It is convenient to classify disease into the following six
main groups.
1.
1.Disease caused by other living organisms.
Disease-causing organisms typically include viruse, bacteria ,fungi,
protozoans, flatworms and round worms.Thesem
organisms live as parasites in or on the human body and the interfere with is
normal working. Disease which are caused by bacteria ,virus and fungi are
commonly referred to as infectious disease or communicable disease ,such as
cholera and measles.Disease caused by other organisms are more commonly
referred to as parasitic disease ,such as malariya
.
2.
2. Disease are that are ‘human-induced’
or ‘self –infected’. These disease are brought by human on themselves .either
as individuals or collectively as a society. They could also be described as
social disease. Many are particularly associated with modern industrialized
societies and include coronary heart disease ,alcoholism ,drug abuse ,lung
cancer ,domestic and industrial accidents, industrial disease such as
asbestosis, and pollution-related disorders. The latter include brain damage
brought on by lead or mercury poisoning, some case of asthma and possibly same
cases of cancer found in people living near nuclear power stations.
3.
3. Deficiency disease. There are related to
the absence of certain nutrients in the diet. They may be due to the absence of
one of the main food group such as protein which results in kwashiorkor and
marasmus. The absence of specific vitamin may result in a number of disease
such as pellagra (vitamin B),scurvy (vitamin) or rickets (vitamin D).Deficiency
of minerals in the diet may also result in disease ,such as calcium and
phosphate deficiency causing rickets or lack of iodine causing thyroid goiter
.
4.
4. Genetic and
congenital disorders. These disorders are raisin increasing concerns in the
medical service and society in general. Example of genetic disorders are cystic
fibroses ,Huntington’s, disease and Down’s syndrome. Advance in medical science
ensure that many children who would in the past have died in infancy from such
disorders are surviving and living to adulthood. These means that as a society we
must provide means whereby adults with mental or physical handicaps ,often
severe , can lead fulfilling lives. On the other side of the coin ,genetic
screening can increasingly provide the information before birth whereby babies with
genetic disorders can be aborted. This raises many social and ethical issues
which provoke controversy in society.
5.
5. Ageing
and degenerative diseases. Degeneration of the body tissues can also cause
disease. for example ,weakening of the eye muscles causes long-sightedness in
many older people, and disease of the circulatory system, such as arteriosclerosis(hardening
of the arteries) result from ageing. Ageing of the joint and bone tissues often
leads to arthritis
.
6.
Mental illness mental illness cover a wide
verity of disorders. Example are schizophrenia. Senile dementia and depression.
certain drugs have been developed that control or reduce various forms of
mental illness. The treatment of this illnesses changed dramatically during the
twentieth century from lifelong confinement in ‘lunatic asylums’ to ‘care in
the community’.
This sex groups described above may also be grouped in to
the following categories.
·
Infectious
or communicable disease. Many
diseases are passed on from one organism to another, that is they are
transmitted and are thus said to be infectious, contagious, communicable or
transmissible. many of the diseases in group one above are infection and are
transmitted by way of droplets of liquid ,in the air ,food or water , by
sexually intercourse or simply by touch. Many are transmitted by way of an
intermediate organisms call a victor ,for example malaria by way of the
mosquito , or bubonic plague by way of the rat flea.
·
Non
infections disease. Disease group 2 to 6 above are describe
as non-infection or non transmissible. It could be argued that group 4 is a
special case of transmission because genetics disorders are transmitted from
parents to offspring due to the presence or absence of one or more inherited
genes.
It is clear from
the discussion above that there are no rigid boundaries between the disease
categories for example, many disease involve a genetics predisposition and
therefore an overlap between group 4 above and other categories., such as heart
disease (group 2) and some mental illness
(group 6).like health, disease has physical ,mental and social damnations. some diseases, for example
,are associated with poverty, such as tuberculosis, and may therefore be
describe as having an important social dimension.
10:33 AM
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