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Preventing and Controlling Diseases
- The phrase "Prevention is better than cure" guides us here.
- We must protect ourselves from both types of diseases.
- Simple steps like good sanitation reduce communicable diseases.
- Community campaigns can improve the health of many people.
Example 1 — Building Toilets
- A village builds and uses more toilets.
- Open defecation drops and water stays clean.
- So good sanitation lowers disease spread.
Example 2 — Clean Drinking Water
- A school gives children boiled, clean water.
- Fewer children fall sick with diarrhoea.
- So clean water prevents many diseases.
Important Points
- Prevention works against both communicable and non-communicable diseases.
- Good sanitation greatly reduces the spread of disease.
Definition — Sanitation
Sanitation means keeping our surroundings, water, and toilets clean to stop the spread of disease.
Procedure
Read about the Odisha community-led sanitation campaign. In Bhadrak district, a campaign helped more people build and use toilets. This reduced open defecation and improved child health, with fewer cases of diarrhoea and infections.
Think and Reflect
What do you infer from this case study? Find about such community campaigns held in your location and discuss their impact.
Explanation
When a whole community keeps clean together, germs spread less. So simple steps like good sanitation can greatly reduce communicable diseases.
◆ Summary
- Odisha built more toilets.
- Open defecation reduced.
- Child health improved.
- Fewer infections spread.
Immunity — The Body's Fighting Power
- Some people fall sick less often than others nearby.
- This is because of the body's power to fight disease.
- This natural fighting power is called immunity.
- A special system called the immune system does this work.
Example 1 — Two Classmates
- Two friends sit in the same class.
- One catches a cold but the other does not.
- So stronger immunity protects the second friend.
Example 2 — Fighting a Germ
- A germ enters the body.
- The immune system attacks and destroys it.
- So the person stays healthy.
Important Points
- The immune system fights harmful germs that enter the body.
- Stronger immunity means we fall sick less often.
Definition — Immunity
Immunity is the natural ability of our body to fight diseases.
Vaccines and Acquired Immunity
- Vaccines protect us from diseases like polio, measles, and tetanus.
- A vaccine trains the immune system to fight germs.
- This gives us protection called acquired immunity.
- Vaccines are preventive, not curative.
- Getting vaccinated protects you and the people around you.
Example 1 — Tetanus Shot
- A tetanus shot is given after an injury.
- It trains the body to fight the tetanus germ.
- So the vaccine protects without causing the disease.
Example 2 — Polio Drops
- Children are given polio drops in childhood.
- Their body learns to fight the polio virus.
- So they are protected from polio later.
Important Points
- Vaccines can be made from weakened, dead, or harmless parts of a germ.
- Vaccines prevent disease but cannot cure someone already sick.
Definition — Vaccine
A vaccine is something that helps the body fight a disease by training the immune system to recognise and attack harmful germs.
Definition — Acquired Immunity
Acquired immunity is protection that develops after exposure to a pathogen or a vaccine.
🔭 Think Like a Scientist — Edward Jenner and the Smallpox Vaccine
Smallpox was a deadly disease that caused blisters and killed millions. A milder disease called cowpox, seen in cows, could also infect humans.
How Jenner found it
In the late 1700s, English doctor Edward Jenner saw that milkmaids who had cowpox did not get smallpox. He tested this by giving cowpox material to a boy, who stayed well even after being exposed to smallpox. This led to the first vaccine. Mass vaccination later helped wipe out smallpox worldwide.
🌿 Our Scientific Heritage — Variolation in India
Long before modern vaccines, India had a traditional method called variolation to protect against smallpox.
It used material from a smallpox sore to scratch the skin and make a mild infection that built immunity. People who did this were known as teekedaars.
💡 Ever Heard Of — India's Role in Vaccine Production
India is one of the world's largest vaccine producers. It makes vaccines on a huge scale and supplies them to many countries.
Indian vaccine companies played a key role during the COVID-19 pandemic and still support global health efforts.
🔭 Be a Scientist — Dr. Maharaj Kishan Bhan
Dr. Maharaj Kishan Bhan was a well-known Indian doctor and scientist. As Secretary of the Department of Biotechnology, he helped promote science and innovation in India.
He played a key role in developing the Rotavirus vaccine, which protects children from diarrhoea. He believed in using research to create affordable healthcare.
📋 NCERT Question 8 — Messages for a health campaign
As the head of a school health campaign, what key messages would you use to reduce communicable and non-communicable diseases?
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📋 NCERT Question 11 — Stronger response on second exposure
Why is the body's immune response much stronger the second time it meets the same pathogen than the first time?
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