Which is NOT a viral disease?

Step 1: Analyze the question You're asked to find the disease that is NOT caused by a virus. Four options are viral and one is caused by something else (likely a bacterium).

Step 2: Concept Diseases are grouped by their causative agent:

• Viral: chicken pox, common cold, measles, polio, HIV/AIDS, influenza, rabies, yellow fever
• Bacterial: tuberculosis, cholera, typhoid, tetanus, leprosy, gonorrhoea, syphilis
• Protozoan: malaria, sleeping sickness, amoebic dysentery

Step 3: Check each option

• A. Chicken pox: caused by the varicella-zoster virus. Viral.
• B. Common cold: caused by rhinoviruses. Viral.
• C. Measles: caused by the measles virus (a paramyxovirus). Viral.
• D. Poliomyelitis: caused by the poliovirus. Viral.
• E. Tuberculosis: caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Bacterial, not viral.

Step 4: Answer Tuberculosis is the only one not caused by a virus, so the answer is E.

Tip: Remember that TB, cholera, typhoid and tetanus are bacterial. A quick memory aid for common viral diseases is "Polio, Measles, Chicken pox, Cold, HIV" (all viruses). Antibiotics work on bacterial diseases like TB, but not on viral ones.