A disease is a condition that impairs the proper function of the body or one of its parts every living thing, both plants and animals can succumb to disease. Hundreds of different diseases exist. Each has its own peculiar set of symptoms and signs, clues that enables a physician to diagnose the problem. A symptom is something that a patient can detect, such as fever, bleeding, pain. A sign is something a doctor can detect such as swollen blood vessel or enlarged internal body organ. Every disease has a cause although the causes of some remain to be discovered.
Every disease displays a cycle of onset, or beginning, course or time span of affliction and end when it disappears or particularly disables or kills its victim. An epidemic disease is one that strikes many persons in a community. When it strikes the same region year after year it is an endemic disease. An acute disease has a quick onset and runs a short course. A chronic disease has a slow onset and runs a sometimes year long course. The gradual onset and long course of rheumatic fever makes it chronic ailment.
Infectious diseases are those that can be passed between persons such as by means of airborne droplets from a cough or a sneeze. Tiny organisms such as viruses, bacteria, fungi and worms can produce infectious diseases whatever the causative agent , it survives in the person it infects and is passed on to another. Sometimes a disease producing organism gets into a person who shows no symptoms of disease, the asymptomatic carrier can then pass the disease on to someone else without even knowing he has it.
Disease caused by the malfunction of the body these include organ or tissue degeneration, erratic cell growth, and faulty blood formation and flow also included are the disturbances of the stomach and intestine, the endocrine system, and the urinary and reproductive system. Some diseases can be caused by diet deficiency lapses in the body, defense system or poorly operating nervous system due to deficiency in the diet of nutrients they can be generally cured by providing the missing nutrients. Protein deficiency causes two major diseases Kwashiorkor and Marasmus.
