Question

Observe the picture and write the name and two symptoms of the diseases.

Answer 1

Hint: The disease shown in the images above occurs in infants and it is a type of protein-energy malnutrition (PEM). PEM usually affects large amounts of the population during drought, famine, or political turmoil where people are not provided with proper food.

Complete Answer:
The disease shown in the images is Marasmus which is a disease caused by a simultaneous deficiency of proteins as well as calories (energy). It is seen in infants less than a year in an age when mother’s milk is replaced by other foods that are too poor in both proteins and calories. This happens when the mother has a second pregnancy while the older infant is still too young. Protein deficiency prevents growth and replacement of tissue proteins, extreme emaciation of the body, and thinning of limbs. It is also seen that the skin becomes very dry, thin, and wrinkled. There is a considerable decrease in growth, body weight, and mental development.

Additional information:
Let us look at another type of protein-energy malnutrition which is known as Kwashiorkor.
-Kwashiorkor is caused when there is protein deficiency but not calorie deficiency as was seen in the case of marasmus.
-It is seen in infants who are older than one year.
-It occurs when the mother’s milk is replaced by food which is high in calories but low in proteins.
-Just like marasmus, kwashiorkor also shows symptoms of wasting of muscles, thinning of limbs, failure of growth, and retarded mental development.
-But in marasmus, the body becomes extremely thin but in kwashiorkor, some fat is still seen under the skin.
-Extensive edema (swelling of body) is also seen in the body.

Note:
-Protein-energy malnutrition is a type of dietary deficiency.
-Such dietary deficiencies are widespread in underdeveloped countries of South and South-east Asia, South America, and West and Central Africa.
-Dietary deficiency was also seen in Bangladesh during the liberation war and in Ethiopia in the mid-eighties when there was a severe drought.