Understanding Disease Types and Medical Diagnosis

Defining Disease and Pathology

The WHO defines disease as the state in which the social, intellectual, emotional, physical, or spiritual development of a person is reduced or altered compared to their previous normalized experience. If the person is conceived as a disease, it is the lack of harmony between the elements that constitute them.

How Disease is Managed

Pathology is the science of disease. Diagnosis is the foundation that allows us to anticipate events that can happen, design a treatment plan to correct the disease, and determine actions to achieve clinical objectives.

Clinical Tools for Diagnosis

Clinical studies analyze the signals that reveal the disease using three types of tools:

• Signs: These are the objective data obtained from the review performed on the patient.
• Symptoms: These are the alterations that the patient feels and describes.
• Additional tests: These provide extra information through the application of different techniques.

Infectious and Parasitic Diseases

These are produced by biological pathogens. The progression of these diseases includes:

• Incubation: The time between the pathogen's entry into the body and the appearance of the first symptoms.
• Window period: The time between infection and antibody production.
• Development: The progression of the disease along with its symptoms.
• Convalescence: The period that elapses from overcoming the disease until the body returns to its original state.

Prion and Viral Diseases

Prion diseases: The agents are pathogenic prions, which are proteins with a different configuration than the original protein. Viral diseases: Pathogens are viruses, which are acellular particles consisting of a nucleic acid surrounded by an envelope. They are self-replicating using the machinery of infected cells. Treatment is complicated because it is not possible to act against their metabolism.

Bacterial and Fungal Diseases

Bacterial diseases: These are produced by single-celled bacteria with a very simple structure. They are prokaryotes; most are beneficial and necessary, with only a few being disease-producing. Fungal diseases: Fungi are eukaryotic organisms with an organization similar to ours. They are difficult to resolve with treatment because attacking them is complex.

Diseases Caused by Protozoa

These are single-celled organisms that are heterotrophic eukaryotes living in different ways according to the liquids present. The spread of the disease can occur by ingesting contaminated food or water or by the bite of insects that act as vectors.

Non-Infectious Diseases and Cancer

Cancer is treated with radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and surgery. Surgical removal is very effective in localized cancers. Radiotherapy destroys all rapidly dividing cells, such as tumor cells; however, it can also damage organs such as the skin, the intestinal wall, the testes, the ovaries, and the spinal cord. It should be pointed out that the maximum focus is to manage the irradiation. Antimitotic chemotherapy also affects tumor cells so that they are the primary targets these drugs act upon.

Cardiovascular Diseases

A stroke occurs when the brain suddenly stops receiving blood.