A 15 question quiz on history, etymology and pop-culture on Diseases

2. HISTORY

3. Ishita Das
Q 1
Pre Hippocrates , this portmanteau word was used
by Homer in the epic Odyssey to combine a
preposition and a noun to mean loosely “who is
back home” .
Orators like Demosthenes (384 BC–322 BC) used
this word in its verb form to mean "to reside.“
In the Corpus Hippocraticum (5th Century),
Hippocrates used the adjective form of this word
to mean "which circulates or propagates in a
country“.
What’s the good word that means outbreaks of
disease confined to one part of the world, such as
a single country ?
Ishita Das

4. Ishita Das
A 1
Homer used epi (on) demos (people)
Demosthenas and Eschines used the word
epidemeo which was used to mean "to reside"
Hippocrates used the adjective epidemios to
mean "which circulates or propagates in a country"
.This adjective gave rise to the noun in
Greek, epidemia.
The good word looking for was “Epidemic”
Ishita Das

5. Ishita Das
Q 2
This incident was long considered among the first
descriptions of an epidemic. The epidemic killed
around one quarter of the city-state’s population
including its warrior leader, and is believed to
have entered through the city's port and sole
source of food and supplies.
In Jan 1999, University of Maryland attributed this
to Typhus.
What was this famous ancient epidemic, in the
summer of 430 BC , described by historian
Thucydides, while stating his accounts of
Peloponnesian War ?

6. Ishita Das
A 2
The Plague of Athens

7. Ishita Das
Q 3
Jani Beg was a Mongol Ruler of the Golden Horde who ruled
from 1342 to 1357. The Chudov Monastery of Moscow is
believed to have been built on a land he donated as his
mother was cured miraculously by Metropolitan Alexei.
In Popular Culture, Jani Beg is credited with a unique war
strategy once he found that his ranks were infested by Black
Plague , during a siege of the post city of Kaffa in 1345 to
target Genoese soldiers.
What strategy did he employ ? How did this event have an
effect on Europe ?

8. Ishita Das
A 3
He catapulted diseased corpses instead of
canon balls targeting to infest the enemies
and weaken defence.
According to an Italian notary, Gabriele de’
Mussi, the infected who escaped Kaffa by boat
intermingled with fellow Europeans and thus
the contagious disease spread. Siege of Kaffa
may have been the origin point for the Plague’s
introduction into Europe.

9. Ishita Das
Its argued that the epidemics like Cholera in India killed more
army men than the War itself. The following is an excerpt
from a poem called “Cholera Camp” depicting the poor
condition of infantry in India. It was first published in
McClure's Magazine in October 1896 by a renowned English
author.
“ There ain’t no fun in women nor there ain’t no bite to drink;
It’s much too wet for shootin’, we can only march and think;
An’ at evenin’, down the nullahs, we can ’ear the jackals say,
“Get up, you rotten beggars, you’ve ten more to-day!”
’Twould make a monkey cough to see our way o’ doin’
things—
Lieutenants takin’ companies an’ captains takin’ wings,
An’ Lances actin’ Sergeants—eight file to obey—
For we’ve lots o’ quick promotion on ten deaths a day!
Identify the poet.
Q 4
Ishita Das

10. Ishita Das
A 4
Rudyard Kipling

11. Ishita Das
Q 5
The precursor to the experiments started at the
Zhongma Fortress prison on the South Manchuria
Railway.
The facility was expanded in 1936 under patronage
of King Hirohito under the commandership of
General Shiiro Ishii. The official name for
establishment was ”Epidemic Prevention and
Water Purification Department” whereas the
practise had the parlance of a lumber mill.
“How many logs fell?” was a common question
asked.
What was the intent of the experiments ?

12. Ishita Das
A 5
The intent of so called “Unit 731” was Biological
Warfare (development of the defoliation bacilli
bomb and the flea bomb used to spread bubonic
plague )

13. ETYMOLOGY

14. Ishita Das
Q 6
In 1917 French Canadian scientist Félix H.
d’Hérelle, found lesions in cultures of bacteria,
attributed to an agent called X .Like all virus, X is
composed of a protein nucleic acid molecule
surrounded by a protein structure.
What is the good word for X, now known to be
viruses that specifically infect bacteria. It’s a
portmanteau, the second part of is derived from
the Greek word which means “to devour”

15. Ishita Das
A 6
Bacteriophage
Greek word to devour = Phagein

16. Ishita Das
An 1883 story in the Janesville Gazette about action of
a policeman led to coinage of the term. The term was
used again by US activist Ralph Nader in early 1970s.
The football referees act as the agents to detect any
issues in the game , justifying the coinage.
What is this term attributed to Dr. Li Wanling of a
central hospital who succumbed to the virus in
Feb 2020 ?
Q 7

17. Ishita Das
Whistleblower
A 7

18. Ishita Das
Q 8
Introduction of the process was resisted by
staunch Hindus in India. In the 1950s, a
superstar’s action led to youngsters to be more
receptive to the process.
In 2011 Kai Kupferschmidt in Science Magazine
opined that though the origin was attributed to a
particular animal , the English doctor may actually
have used an equestrian strain for his
experiment to pioneer this.
What process am I talking about ?

19. Ishita Das
A 8
Vaccination
Etymologically the word comes from Latin word
“vacca” meaning Cow. Edward Jenner in 1796
isolated cowpox strain and injected into a
healthy boy who subsequently did not develop
the smallpox. As cow was sacred in India many
Hindus resisted the move to vaccinate in 1918
against Small pox.
In 1950s, Elvis Priesley took the shot before the
Ed Sullivan show which popularised taking shots
in US kids.

20. Ishita Das
Q 9
One of the measurements of proportion of
population infected is antibody positivity in a
random sample. Presence of antibody in blood
serum at a particular time confirms that the host
was infected in past.
What is this study of detection of prevalence of
antibodies called ?

21. Ishita Das
A 9
Seroprevalence Survey or Serosurvey

22. Ishita Das
Q 10
X was used as a name for the Vespers in the Office
of the Dead, taken from a phrase used from
the Vulgate's Psalm. It meant someone who falsely
claimed a connection to the deceased to get a
share of the funeral meal, and hence a flatterer,
and so a deceptive act to please.
In medical terminology X means an inert substance
with no therapeutic value.
What is the term X, recently in controversy for a
double blind test that shook the nation ?

23. Ishita Das
A 10
Placebo
Deepak Maravi Case

24. POP CULTURE

25. Ishita Das
Q 11
Epidemics in India around 1918-20 saw
unprecedented deaths and many dead bodies
were disposed off in the forests due to lack of
people to properly cremate them in burning ghats.
In the present state of Uttarakhand, such disposal
of the dead led to a imbalance in the food chain
leading to victimization of hapless Hindu Pilgrims
of a holy site. What was the saga that came to an end
in 1925, and was the subject of an 1947 work.

26. Ishita Das
A 11
Leopards turned Man eaters , due to easy food
availability . One such male Leopard at
Rudraprayag preyed on pilgrims who visited
Kedarnath and Badrinath , devouring 125 human
lives. Finally was killed by Jim Corbett in 1925.
Jim Corbett wrote the famous book “Man Eating
Leopard of Rudraprayag” subsequently in 1947,
published by Oxford University Press

27. Ishita Das
Q 12
One of the theories attributed to the spread of the
SARS-CoV-2 is that its spike protein contains a
highly infectious, misfolded, self replicating
particle called prions. Two effects of prions are
seen in Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (mad
cow disease) and Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease in
humans.
In popular culture, because of their ability to
quickly switch their appearance between two
forms , the prions are also analogous to X. The
organisms having X characteristics are Vitamin B
deficient having pellagra like conditions.
Identify X

28. Ishita Das
A 12
Vampires

29. Ishita Das
A series of such public awareness
messages was released in wake of
the Pandemic in India.
Which entity/organisation was the
propagator of this message ?
Q 13

30. Ishita Das
A 13
Indian Railways

31. Ishita Das
Q 14
Observing the plight of the stranded migrant
workers due to the first phase of lockdown in India,
the government provided emergency trains called
Shramik Specials, to transport them to their natives.
A report by Business standard in Dec 2020 actually
shows that these trains, which had no screening for
boarders, and no social distancing actually
transported the virus through infected migrants to
distant villages.
What was the epithet attributed to the Shramik
Special trains as per this Business Standard
report ?

32. Ishita Das
A 14
Virus Trains

33. Ishita Das
Q 15
Adult-sized masks may not be suitable for small
faces. Looking at this problem, technology
company Airmotion cooperated with Danish
design studio Kilo Design to come up with a
mask specifically for children.
This modular system that the mask comes in,
encourages children and parents to put the parts
together, piece by piece, to build the finished
product. This interaction helps kids to customize
the mask the way they like it.
What is this mask named as, with a namesake
award-winning technology company with offices
in New York, London and Tel Aviv ?

34. Ishita Das
A 15

35. Hoping for a Pandemic Free Future for our
Children