How Disease Spreads
What term describes diseases spread through the air by tiny droplets or aerosols, like COVID-19 or measles?
Airborne transmission
What disease caused the Black Death in the 14th century?
Bubonic plague.
What virus caused the COVID-19 pandemic or what can you tell me about it?
SARS-Covid19
What is “health equity”?
Fair access to healthcare for all, regardless of social or economic status.
Edward Jenner used cowpox to develop a vaccine.
What type of transmission happens when an insect or animal, like a mosquito or tick, carries a disease from one host to another?
Vector-borne transmission
What 1918 pandemic infected about one-third of the world’s population?
The Spanish Flu
Which mosquito-borne virus emerged in the Americas around 2015, causing birth defects?
The Zika Virus
How can underfunded health systems worsen pandemics?
They may lack resources for testing, treatment, and public health response
What technology allowed for the rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines?
A vaccine technology called mRNA
What term is used when diseases spread through touching surfaces or objects contaminated with infectious agents?
Surface Transmission
How did smallpox impact indigenous populations in the Americas?
It caused massive population decline due to lack of immunity.
What bacterial infection is often linked to undercooked food and can cause outbreaks today?
E.Coli or Salmonella
What global organization works with countries to improve public health?
What discovery by Alexander Fleming led to the development of antibiotics?
Penicillin
What kind of transmission occurs when diseases pass through contaminated food or water, like cholera or E. coli?
Food-borne or water-borne transmission
Which ancient plague struck Athens and is one of the earliest recorded pandemics?
Which disease continues to be a major challenge in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, spread by mosquitoes?
How do pandemics disproportionately impact low-income or marginalized communities?
They often have less access to healthcare, protective equipment, and financial support.
What is herd immunity?
When enough people are immune, disease spread is reduced, protecting the community.
What is the term for diseases that spread through blood, sexual contact, or from mother to child during childbirth or breastfeeding?
Direct contact transmission or bodily fluid transmission
What public health measure, first used during the Black Death, involved separating people and ships?
What global viral disease, declared a Public Health Emergency by the WHO in 2022, primarily spread through close physical contact and caused painful skin lesions?
Monkeypox
Name one health challenge refugees face during a pandemic.
Crowded living conditions, limited healthcare, poor sanitation.
What 20th-century breakthrough led to the widespread prevention of deadly childhood diseases like polio and measles?
The development of vaccines