Understanding Health, Illness, and Disease Processes
Health and Illness
Health: State of complete physical, mental, and social well-being.
Disease: State in which a person's health status is altered by either a physical, mental, or social cause.
Types of Diseases
Physical Diseases
Caused by injury, infection, or a degenerative process of the organism. Their symptoms are recognizable, which facilitates treatment. They are classified as:
- Infectious Diseases: Caused by any pathogen that reproduces within our organism.
- Non-Infectious Diseases: Due to other causes.
Mental Diseases
Caused by a malfunction of the brain, resulting in diminished mental capacity or any alteration of conduct.
Social Ills
Caused by the existence of a social, violent, or educational disadvantage.
Transmission of Infectious Diseases
Common Organisms
Organisms can be opportunistic pathogens and cause an infection, such as fungi in the mouth or vagina after strong treatment.
Vector Organisms
Vectors are living things that carry infections into our bodies.
The Normal Flora
A collection of microorganisms living in symbiosis with us (e.g., intestinal flora).
Infectious Disease Stages
- Contagion
- Incubation
- Manifest Illness (Symptoms, traits that appear due to illness, and treatments that exist. Measures taken to stop them may be curative and systematic.)
- Convalescence (Where symptoms start to disappear.)
Disease Frequency Terminology
- Endemic: Infectious disease present in an area of the planet.
- Pandemic: Disease that affects everyone at once.
- Epidemic: Disease that affects many people in a specific zone of the planet.
Treatments
Each type of disease has a different treatment:
- Fungal Diseases: Treated with fungicides, which are substances applied directly onto the infected area, killing the fungi.
- Bacterial Diseases: Treated with antibiotics, which are chemicals produced to directly cause the death of bacteria upon application to the wound.
- Protozoal Diseases: Controlled using specific chemicals to remove the protozoa.
- Viral Diseases: Our bodies produce antibodies that can neutralize the virus.
Prevention
Immunization: Can be artificial, active, specific, and long-lasting.