. Most parasites are therefore pathogens as they cause harm to the host by living in (or on) them. The pathogens can enter our body by various means, multiply, and interfere with normal vital activities, resulting in morphological and functional damage. Pathogens have to adapt to life within the environment of the host. For example, the pathogens that enter the gut must know a way of surviving in the stomach at low pH and resisting the various digestive enzymes.
Diseases which are easily transmitted from one person to another are called:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Infectious diseases
Diseases are broadly grouped into two kinds: infectious and non-infectious. Infectious diseases are caused by pathogens and pass easily from one person to another, for example AIDS, typhoid and the common cold. Non-infectious diseases, such as cancer, do not spread from person to person.
Option (1) Infectious diseases — Correct. Diseases that are easily transmitted from one person to another are, by definition, infectious diseases. They are very common, and some of them, such as AIDS, are fatal.
Option (2) Non-infectious diseases — Incorrect. Non-infectious diseases are the other group. They do not pass from one person to another. Cancer is the major cause of death among them.
Option (3) Autoimmune diseases — Incorrect. Autoimmune diseases arise when the immune system attacks the body’s own cells, as in rheumatoid arthritis. They come from within the body and do not spread to others.
Option (4) Allergies — Incorrect. An allergy is an exaggerated response of the immune system to harmless substances in the environment, such as dust or pollen. It is not passed from person to person.
NCERT Extract:
Human Health and Disease – “… Diseases can be broadly grouped into infectious and non-infectious. Diseases which are easily transmitted from one person to another, are called infectious diseases. Infectious diseases are very common and every one of us suffers from these at sometime or other. Some of the infectious diseases like AIDS are fatal. Among non-infectious diseases, cancer is the major cause of death.”