74. Reading Skills Comprehension: INFECTIOUS DISEASE

INFECTIOUS DISEASE

Read the Passage Carefully and answers the Following Questions: –

1Within the next 25 years, AIDS is set to join heart diseases and stroke as the top three causes of death worldwide. Currently ranked fourth behind heart diseases, stroke and respiratory infections, AIDS is set to become No. 3. It accounts for about 2.8 million deaths every year. But researchers estimate a total of nearly 120 million people who could die in the next 25 years. Overall, researchers predict that in the next three decades, the causes of global mortality will be strikingly similar worldwide—apart from the prevalence of AIDS in poorer countries. Most people will be dying at an older age of non-infectious diseases like cardiovascular diseases, stroke and cancer.

2. The World Health Organisation estimates that a total of at least 117 million people will die from AIDS from 2006 to 2030. In an optimistic future projection, if new HIV infections are curbed and access to life-prolonging anti-retrovirals is increased, 89 million people will die from the disease.

 “What happens in the future depends very much on what the international community does now,” said Mathers, who is a doctor. These marked differences should spark changes in current approaches to controlling AIDS now, say some experts.

3.”It will be increasingly hard to sustain treatment programmes unless we can turn off the tap of new HIV infections,” said Richard Hays. “These AIDS numbers point to a need to do more in prevention.” Simply focusing on treatment or politically uncontroversial prevention methods will not suffice. “You can’t put all your eggs in the abstinence basket,” said Hays.

“We need a menu of strategies for real people,” he said, adding that condom distribution as well as new methods, such as a vaccine, are needed.

4. Mathers and Loncar analysed data from more than 100 countries. The authors looked at the links between mortality trends and income per capita, as well as factors including education levels and tobacco use. Their research also used UN estimates for projected AIDS infection rates and the World Bank’s numbers for future income per capita. They predicted the future causes of deaths and diseases.

5. This is an important contribution that will help us determine the priorities in public health,” said Majid Ezzati, a doctor and an associate professor of international health at Harvard University, who was not connected to the paper. While it may be possible to avert some of the impending damage from HIV/AIDS, Mathers says that other predictions are unlikely to vary significantly. As populations age, he explains, they are naturally more susceptible to illnesses like cancer and heart diseases than infectious diseases-even in the developing world. Life expectancy is expected to increase worldwide, with the highest projected life expectancy in 2030 to be in Japanese women at 88.5 years.

Word-Meanings

Para 1. 1. causes (noun): reasons 2. Respiratory (adjective): concerning breathing 3. Infections (noun): diseases liable to be transmitted through the environment 4. Predict (verb): foretell 5. Mortality (noun): death 6. Accounts (verb): to cause 7. Estimate (verb): try to determine 8. Prevalence (noun): the wide extent of occurrence 9 cardiovascular (adjective): pertaining to the heart and blood vessels

 Para 2. 1. Optimistic (adjective): hopeful 2. Curbed (verb): controlled 3. Projection (noun): calculation of some future event 4. Prolonging (verb): to extend 5. antiretrovirals (nouns): drugs effective against retroviruses

Para 3. 1. Turn off (idiom): close 2. Abstinence (noun): self-control 3. Menu (noun): detailed list 4. Strategies (noun): schemes, plan 5. Vaccine (noun): preventive measure against certain diseases

Para 4. 1. Income per capita (noun): average income earned per person in a given area

 Para 5. 1. Contribution (noun): help, aid 2. Avert (verb): keep off 3. Impending (adjective): possible 4. very (verb): differ 5. Priorities (noun): first concerns 6. Susceptible (adjective): non-resistant and prone

Questions:

1. Choose the correct option:

 (a) Which is an infectious disease?

(i) Cancer        (ii) Heart disease

 (iii) AIDS         (iv) Stroke

(b) When people age, they are more susceptible to cancer and heart diseases than to ……… diseases.

 (i) skin            (ii) infectious

 (iii) brain        (iv) stomach

(c) What is the projected life expectancy for Japanese women in 2030?

 (i) 80 years     (ii) 85 years

(iii) 85.5 years             (iv) 88.5 years

(d) At which university is Majit Ezzabi teaching?

(i) Delhi University      (ii) Harvard University

 (iii) Tokyo University  (iv) Cambridge University

(e) In the sentence As populations age ………

  (i) population of the country             (ii) old people

(iii) people of the country/city            (iv) age of the people

 (f) What is a synonym for the word ‘abstinence’?

(i) absent                     (ii) self-interest

(iii) self-control           (iv) repentance

2.Answer the questions briefly:

 (a) What is the prediction of WHO regarding casualties from AIDS from 2006 to 2030?

(b) How did Mathers and Loncar analyse data?

(c) What should be done to control HIV infection, according to Hays?

(d) What are the top four causes of death worldwide?

 (e) What does ‘AIDS’ stand for?

(f) ‘Putting all your eggs in one basket’—what does this refer to?

Answers:

1.(a) iii                 (b) ii                 (c) iv             (d) ii           (e) iii             (f) iii

2.(a) According to WHO, a total of at least 117 million people will die from AIDS from 2006 to 2030.

(b) Mathers and Loncar studied the links between mortality trends and per capita income as well as other factors such as education and tobacco use.

(c) According to Hayes in addition to treatment, prevention is the only way to curb HIV infection. In addition to condom distribution, some new methods, like a vaccine, are needed.

(d) Heart diseases, stroke, respiratory infections and AIDS are the top four causes of death worldwide.

(e) Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome

(f) It means making all your plans dependent on only one option.

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