Vitamins and their deficiency diseases, minerals, malnutrition, diseases sorted by pathogen and vector, vaccines and medical milestones. Revision-ready.
60-second revision
A — night blindness; B1 — beriberi; B3 — pellagra; B12 — pernicious anaemia; C — scurvy; D — rickets; K — clotting.
Fat-soluble vitamins: A, D, E, K. Water-soluble: B-complex and C.
Iodine lack causes goitre; iron lack causes anaemia.
Kwashiorkor = protein deficiency; marasmus = protein + calorie deficiency.
Female Anopheles spreads malaria; Aedes spreads dengue, chikungunya and Zika; Culex spreads filariasis and Japanese encephalitis.
Antibiotics kill bacteria, not viruses.
Jenner (smallpox vaccine, 1796), Pasteur (rabies vaccine, 1885), Fleming (penicillin, 1928), Ronald Ross (malaria, Nobel 1902).
BCG protects against TB; HIV destroys helper T (CD4) cells.
Vitamins and deficiency diseases
Vitamin
Chemical name
Deficiency disease / symptom
Good sources
A
Retinol
Night blindness, xerophthalmia (dry eyes)
Carrot, leafy greens, milk, liver
B1
Thiamine
Beriberi
Whole grains, pulses
B2
Riboflavin
Cracked lips and corners of mouth
Milk, eggs, greens
B3
Niacin
Pellagra (dermatitis, diarrhoea, dementia)
Groundnut, meat, cereals
B9
Folic acid
Anaemia; neural tube defects in babies
Green leafy vegetables
B12
Cobalamin (contains cobalt)
Pernicious anaemia
Milk, eggs, meat
C
Ascorbic acid
Scurvy (bleeding gums)
Amla, citrus fruits, guava
D
Calciferol
Rickets in children, osteomalacia in adults
Sunlight on skin, fish oil, egg yolk
E
Tocopherol
Antioxidant; deficiency linked to reproductive problems
Vegetable oils, nuts
K
Phylloquinone
Poor blood clotting
Green leafy vegetables; also gut bacteria
Minerals and malnutrition
Mineral
Role
Deficiency
Iron
Part of haemoglobin
Anaemia
Iodine
Needed for thyroxine
Goitre; in pregnancy, mental impairment in the child
Calcium
Bones and teeth, clotting, muscles
Weak bones
Fluoride
Tooth enamel
Tooth decay (excess causes fluorosis)
Sodium / potassium
Nerve and muscle function, fluid balance
Cramps, weakness
Kwashiorkor: protein deficiency even when calories are enough. Swollen belly and limbs (oedema), thin hair.
Marasmus: deficiency of protein AND calories. Extreme thinness, wasting of muscles, no swelling.
Iodised salt is India's main weapon against iodine deficiency.
Filariasis or elephantiasis (Wuchereria), roundworm (Ascaris)
Fungi
Ringworm, athlete's foot, candidiasis
Vectors: who carries what
Vector
Disease
Female Anopheles mosquito
Malaria
Aedes aegypti mosquito (bites by day)
Dengue, chikungunya, Zika, yellow fever
Culex mosquito
Filariasis, Japanese encephalitis
Sandfly
Kala-azar
Rat flea
Plague
Housefly (carries germs on body)
Typhoid, cholera, dysentery
Dog bite (saliva)
Rabies
HIV and immunity
HIV attacks helper T lymphocytes (CD4 cells), the coordinators of the immune response, so patients fall to infections such as TB. It spreads through infected blood, unprotected sex, shared needles and from mother to child — not by touching, sharing food or mosquito bites. The ELISA test is used for screening.
A vaccine contains a weakened, killed or partial form of a pathogen and trains the body to make antibodies in advance — active immunity. Ready-made antibodies (as in anti-rabies serum or a mother's milk) give passive immunity.
Milestones in medicine
Who
What
When
Edward Jenner
First vaccine, against smallpox
1796
Louis Pasteur
Rabies vaccine; pasteurisation
1885 (rabies)
Robert Koch
Identified the TB bacterium
1882
Ronald Ross
Showed mosquitoes transmit malaria (work in India); Nobel Prize
1897; Nobel 1902
Alexander Fleming
Discovered penicillin
1928
WHO
Declared smallpox eradicated
1980
WHO
Certified India (South-East Asia region) polio-free
