Treating illness and injury in a jungle environment presents numerous challenges. Inadequate lighting can make performing medical procedures difficult, requiring improvisation such as building makeshift operating tables and using people to hold lights.
How does venom affect the human body? Mention at least 2 specific examples and describe interactions with relevant body systems.
Pg. 40,44-45: all venom produced by snakes are unique to each type. stingrays also produce venom and when it enters the body, it causes tissue damage which affects the muscular system. The snakes venom, once it enters the blood stream, dissolves the body tissues, which is bad for the muscular system.
Write what you believe to be the top 5 rules for staying healthy in the jungle. Provide justifications for each rule.
1. Never swim completely naked in the water: You don't want any Candiru swimming into your body and getting stuck, because they can't be pulled out.
2. Always watch your step: you don't want to accidentally step on a snake, and then get bitten by a venomous one.
3. Always keep someone who is native to the environment close to you: You don't know the terrain as well as them and they could teach you things about the environment that you could've never known.
4. Wake up with the sun to get your work done: Its too dark at night to do anything but sleep so get everything done while its light out
5. Always be alert: you never know what could be creeping behind you or in the bushes beside you, so always be alert.
Describe the effects of at least 3 bugs or parasites that a person may encounter in the jungle on the human body.
pg.35,37,41: 1. Mosquitoes that carry malaria could be deadly 2. Schistosomiasis keeps the host sick for years and attacks their livers. 3. Candiru can get lodged in the urethral tube and can only be surgically removed.
Describe at least 2 adaptions or uses of materials in the natural environment used by those in the jungle to maintain health and homeostasis in the body.
Pg. 28,48,49: The people who live in the jungle environment hollow out fallen tree trunks to use for canoes to get across the waters without having to swim across. If they had to swim across, they could catch parasites that are unwanted. Their thickly callused feet is another adaptation that helps them, because they don't have any footwear so they walk on the rough jungle terrain with their bare feet.
You are able to bring one average size backpack with you on your expedition into the jungle. Explain what you would pack and why.
I would bring a very sharp knife, you never know when you will need to cut something like your food. I would also bring a solar powered flashlight for the darkness of the nights in the jungle. The last thing i would bring is a mosquito net to try to protect myself from them as best as possible.
What are the challenges of treating illness and injury in a jungle environment? Provide at least one specific example from the chapter.
Pg. 25-26: one challenge for treating injuries in the jungle is that there isn't adequate lighting to really see what you are looking at when you are performing a procedure. Another challenge is having a table for your patient to rest on during the procedure. One example from the book is when he had to perform a surgery on a young boys hand, the doctor had to build a makeshift operating able and had people hold lights for him so we could see what he was doing.
In the jungle, describe what are some of the main hazards to the human body?
Pg. 35,37,41: parasites and diseases infecting the body, because you don't have proper antibiotics to treat them. Injuries from machetes or the animals found in that environment, because sometimes you would need surgery but there is nothing you could do for the lack of resources.
