Disease

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Disease

Disease (/dɪˈziːz/), from the Old French desaise, meaning lack of ease, is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not due to any immediate external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that are associated with specific symptoms and signs.

Types of Diseases

Diseases can be classified into infectious and non-communicable, it can also be classified by cause, such as pathological, genetic, or environmental disease.

Infectious Diseases

Infectious diseases, also known as transmissible diseases or communicable diseases, are illnesses resulting from an infection. Infections are caused by infectious agents including viruses, viroids, prions, bacteria, nematodes such as parasitic roundworms and pinworms, arthropods such as ticks, mites, fleas, and lice, fungi, and macroparasites such as tapeworms and other helminths.

Non-Communicable Diseases

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs), also known as chronic diseases, are not passed from person to person. They are of long duration and generally slow progression. The four main types of noncommunicable diseases are cardiovascular diseases (like heart attacks and stroke), cancers, chronic respiratory diseases (such as chronic obstructed pulmonary disease and asthma) and diabetes.

Diagnosis and Prevention

The process of diagnosis involves determining which disease or condition explains a person's symptoms and signs. It is most often referred to as diagnosis with the medical context being implicit. The information required for diagnosis is typically collected from a history and physical examination of the person seeking medical care.

Prevention of diseases, often termed preventative healthcare, can be achieved through a variety of ways such as early detection of a disease, research to develop a cure for a disease, or strategies to prevent a disease from occurring in the first place.

See Also

External links

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