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Diseases

A disease is any abnormal condition of the body or mind that causes discomfort, dysfunction, or distress to the person affected or those in contact with the person. Sometimes the term is used broadly to include injuries, disabilities, syndromes, symptoms, deviant behaviors, and atypical variations of structure and function, while in other contexts these may be considered distinguishable categories.

Pathology is the study of diseases. The subject of systematic classification of diseases is referred to as nosology. The broader body of knowledge about diseases and their treatments is medicine.

Contents

1 Syndromes, illness and disease 2 Identifying a condition as a disease 3 Other uses of the term 4 See also 5 External links

Syndromes, illness and disease

Medical usage sometimes distinguishes a disease, which has a known specific cause or causes (called its etiology), from a syndrome, which is a collection of signs or symptoms that occur together. However, many conditions have been identified, yet continue to be referred to as "syndromes". Furthermore, numerous conditions of unknown etiology are referred to as "diseases" in many contexts.

Illness, although often used to mean disease, can also refer to a person's perception of their health, regardless of whether they in fact have a disease. A person without any disease may feel unhealthy and believe he has an illness. Another person may feel healthy and believe he does not have an illness even though he may have dangerously high blood pressure which may lead to a fatal heart attack or stroke.

Identifying a condition as a disease

Identifying a condition as a disease, rather than simply a variation of human structure or function, could have significant social or economic implications (such as compensation for the victims). For example, recognition of post-traumatic stress disorder, also known as shell shock, were highly politicized processes in the United States, as was repetitive motion injury in Australia.

A condition may be considered a disease in some cultures or eras but not in others. To consider a collection of syndromes a considition is objectively verifiable, but often to consider them a disease is a social value judgement. Oppositional-defiant disorder, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and, increasingly, obesity are conditions today considered diseases in North America, but rarely recognized a century ago. Conversely, the number of people in the West who consider homosexuality to be a disease has been decreasing.

Other uses of the term

In biology, disease refers to any abnormal condition of an organism that impairs function.

The term disease is often used metaphorically for disordered, dysfunctional, or distressing conditions of other things, as in disease of society.

See also

• List of childhood diseases
• List of common diseases
• List of diseases for a huge list of 6000+ diseases, many very rare.

• Diagnosis
• Epidemic
• Illness
• Palliative care
• Therapy
• Transmission

External links

• Center for Disease Control Health Topics A-Z (http://www.cdc.gov/health/default.htm), fact sheets about many common diseases
• The Merck Manual (http://www.merck.com/pubs/mmanual/sections.htm), detailed description of most diseases, freely searchable online.
• Health Topics (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/healthtopics.html), MedlinePlus descriptions of most diseases, with access to current research articles.
• International Classification of Diseases (http://www.wolfbane.com/icd/icd10h.htm) (one long page)
• Cultural, philosophical, and social dimensions of the concept of disease (http://samvak.tripod.com/disease.html)

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