Understanding Disease Factors and Medical Terminology

Key Concepts in Health and Disease

Risk Factor

A risk factor is any circumstance or detectable characteristic in a group of persons related to the probability of developing or producing disease.

Public Health

Public health involves the application of the scientific method to problems of health and disease, considered as a subject for the community.

Preventive Medicine

Preventive medicine is a branch of medicine dealing with preventing, on the individual, family, or population group level, the appearance, development, and maintenance of disease, based on the knowledge of medical science.

Disease

Disease is a physical or mental disorder that causes alterations in the normal functioning of the body, whether at the physical or mental level.

Pathology

Pathology refers to the changes occurring in the body because of the disease.

Disease Occurrence Patterns

• Sporadic: Produces specific and isolated cases in the population.
• Endemic: Usually appears in a specific geographical area more often than the general corresponding population, without presenting a high number of cases.
• Epidemic/Infectious: Infectious diseases spread rapidly, affecting large numbers of people, sometimes with high mortality rates.

Types of Diseases

• Hereditary or Genetic: Inherited from parents; many are chronic and life-long.
• Mental: Cause abnormal personality disorders; therapies and treatments like psychology are available.
• Specific Organs and Systems: Affect different organs and body systems.
• Autoimmune: A fault in the immune system that undermines the body itself, causing lesions in many organs and systems.
• Caused by Accidents: Such as domestic or traffic accidents.

Disease Measurement and Immunity

Prevalence and Incidence

• Prevalence of an illness is the number of cases of a certain disease in a certain moment.
• Incidence refers to how new cases of illness appear in a population.

Immunity Concepts

• Immunity: The resistance of the organism against infections caused by pathogens or foreign substances.
• Serums: Artificial preparations containing specific antibodies against the pathogen, obtained from the blood of a person or animal. They provide immediate but short-lived passive immunity.
• Vaccines: Contain the pathogenic agent causing the disease but in a weakened form that does not cause harm. They trigger a specific immune response similar to natural infection without causing the disease.

Treatments and Interventions

Drugs and Medicines

• Drugs (Antibiotics): Substances produced and excreted by microorganisms that inhibit bacterial growth in small quantities.
• Medicines: Serve to prevent, diagnose, treat, alleviate, or cure diseases.

Surgical Procedures

• Transplant: Partial detachment or removal of tissue or an organ from one individual and implantation into the same or a different body.
• Implant: Installation of artificial prostheses.