Read the descriptions below and match them to the names of the illnesses in the box. Name diseases that are infectious.

jaundicemumpsmeasleschicken pox whooping cough tuberculosishay feverdysenteryhepatitisgingivitis

1. An infectious disease of children, caused by a herpes virus, and characterised by fever and red spots which turn to itchy blisters.

2. An infectious disease of children where the body is covered with a red rash. It can weaken the body's resistance to other disease, especially bronchitis and ear infections. If caught by an adult it can be very serious.

3. An infectious disease of children, with fever and swellings in the salivary glands, caused by a paramyxovirus.

4. An infectious disease affecting the bronchial tubes, common in children and sometimes very serious. The patient coughs very badly and makes a characteristic 'whoop' when inhaling after a coughing fit.

5. An infectious disease in which infected lumps form in the tissue. Its commonest form is infection of the lungs, causing patients to lose weight, cough blood and have a fever.

6. An infectious disease which occurs mainly in tropical countries. The symptoms include diarrhoea, discharge of blood and pain in the intestines.

7. An inflammation in the nasal passage and eyes caused by an allergic reaction to plant pollen.

8. A medical condition in which the skin and the white parts of the eyes become yellow.

9. An inflammation of the gums as a result of bacterial infection.

10. An inflammation of the liver through disease or drugs.

 

Choose the correct answer

1. He still suffers from a rare tropical disease which he ……….. while in the Congo.

a) contracted b) gained c) infected d) received

2. Malaria is …………. by the female mosquito.

a) broadcast b) sent c) transmitted d) transported

3. The school is half empty as a serious epidemic of measles has broken ………..

a) down b) in c) out d) up

4. Several ………… of malaria have been reported.

a) cases b) doses c) occurrences d) types

5. He ……….. a rare disease when he was working in the hospital.

a) caught b) infected c) suffered d) took

6. The doctor examined him carefully and ………… influenza.

a) concluded b) decided c) diagnosed d) realised

7. Some diseases ………….. quickly from one person to another.

a) catch b) get about c) move d) spread

8. Tropical diseases are comparatively ………… in Poland.

a) few b) rare c) scarce d) slight.

9. The ………. last thing I want now is to catch a cold.

a) extremely b) most c) utterly d) very

10. She couldn’t go out because she had a ………… cold.

a) flowing b) leaking c) running d) streaming

11. The local medical officer reported a serious ………. of food-poisoning.

a) event b) incident c) outbreak d) state

12. It’s a good idea to see your doctor regularly for ………..

a) a control b) a check-up c) an investigation d) a revesion

13. We thought she was over the worst of her illness, but yesterday she had a …..

a) come-back b) relapse c) relaxation d) reversion

14. I can never touch lobster because I am …………. to shellfish.

a) allergic b) infected c) sensible d) sensitive

15. It was an incurable disease, which can even lead to a …………. outcome.

a) mortal b) deadly c) lethal d) fatal

II. Listening

Pre-listening

1. What is the most effective way to stop the spread of disease? Express your personal opinion.

2. Read the list of some diseases and tick the diseases that can be prevented by hand washing. The first one has been done for you.

	pinworms	\/
	influenza
	mumps
	the common cold
	hypertension
	hepatitis
	meningitis
	appendicitis
	infectious diarrhea

While-listening

1. Now listen about medical emergencies and fill the chart:

	Medical experts say that programs to increase hand-washing with soap could be among the most effective ways	to…
	They say that one-million lives could be saved each year	If…
	Doctors say many diseases can be prevented from spreading by hand-washing. These include pinworms, influenza,	the common cold, …
	Hand-washing destroys	germs from… or…
	When people get bacteria on their hands, they can infect themselves	by…
	Then these people	can infect…
	The experts say the easiest way to catch a cold is	to… after…
	Another way to become sick is to eat food prepared	by… whose…
	The experts say that hand-washing is especially important	before and after… before… and after…
	People should wash their hands	after… or… and after…
	The experts say it is also a good idea to wash your hands	after…   and after…
	And it is important to wash your hands often	when…
	The experts say the most effective way to wash your hands is	to… while…
	They say you do not have	to…
	Be sure to rub all areas of the hands	for about…
	The soap and the rubbing action	remove…
	Rinse the hands with water	and…
	Experts say that people using public bathrooms	should… with a paper towel and use the towel to turn off the water.

2. The last recommendation you are not supposed to hear. Write the option that is likely to be mentioned.

They also advise using the paper towel

to…

3. Now read all recommendations related to using public bathrooms and check your suggestion.

Experts say that people using public bathrooms should dry their hands with a paper towel and use the towel to turn off the water. They also advise using the paper towel to open the bathroom door before throwing the towel away.

 

After-listening

Answer the comprehension questions in the written form:

1. What is the most effective way to stop the spread of disease?

2. How many lives could be saved each year if people washed their hands more often?

3. Name three diseases that can be prevented by hand washing.

4. Why does hand washing prevent sickness?

5. Describe the most effective way to wash the hands.

 

III. Reading and Speaking

Before reading. Discuss in groups:

1. What is a hypochondriac?

2. Is hypochondria a real disease? What are its symptoms?

3. How can it be dangerous?

4. Should people treat it? How can they do it?

While reading. 1.Read the abstract from “Three Men in a Boat” by Jerome K. Jerome. Study the highlighted words and match them with their synonyms given below:

begin infectious disease illness severe

dizziness malaria sick

THERE were four of us – George, and William Samuel Harris, and myself, and Montmorency. We were sitting in my room, smoking, and talking about how bad we were – bad from a medical point of view I mean, of course.

We were all feeling seedy, and we were getting quite nervous about it. Harris said he felt such extraordinary fits of giddiness come over him at times, that he hardly knew what he was doing; and then George said that HE had fits of giddiness too, and hardly knew what HE was doing. With me, it was my liver that was out of order. I knew it was my liver that was out of order, because I had just been reading a patent liver-pill circular, in which were detailed the various symptoms by which a man could tell when his liver was out of order. I had them all.

It is a most extraordinary thing, but I never read a patent medicine advertisement without being impelled to the conclusion that I am suffering from the particular disease therein dealt with in its most virulent form. The diagnosis seems in every case to correspond exactly with all the sensations that I have ever felt.

I remember going to the British Museum one day to read up the treatment for some slight ailment of which I had a touch – hay fever, I fancy it was. I got down the book, and read all I came to read; and then, in an unthinking moment, I idly turned the leaves, and began to indolently study diseases, generally. I forget which was the first distemper I plunged into – some fearful, devastating scourge, I know – and, before I had glanced half down the list of "premonitory symptoms," it was borne in upon me that I had fairly got it.

I sat for awhile, frozen with horror; and then, in the listlessness of despair, I again turned over the pages. I came to typhoid fever – read the symptoms – discovered that I had typhoid fever, must have had it for months without knowing it – wondered what else I had got; turned up St. Vitus's Dance – found, as I expected, that I had that too, – began to get interested in my case, and determined to sift it to the bottom, and so started alphabetically – read up ague, and learnt that I was sickening for it, and that the acute stage would commence in about another fortnight. Bright's disease, I was relieved to find, I had only in a modified form, and, so far as that was concerned, I might live for years. Cholera I had, with severe complications; and diphtheria I seemed to have been born with. I plodded conscientiously through the twenty-six letters, and the only malady I could conclude I had not got was housemaid's knee.

I felt rather hurt about this at first; it seemed somehow to be a sort of slight. Why hadn't I got housemaid's knee? Why this invidious reservation? After a while, however, less grasping feelings prevailed. I reflected that I had every other known malady in the pharmacology, and I grew less selfish, and determined to do without housemaid's knee. Gout, in its most malignant stage, it would appear, had seized me without my being aware of it; and zymosis I had evidently been suffering with from boyhood. There were no more diseases after zymosis, so I concluded there was nothing else the matter with me.

I sat and pondered. I thought what an interesting case I must be from a medical point of view, what an acquisition I should be to a class! Students would have no need to "walk the hospitals," if they had me. I was a hospital in myself. All they need do would be to walk round me, and, after that, take their diploma.

Then I wondered how long I had to live. I tried to examine myself. I felt my pulse. I could not at first feel any pulse at all. Then, all of a sudden, it seemed to start off. I pulled out my watch and timed it. I made it a hundred and forty-seven to the minute. I tried to feel my heart. I could not feel my heart. It had stopped beating. I have since been induced to come to the opinion that it must have been there all the time, and must have been beating, but I cannot account for it. I patted myself all over my front, from what I call my waist up to my head, and I went a bit round each side, and a little way up the back. But I could not feel or hear anything. I tried to look at my tongue. I stuck it out as far as ever it would go, and I shut one eye, and tried to examine it with the other. I could only see the tip, and the only thing that I could gain from that was to feel more certain than before that I had scarlet fever.

 

 

2. Find in the text the words related to:

a) names of diseases: ……

b) parts of body and internal organs: …….

c) forms and stages of diseases: …….

 

3. Match two columns to make up collocations and word combinations:

fits	was out of order
medical	circular
liver-pill	with horror
liver	complications
in the listlessness	of giddiness
severe	reservation
invidious	my pulse
grow	point of view
feel	of despair
frozen	selfish

After reading. Answer the questions on the text.

a. How did the main characters find that they were ill?

b. Why did the narrator go to the British Museum?

c. Why did the narrator presume that he could be an interesting case to a class of medical students?

d. After discovering such a great number of illnesses the main character visited a doctor. If you have not read a full story, try to think what kind of treatment the doctor might have prescribed him.

 

IV. Grammar Check