Question

Under which of the following conditions is a person most likely to fall sick?
A. When she is recovering from malaria
B. When she has recovered from malaria and is taking care of someone suffering from chicken pox
C. When she is on a four day fast after recovering from malaria and is taking care of someone suffering from chicken pox. Why?

Answer 1

Hint: A healthy diet is essential to stay healthy. It supplies the body with nutrients required for proper growth and functioning of the body.

Complete Answer:
- When there is a disease, either the functioning or the appearance of one or more systems of the body will change for the worse, leading to symptoms.
- Most of these common effects depend on the fact that in response to the infection, the body's immune system is activated.
- An active immune system recruits lots of cells into the affected tissue to kill the microbes that cause the disease. This process of recruitment is called inflammation.
- Local effects such as swelling and pain, and general effects such as fever or chills, are part of this process.
- Certain foods have powerful properties that can support the body while it is fighting an illness. They may relieve certain symptoms and even help us recover more quickly. Thus, it is important to eat a healthy diet to maintain health.
- A person who has just recovered from malaria would need to eat healthy in order to strengthen her immune system. As she is on a fast, her body might be deprived of essential nutrients and her immune system might be compromised. As such, she is most likely to be vulnerable to infections. Thus, she might fall sick if she is taking care of a person suffering from chicken pox.

Thus, the correct answer is option C.

Note: We have cells that specialise in killing infecting microbes. Each time microbes infect the body, these cells come into action. We don't actually come down with any illness if they are successful. The immune cells succeed in killing off the infection before it assumes big proportions. Therefore a healthy and strong immune system must be maintained by eating healthy food.