Disorders and Diseases of the Human Body Quiz

Answer: A localised dilation of a blood vessel

An aneurysm is usually caused by a weakening of the blood vessel wall. People may go their whole lives with an aneurysm and never know, while other aneurysms may rupture and require urgent medical treatment.

Answer: Pancreatic beta cells

Type 1 diabetes involves autoimmune destruction of beta cells in the islets of Langerhans in the pancreas. There is a subtype called idiopathic type 1B diabetes in which no evidence of autoimmunity is present in beta cell destruction.

Answer: Tonic-clonic

Tonic-clonic seizures were previously known as grand-mal seizures and are the most common major motor seizure. Simple partial is a type of partial seizure, primidone is a drug prescribed to treat simple and complex partial seizures and cryptogenic is a type of epilepsy where the person is suspected to be symptomatic but there is an absence of definitive proof of an underlying cause.

Answer: By eating infected meat from monkeys

Ebola was first recorded in 1976 and as yet there is no definitive answer as to how humans become infected. The current theory is that people contract the virus by eating infected monkey meat. The virus is then passed easily between people via infected blood or bodily fluids. Ebola hemorrhagic fever kills between 50% and 90% of those infected - a disease you definitely want to avoid!

"The Essential Handbook of Epidemics, Viruses and Plagues" by Dr Peter Moore is a really interesting book to take a look at.

Answer: An increase in intrapericardial pressure due to an accumulation of fluid or blood in the pericardial sac

Myocarditis is an inflammation of the heart muscle, acute pericarditis is an inflammation of the pericardium and stable angina is chest pain associated with a loss of blood flow and oxygen to a part of the heart muscle (myocardial ischemia).

Answer: AIDS/HIV

HIV/AIDS first gained the attention of health care professionals in 1981 when large numbers of gay men in the USA started to develop rare cancers and failed to respond to common treatments for a variety of curable diseases. It has since been discovered that a man in Africa had the virus in his blood in a sample from 1959 and a teenager in the US also had the virus present in a sample of his blood taken in 1969.

Answer: Kidney stones

Gallstones are referred to as cholelithiasis. There are several different disorders involving cysts in the kidneys and lipoid nephrosis is a disease involving the glomerular membrane in the nephron.

Answer: Small and large intestine

Crohn's disease is a recurrent inflammatory condition that can affect any area of the gastrointestinal tract from the mouth to the anus. However, in the majority of cases it is the small and large intestine which are predominantly affected. Parents, siblings or children of Crohn's sufferers are more likely to develop Crohn's disease than others.

Answer: Drain ascitic fluid from the peritoneal cavity

A large bore needle is inserted into the peritoneal cavity. Up to 15 litres of fluid may be drained at times!

Answer: Portal hypertension

Varices are extremely dilated submucosal veins in the oesophagus which are prone to rupture and bleeding. High blood pressure in the portal vein of the liver causes blood to be forced into alternate channels due to the increased resistance. Portal hypertension can have life threatening consequences.