Since the early 1900s, the burden of disease in developed countries has shifted.

Question

Options

• Ato underdeveloped countries
• Bfrom infectious to chronic disease
• Cfrom chronic to infectious disease
• Dfrom the rich to the poor

• A
  5% (2)
• B
  89% (33)
• C
  3% (1)
• D
  3% (1)

Explanation

Option B is correct because the 20th century saw a major epidemiological transition in developed nations - advances in sanitation, vaccines, and antibiotics dramatically reduced deaths from infectious diseases (like tuberculosis and cholera), while longer lifespans and lifestyle factors increased the prevalence of chronic diseases like heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.

Why the distractors are wrong:

• A is a separate (partially true) phenomenon - infectious disease burden did shift toward lower-income countries, but that describes a global redistribution, not the primary shift within developed countries.
• C has the direction backwards; it was chronic disease that increased, not infectious disease.
• D is a socioeconomic claim unrelated to the disease-type transition being described here.

Memory tip: Think "developed = developed chronic problems" - wealth and longevity come with lifestyle diseases, while infectious diseases declined as living conditions improved.

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