Page 73 - SST Class 05

field. They help in diagnosing diseases, monitoring and finding their cures. Some of
,
them are : Ultrasound CAT
Scan , MRI , ECG , EEG ,
operating apparatus etc.
Some of them have been
made so simple to use that an
ordinary person can use
them at home; for example, a
A CAT scan Ultrasound ECG
blood-pressure monitor, a
blood-sugar machine (glucometer) etc.

Prevention and Cure

Prevention is better than cure, yet a person can fall ill suddenly, which requires cure.
Let’s talk about it.

Medicines and Antibiotics
Medical science has been at work over several decades to find cure for different
diseases. Some common medicines are the following :

u Malaria is caused by a mosquito called
anopheles . It claims a large number of lives each

year. It can be treated by quinine . The spray of
DDT helps to prevent the spread of mosquitoes.
A number of other sprays too have been
developed. Alexander Fleming Anopheles Mosquito
u Influenza is now easily cured with the help of eucalyptus .

u Antibiotics help to cure several diseases like cholera, tuberculosis, malaria and

plague etc. The discovery of Penicillin has proved to be a major breakthrough in the
field of medicine. It was discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1928. It is an
antibiotic; that is, it fights with and reduces the number of disease-causing bacteria.
Polio has been eradicated from India. Smallpox has been completely eradicated from

the world. Many other diseases are fully curable now. Medical research has diagnosed
several diseases which were unknown earlier. It is a continuous effort.

Surgery
Sometimes it is not possible to treat the disease of an internal organ by medicines, and its
cure might need an operation. For this, the body has to be cut open. For example, the

chest part is cut open to conduct a heart operation. This procedure is called surgery.
It pains severely when even a small pin pierces the body. In surgery, the body has to

Advancement in Medical Science 73