Материал: Глебова Е.И. - Английский язык для медицинских специалистов, 2012
Anyone who has had chicken pox as a child is at risk for developing shingles later in life, and up to 20% do. After the infection, varicella-zoster virus can remain inactive in the nerve cells and the spinal cord and reactive later as shingles. The symptoms of shingles are tingling, itching, or pain followed by rash with red bumps and blisters.
To keep the virus from spreading, if you are in close contact, wash your hands frequently, particularly before eating and after using the bathroom.
There is no treatment against chicken pox. Symptoms usually go away without treatment. An infected child should stay at home and rest until the symptoms are gone because this infection is very contagious. Patients with chicken pox can benefit from supportive therapy (e.g., intravenous fluids, medicines to control fever or pain) and antibiotics for any secondary bacterial infections that may occur.
1.Is chicken pox a contagious infectious disease?
2.How long is the incubation period of the disease?
3.How long is the contagious period of the disease?
4.What are the ways of disease transmission?
5.Describe chicken pox lesions.
6.What are the other symptoms apart from skin lesions?
7.How can secondary bacterial infection be prevented?
8.What is the treatment against chicken pox?
Task 4. Are these statements true (T) or false (F)? If the statement is false, correct the statement.
1.There is no protection against such a highly contagious disease as chicken pox.
2.It is a common infection among elderly people.
3.The disease is spread only through direct contact.
80
4.A patient can experience flu-like symptoms.
5.A red itchy rash on the skin spreads from extremities to the rest of the body.
GRAMMAR
Task 5. Make comparatives and superlatives of the following adjectives and adverbs.
Adjective |
Comparative |
Superlative |
|
|
|
young |
|
|
|
|
|
mild |
|
|
|
|
|
few |
|
|
|
|
|
old |
|
|
|
|
|
common |
|
|
|
|
|
commonly |
|
|
|
|
|
severe |
|
|
|
|
|
severely |
|
|
|
|
|
good |
|
|
|
|
|
bad |
|
|
|
|
|
WORD-BUILDING
Task 6. Made nouns from the following verbs and adjectives with help of suffexes -ness or -ing:
Sick – ………....., eat – .…..……., cough – …....……., dark –
..…………, sneeze – …..…..…., weak – …….……, faint – ………….., feel – ……………, tingle – ………….., red – ………….., thick –
………….., swallow – …………… .
WORK IN PAIRS
Task 7. Ask your partner about any medical terms relating to the topic and answer his/her questions.
81
Task 8. Complete the sentences.
1.Chickenpox is …
2.It is spread through …
3.The incubation period is …
4.The contagious period is …
5.The symptoms include …
6.The rash is described as …
7.Flu-like symptoms are …
8.To prevent the infection a patient should …
9.The main complications of chicken pox are …
10.The treatment consists of …
Task 9. Discuss any information you know about the topic with a partner.
4.Diphtheria
VOCABULARY and PRONUNCIATION
Task 1. Read out. |
|
|
1. bacterium |
2. |
contaminate |
gram-positive bacterium |
|
contaminated articles |
gram-negative bacterium |
|
uncontaminated articles |
aerobic bacteria |
|
contamination |
anaerobic bacteria |
|
contamination control |
facultatively anaerobic |
|
contamination prevention |
READING and SPEAKING
Task 2. Warm-up discussion.
Is diphtheria a dangerous disease nowadays? Can someone get diphtheria if not vaccinated?
82
Task 3. Read the text and answer the questions.
Diphtheria is an upper respiratory tract infection. It mainly affects the nose and throat. The causative agent is Corynebacterium diphtheriae, a facultatively anaerobic gram-positive bacterium. Bacteria form a pseudomembrane across the trachea causing respiratory distress; they also produce an exotoxin that causes myocarditis and neurological problems.
Children under 5 and adults over 60 years are particularly at risk for contracting the infection. Malnourished patients, people with immunodeficiency, children and adults who don’t have up-to-date immunization are also at risk.
Diphtheria is a highly contagious disease. The source of the infection is a discharge from the mucous membrane of the nose and nasopharynx, skin, and other lesions of an infected person. It is transmitted by direct physical contact with infected person, carrier, or contaminated articles. It’s easily passed from the infected person to others through sneezing, coughing, or even laughing.
The incubation period is from 2 to 5 days (the time it takes for a person to become infected after being exposed). The communicable period is variable until virulent bacilli are no longer present (three negative cultures), usually 2 weeks but as long as 4 weeks.
The onset of the disease is usually gradual. The symptoms include low-grade fever, malaise, sore throat and problems with swallowing. Patients may have such symptoms as foul-smelling, mucopurulent nasal discharge, grey membrane on the tonsils and pharynx. In 10% of cases, patients experience lymphadenitis (neck edema).
As the infection progresses, diphtheria toxin spreads through the bloodstream and can lead to potentially life-threatening complications. The patient may experience more generalized symptoms, such as listlessness, pallor, and fast heart rate. The person also may have difficulty in breathing
83
or swallowing, double vision, slurred speech and even signs of shock. The cardiovascular, renal and neurological systems are affected by the toxin. The long-term effects of the diphtheria toxin include cardiomyopathy and peripheral neuropathy.
The current diagnosis of diphtheria is based on both laboratory and clinical criteria. The laboratory criteria include isolation of Corynebacterium diphtheriae from a clinical specimen. The clinical criteria include upper respiratory tract illness with sore throat, low-grade fever, and adherent pseudomembrane on the tonsils, pharynx, and/or nose.
Children and adults with diphtheria are treated in a hospital. After a doctor confirms the diagnosis through a throat culture, an infected person receives a special antitoxin. Antitoxin is given to neutralize the diphtheria toxin already circulating in the body. Antibiotics (Erythromycin, Procaine penicillin G) are used to kill the remaining diphtheria bacteria.
The prevention of diphtheria depends almost completely on immunizing children with the DPT vaccine and non-immunized adults with the diphtheria/tetanus vaccine (DT). Most cases of diphtheria occur in people who haven’t received the vaccine at all or haven’t received the entire course. The DPT (Diphtheria–Pertussis–Tetanus) vaccine is given to all children at 3, 4.5 and 6 months of age. Boosters of the vaccine are recommended at 12 to 18 months, at 4 to 6 years, then every 10 years.
1.What is an infective agent of diphtheria?
2.Name the groups of people who are susceptible to diphtheria.
3.How long is the incubation period?
4.Is the onset of the disease rapid or gradual?
5.Describe the initial symptoms of diphtheria.
6.What are the life-threatening complications of diphtheria?
7.How can a doctor make a diagnosis of diphtheria?
8.What is the vaccine against diphtheria?
84