What is a disease, should clearly understand all students of medical schools. Understanding this concept will not be out of place for any person, since our organisms are not iron. Sooner or later, failures occur in them, which can lead to quite serious consequences. In this article we will analyze this term, consider its main types and forms.
Term
Understanding what a disease is, we will give an exact definition of this concept. This is a pathological condition of the body in which all kinds of disturbances occur in its normal operation. All this leads to the inability to maintain their own homeostasis, reducing life expectancy. The disease is a consequence of the functional and energetic capabilities of a living system that tries to resist negative factors, such as viruses, fungi, or bacteria.
Speaking about what a human disease is, it should also be noted that it disrupts stable vital activity, reduces working capacity, and the ability to effectively adapt to the conditions of a changing environment.
The history of the concept
The concept of disease appeared in ancient times. It was then that they first tried to formulate what a disease is. True, before our era, the idea of this concept was different. For example, Hippocrates considered it the reason for mixing in the wrong proportions of the main fluids contained in the body, that is, mucus, blood, venous blood and yellow bile.
Interestingly, a lot of research has been done since then, but the concept of what a disease is is still not clearly defined. Some researchers believe that the disease does not create anything fundamentally new in the body, while others include only biological patterns in this term.
Forms
Specialists distinguish three main forms of the disease. They can be:
- chronic (in this case, they last for months, years, in some cases, remain for life);
- acute (from one day to two weeks);
- subacute (from 15 to 45 days).
Total
The result in any case is the outcome of the disease. What is hidden behind this concept is already clear from the name of this term. A person either gets to his feet, or his condition worsens due to various complications.
Doctors distinguish five outcomes:
- complete recovery;
- partial recovery;
- relapse
- transition to a chronic form;
- death.
Immune System Disorders
Diseases are also divided into species. It is possible to attribute an ailment in one or another group as a result of making an accurate diagnosis. One of the most potentially dangerous is an autoimmune disease. What does this concept mean, you need to be aware to everyone who is faced with this problem on their own or with their loved ones.
This is a violation of the immune system, as a result of which the body begins to consider healthy cells as potentially dangerous and attacks them. It is believed that these are some of the most intractable diseases. Often the diagnosis of an autoimmune disorder is erroneous or for many years they cannot be diagnosed, since its symptoms are similar to many other ailments.
Among the reasons, experts call a violation of the integrity of tissue barriers, infections. Often these problems are transmitted at the genetic level, mainly young or middle-aged patients suffer from them. Hispanics, Hispanics, and African Americans are more likely to be autoimmune.
Symptoms may be different, depending on what specific illness affected the body. For example, with gluten intolerance (celiac disease) there is pain and inflammation in the abdomen, fatigue, burning in the chest, diarrhea, vomiting, weight loss.
With Addison's disease, the adrenal glands produce an insufficient amount of hormones in the body. In this case, blood pressure sharply decreases, dizziness appears, blood glucose level decreases, appetite disappears.
Autoimmune diseases are determined by the presence of specific antibodies in the body.
Infections
Probably everyone knows what infectious diseases are. This is an extensive group, which includes ailments provoked by specific pathogenic pathogens. They can be transmitted from an infected patient to a healthy one.
Contagiousness is considered their main feature. Also, such ailments are characterized by cyclicality, a predisposition to mass epidemic spread, and the formation of post-infection immunity.
These diseases develop due to complex biological processes that occur during the interaction of pathogenic microorganisms to susceptible macroorganisms in some conditions. In the general structure of human diseases, their level is from 20 to 40 percent.
Currently, science knows more than one thousand infectious ailments. Treatment of patients with such diagnoses is carried out in specialized departments or hospitals, at home they remain only in mild cases. A prerequisite for this is compliance with the anti-epidemic regime.
Prevention of infections is effective, based on specific immunization and strict adherence to sanitary and hygienic rules.
Such diseases are divided into zoonotic and anthroponous. The first include animal diseases, which in some cases infect humans. This plague, rabies, anthrax, foot and mouth disease, brucellosis. Anthroponic diseases are peculiar exclusively to people, are transmitted from one person to another. Examples include diphtheria, smallpox, measles, typhoid fever, dysentery, cholera, and more.
Chronic illness
A person can face what a chronic disease is at any age. Some of them lead to minor restrictions, others lead to serious problems. Some may even pose a threat to human life, as well as its functional features. Chronic are called ailments that can be controlled, but at the same time they cannot be completely healed. As a rule, this term is used if it is not possible to cope with an illness for more than three months.
Examples of classic chronic ailments include bronchial asthma, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, diabetes mellitus, cancer, chronic fatigue syndrome, heart disease.
The life of a person with a chronic disease is changing radically. It becomes associated with serious health restrictions caused by a particular disease. Often people begin to experience alienation, loneliness, fear, embarrassment, anxiety.
Many diseases with untimely or ineffective treatment can turn into chronic forms.