Unit 8: Pollution: module 4.54 Health
Module 54: Human health, pathogens, infectious diseases
Most studies are retrospective: natural experiments (exposure caused some condition) often disasters (e.g. Bhopal and union carbide)
Prospective study: planned exposure (drug trial, animal testing)
Synergistic reactions: like drug combinations (don't take this medication with alcohol), combined impact is greater than sum of separate impacts
Disease (literally "lack of ease"): anything that interferes with normal body function
Infectious diseases: caused by agents ("pathogens": patho = harm, gen = makes stuff)
Non-infectious disease:
Prospective study: planned exposure (drug trial, animal testing)
Synergistic reactions: like drug combinations (don't take this medication with alcohol), combined impact is greater than sum of separate impacts
Disease (literally "lack of ease"): anything that interferes with normal body function
Infectious diseases: caused by agents ("pathogens": patho = harm, gen = makes stuff)
Non-infectious disease:
- heart disease (diet, smoking, lack of exercise)
- diabetes (hereditary, diet, exercise, others)
- cancer (radiation, diet, heredity, exposure to free radicals)
Infectious disease pathogens:
- viruses-not really alive, DNA with a protein coat (why soap is effective: dissolves the protein coat, think of washing off cooked eggs from a pan)
- bacteria-can be gram positive or negative, aerobic or anaerobic (reason to leave wounds open to air)
- fungi-basically plants, they know how to fight viruses and bacteria
- protists-simple cell organisms
- parasites-worms, others (e.g. giardia)
Historical pathogens:
Epidemic: some countries impacted
Pandemic: all countries impacted, e.g. COVID-19
Pandemic: all countries impacted, e.g. COVID-19
- Cholera: bacteria (vibrio cholerae) causes dysentery, diarrhea
- Hepatitis: liver infection, A B C, airborne and fluids
- Plague: bacteria (Yersinia pestis), kille 25% of people in Europe 1334
- Malaria: "bad air" vs Buenos Aires ("good air"), plasmodium, no real cure, but as of 2025 an emerging vaccine, DDT used to reduce mosquito populations
- Tuberculosis: "TB", contagious bacterium (mycobacterium tuberculosis) invades lungs, fatal, often seen in gothic novels or stories (Les Miserables), lots of coughing spreading the bacteria, huge issue in Russia now with drug resistant TB emerging: folks sell their antibiotics for alcohol, lots of public transportation.
- COVID-19 (why "corona"?)
Emergent diseases:
- HIV AIDS: human immuno deficiency virus, acquired immune deficiency syndrome, used to be terminal, attacks human T cells (immune system surveillance cells)
- Ebola: hemorrhagic fever, almost always fatal
- Mad cow disease (BSE): Bovine Spongiform Encephalitis, brain disease carried by feeding cows other cows (gross!) mediated by prions or protein bits
- Avian (bird) flu: carried by birds H5N1 (Histogram-Nucleic acid) human to human migration
- Swine flu: H1N1 human to human migration
- SARS: severe acute respiratory syndrome; early coronavirus (should sound familiar!)
- MERS: carried by camels, much more fatal, another coronavirus
- SARS-CoV-2: "COVID-19" or "COronaVIrus Disease 2019"
- West Nile virus: birds and mosquitoes
- Lyme disease: (borrelia burgdorferi) was just Northeast, carried by deer ticks, (exodus scapularis) causes immune system impact
- Zika virus: caused brain damage in infants, mosquitoes or sexual transmission (Haiti)
Laws:
- From video clean water act: CWA 1972 controlled surface waters (not wells)
- SWDA: safe water drinking act; set maximum levels for certain contaminants (mercury, lead, etc.)
Fun with GPT:
Ask GPT about one of the diseases above, share the prompt you used and the answer
Repeat with a question from the review modules on your iPad
login: hpaelab4@icloud.com
password: on the board
Migrated from Apple Server Wiki. Original page ID: _3F4q9B7G2