Disease

A disease or medical condition is an abnormality of the body or mind that causes pain and discomfort, dysfunction, distress, or death to the person afflicted or those in contact with the person. The term is sometimes used broadly to include injuries, disabilities, disorders, syndromes, infections, symptoms, deviant behaviors, and atypical variations of structure and function, while in other contexts these may be considered separate categories. Literally, a disease refers to the invasion of the body by pathogens .

Examining a patient in a tank respirator.

Causes of disease

One of the most common cause of disease is poor sanitation and lack of clean water. Many deadly diseases in tropical areas are spread by the mosquito. The mosquito is called a vector. There are many kinds of vector other than mosquito, examples are snails, ticks,etc. A disease can be caused by many things. A person can be infected by infectious agents like bacteria or viruses or fungus. Disease can also be caused by eating spoiled foods. There are small germs in spoiled foods that can cause diseases. Sometimes the germs produce chemicals or toxins which causes the disease. Some people are born with 'genetic diseases.' These are diseases because of an error or mutation in a person's DNA. An example of a mutation is cancer. Living or working in an unhealthy environment can also be a cause for diseases. Diseases are more common in older people.

Treatments of disease

Some diseases can be helped with medicine. Some disease is helped by surgery. Not every disease can be helped with medicine or surgery, though. Some diseases must be treated during the whole life; they are chronic diseases. An example is diabetes. Diabetes can be treated (made better) but it can not yet be cured (made to totally go away.) People who usually treat diseases are called doctors or physicians.

Prevention of disease

Some diseases that are common or very bad are tested for even in people who are healthy. If these diseases are found early they can be treated before they cause problems. An example would be checking a woman for cervical cancer with a test called a pap smear. If cervical cancer is found early it can be fixed. If it is found later it usually causes death. Another example is immunizaion. The basic principle is to make the body ready for a disease. The body has its own defence against disease called the immune system. One special characteristic of the immune system is its ability to remember. If a person had been sick before and had recovered, the mmune system prduce a substance called antibodies which fight the disease if it comes back to the person. The antibody is specific to a particular disease or antigen. An example of this is measles which is a virus. A person usually a child who had never been sick with measles is given a milder form of the virus, this cause the immune sytem to produce antibodies against the measle virus. If this person is exposed to the measle virus in the future, the person's immune system will remember and will fight the measle virus.

For general prevention to be useful, it needs to look at diseases that have special characteristics:

• The disease must be helped or cured by early treatment.
• The disease must be common.
• The test for the disease should be easy, accurate, and not cost very much money.
• The treatment for the disease should be safe and not cost very much money.

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