Kinds of disease and how they are treated
This mosquito can pass on dengue with one bite. Dengue is caught from a pathogen. Diabetes cannot be caught at all. Biologists sort diseases into four kinds by their cause, because the cause decides how a disease is treated and prevented.
By the end of this page you can
- Tell pathogenic, deficiency, hereditary and physiological diseases apart
- Match each kind of disease to the way it is treated or controlled
- Explain how insulin brings blood glucose back to normal
- Define pathogen, vector, insulin and glucagon
- Answer exam questions on disease and its control
Goals tick themselves off as you try the activities below.
Photo: James Gathany, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped, converted to JPEG q72.
A female _Aedes aegypti_, the mosquito that spreads dengue, photographed for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
How often it shows up in past papers
Paper 1 counts come from our past-paper bank of CSEC Biology Paper 1s. Paper 2 is not included yet.
Sorted by what causes them
Ask one question about any disease: what causes it? The answer puts it in one of four groups. Tap each card.
The cause decides the cure
Each treatment works on one kind of cause.
Which disease does it tackle?
Tap a treatment on the list to see what it works on.
Hereditary diseases cannot usually be cured, only managed (for sickle cell: fluids, pain relief, quick treatment of infections).
Insulin at work
You eat a plate of rice. Drag or tap each step into its slot.
What happens to the rice first?
Seven terms to know cold
Say what each term means before you flip the card. “Classify this disease” questions reward the exact group name.
Six quick questions, then a real one
Pick an answer to see why it’s right or wrong.
Sickle cell anaemia is an example of a
Scurvy is caused by a lack of
Why will antibiotics NOT cure dengue?
Which is the BEST way for a community to control dengue?
After a meal, which hormone brings blood glucose back down to normal?
Which of these is a physiological disease?
exam style · 3 marks
Diabetes is a physiological disease. Explain how diet and exercise help a person to control it.
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Practice questions are written by My V.I.P. Academy. They are not official CXC papers.