Disease Prevention

Disease Prevention

Chinese knowledge of medicine and disease prevention dates to ancient times.  Before the 1st century C.E., the Chinese developed a way of fighting infectious diseases, which can spread from person to person.   When an individual died from an infectious disease, the Chinese burned a chemical that released a poisonous smoke that they believed would destroy whatever was causing the illness.

Multiple Choice

infectious diseases can spread from _______ to ________.

• person to animal.

• animal to person.

• person to person.

Today, it is well known that many diseases are caused by germs and that people can prevent the spread of disease by using disinfectants—substances like chlorine bleach that kill germs. The poisonous smoke used by the Chinese was a type of disinfectant.

Multiple Choice

what was a type of disinfected used by the ancient Chinese?

• Lysol

• poisonous smoke

During the Song dynasty, the Chinese discovered another way to prevent the spread of disease. A Chinese monk recommended steaming the clothes of sick people because he believed that the steam would prevent others from becoming ill. The idea was sound, because hot temperatures kill many germs. Today, people boil medical instruments to kill disease-causing germs.

Multiple Choice

What types of temperatures kill germs?

• cold

• hot

Sometime around the 10th century, the Chinese discovered how to inoculate [inoculate: to protect against disease by transmitting a disease-causing agent to a person, stimulating the body’s defensive reactions ] people against smallpox, a dreaded infectious disease. Inoculation is a way of stimulating a person's immune system to fight a particular disease. It works by exposing the person to a disease-carrying substance. To inoculate people against smallpox, Chinese physicians took a small part of a scab from an infected person, crushed it into a powder, and then inserted the powder into the nose of the person they wanted to immunize, or protect against the disease.

The Chinese knew that they had to be careful when exposing people to smallpox. Sometimes the treatment itself caused people to become ill. To be as cautious as possible, the Chinese took the infectious material from people who had already been inoculated.

Chinese knowledge about smallpox inoculation eventually led to the development of drugs called vaccines. Modern medical professionals have developed vaccines for many diseases, including smallpox and the flu.

Multiple Choice

The Chinese discovery of inoculation is the basis for modern-day

• Surgery.

• vaccines.

• thermometers.

Multiple Choice

Today, people _______ medical instruments to kill disease-causing germs.

• freeze

• boil