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For other uses, see Disease (disambiguation).
"Diseased", "Maladies", and "Medical condition" redirect here. For the Seether song "Diseased", see Karma and Effect. For the 2012 film, see Maladies (film). For medical condition terminology, see Medical state..


Death due to disease is called death by natural causes. There are four main types of disease: pathogenic disease, deficiency disease, hereditary disease, and physiological disease. Diseases can also be classified as communicable and non-communicable. The deadliest disease in humans is ischemic heart disease (blood flow obstruction),[2] followed by cerebrovascular disease and lower respiratory infections respectively.[3]



In many cases, the terms disease, disorder, morbidity and illness are used interchangeably.[4] In some situations, specific terms are considered preferable.

Illness and sickness are generally used as synonyms for disease.[6] However, this term is occasionally used to refer specifically to the patient's personal experience of his or her disease.[7][8] In this model, it is possible for a person to have a disease without being ill (to have an objectively definable, but asymptomatic, medical condition), and to be ill without being diseased (such as when a person perceives a normal experience as a medical condition, or medicalizes a non-disease situation in his or her life). Illness is often not due to infection, but a collection of evolved responsessickness behavior by the body—that helps clear infection. Such aspects of illness can include lethargy, depression, anorexia, sleepiness, hyperalgesia, and inability to concentrate.[9][10][11]
Medical condition
Predisease is a type of disease creep or medicalization in which currently healthy people with risk factors for disease, but no evidence of actual disease, are told that they are sick. Prediabetes and prehypertension are common examples. Labeling a healthy person with predisease can result in overtreatment, such as taking drugs that only help people with severe disease, or in useful preventive measures, such as motivating the person to get a healthful amount of physical exercise.[15]


Infectious diseases
Contagious diseases
Foodborne illness
Foodborne illness or food poisoning is any illness resulting from the consumption of food contaminated with pathogenic bacteria, toxins, viruses, prions or parasites.
Communicable diseases
Non-communicable diseases
Airborne diseases
Lifestyle diseases
A lifestyle disease is any disease that appears to increase in frequency as countries become more industrialized and people live longer, especially if the risk factors include behavioral choices like a sedentary lifestyle or a diet high in unhealthful foods such as refined carbohydrates, trans fats, or alcoholic beverages.
Mental disorders
Mental illness is a broad, generic label for a category of illnesses that may include affective or emotional instability, behavioral dysregulation, and/or cognitive dysfunction or impairment. Specific illnesses known as mental illnesses include major depression, generalized anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, to name a few. Mental illness can be of biological (e.g., anatomical, chemical, or genetic) or psychological (e.g., trauma or conflict) origin. It can impair the affected person's ability to work or study and harm interpersonal relationships. The term insanity is used technically as a legal term.
Organic disease
An organic disease is one caused by a physical or physiological change to some tissue or organ of the body. The term sometimes excludes infections. It is commonly used in contrast with mental disorders. It includes emotional and behavioral disorders if they are due to changes to the physical structures or functioning of the body, such as after a stroke or a traumatic brain injury, but not if they are due to psychosocial issues.


"Flareup" redirects here. For the Transformers character, see Flareup (Transformers).

In an infectious disease, the incubation period is the time between infection and the appearance of symptoms. The latency period is the time between infection and the ability of the disease to spread to another person, which may precede, follow, or be simultaneous with the appearance of symptoms. Some viruses also exhibit a dormant phase, called viral latency, in which the virus hides in the body in an inactive state. For example, varicella zoster virus causes chickenpox in the acute phase; after recovery from chickenpox, the virus may remain dormant in nerve cells for many years, and later cause herpes zoster (shingles).

Acute disease
An acute disease is a short-lived disease, like the common cold.
Chronic disease
A chronic disease is one that lasts for a long time, usually at least six months. During that time, it may be constantly present, or it may go into remission and periodically relapse. A chronic disease may be stable (does not get any worse) or it may be progressive (gets worse over time). Some chronic diseases can be permanently cured. Most chronic diseases can be beneficially treated, even if they cannot be permanently cured.
A flare-up can refer to either the recurrence of symptoms or an onset of more severe symptoms.
Refractory disease
A refractory disease is a disease that resists treatment, especially an individual case that resists treatment more than is normal for the specific disease in question.
Progressive disease
Progressive disease is a disease whose typical natural course is the worsening of the disease until death, serious debility, or organ failure occurs. Slowly progressive diseases are also chronic diseases; many are also degenerative diseases. The opposite of progressive disease is stable disease or static disease: a medical condition that exists, but does not get better or worse.
A cure is the end of a medical condition or a treatment that is very likely to end it, while remission refers to the disappearance, possibly temporarily, of symptoms. Complete remission is the best possible outcome for incurable diseases.


Localized disease
A localized disease is one that affects only one part of the body, such as athlete's foot or an eye infection.
Disseminated disease
A disseminated disease has spread to other parts; with cancer, this is usually called metastatic disease.
Systemic disease
A systemic disease is a disease that affects the entire body, such as influenza or high blood pressure.

Causes and transmissibility[edit]

Only some diseases such as influenza are contagious and commonly believed infectious. The micro-organisms that cause these diseases are known as pathogens and include varieties of bacteria, viruses, protozoa and fungi. Infectious diseases can be transmitted, e.g. by hand-to-mouth contact with infectious material on surfaces, by bites of insects or other carriers of the disease, and from contaminated water or food (often via fecal contamination), etc.[16] In addition, there are sexually transmitted diseases. In some cases, microorganisms that are not readily spread from person to person play a role, while other diseases can be prevented or ameliorated with appropriate nutrition or other lifestyle changes.

Some diseases, such as most (but not all) forms of cancer, heart disease, and mental disorders, are non-infectious diseases. Many non-infectious diseases have a partly or completely genetic basis (see genetic disorder) and may thus be transmitted from one generation to another.

Social determinants of health are the social conditions in which people live that determine their health. Illnesses are generally related to social, economic, political, and environmental circumstances. Social determinants of health have been recognized by several health organizations such as the Public Health Agency of Canada and the World Health Organization to greatly influence collective and personal well-being. The World Health Organization's Social Determinants Council also recognizes Social determinants of health in poverty.

When the cause of a disease is poorly understood, societies tend to mythologize the disease or use it as a metaphor or symbol of whatever that culture considers evil. For example, until the bacterial cause of tuberculosis was discovered in 1882, experts variously ascribed the disease to heredity, a sedentary lifestyle, depressed mood, and overindulgence in sex, rich food, or alcohol—all the social ills of the time.[17]

Burdens of disease[edit]

Disease burden is the impact of a health problem in an area measured by financial cost, mortality, morbidity, or other indicators.

There are several measures used to quantify the burden imposed by diseases on people. The years of potential life lost (YPLL) is a simple estimate of the number of years that a person's life was shortened due to a disease. For example, if a person dies at the age of 65 from a disease, and would probably have lived until age 80 without that disease, then that disease has caused a loss of 15 years of potential life. YPLL measurements do not account for how disabled a person is before dying, so the measurement treats a person who dies suddenly and a person who died at the same age after decades of illness as equivalent. In 2004, the World Health Organization calculated that 932 million years of potential life were lost to premature death.[18]

The quality-adjusted life year (QALY) and disability-adjusted life year (DALY) metrics are similar, but take into account whether the person was healthy after diagnosis. In addition to the number of years lost due to premature death, these measurements add part of the years lost to being sick. Unlike YPLL, these measurements show the burden imposed on people who are very sick, but who live a normal lifespan. A disease that has high morbidity, but low mortality, has a high DALY and a low YPLL. In 2004, the World Health Organization calculated that 1.5 billion disability-adjusted life years were lost to disease and injury.[18] In the developed world, heart disease and stroke cause the most loss of life, but neuropsychiatric conditions like major depressive disorder cause the most years lost to being sick.

Disease category Percent of all YPLLs lost, worldwide[18] Percent of all DALYs lost, worldwide[18] Percent of all YPLLs lost, Europe[18] Percent of all DALYs lost, Europe[18] Percent of all YPLLs lost, US and Canada[18] Percent of all DALYs lost, US and Canada[18]
Infectious and parasitic diseases, especially lower respiratory tract infections, diarrhea, AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria 37% 26% 9% 6% 5% 3%
Neuropsychiatric conditions, e.g. depression 2% 13% 3% 19% 5% 28%
Injuries, especially motor vehicle accidents 14% 12% 18% 13% 18% 10%
Cardiovascular diseases, principally heart attacks and stroke 14% 10% 35% 23% 26% 14%
Premature birth and other perinatal deaths 11% 8% 4% 2% 3% 2%
Cancer 8% 5% 19% 11% 25% 13%


Main article: Preventive medicine

Many diseases and disorders can be prevented through a variety of means. These include sanitation, proper nutrition, adequate exercise, vaccinations, circumcision of male infants,[19] and other self-care and public health measures.


Main article: Therapy

Medical therapies or treatments are efforts to cure or improve a disease or other health problem. In the medical field, therapy is synonymous with the word treatment. Among psychologists, the term may refer specifically to psychotherapy or "talk therapy". Common treatments include medications, surgery, medical devices, and self-care. Treatments may be provided by an organized health care system, or informally, by the patient or family members.

A prevention or preventive therapy is a way to avoid an injury, sickness, or disease in the first place. A treatment or cure is applied after a medical problem has already started. A treatment attempts to improve or remove a problem, but treatments may not produce permanent cures, especially in chronic diseases. Cures are a subset of treatments that reverse diseases completely or end medical problems permanently. Many diseases that cannot be completely cured are still treatable. Pain management (also called pain medicine) is that branch of medicine employing an interdisciplinary approach to the relief of pain and improvement in the quality of life of those living with pain[20]

Treatment for medical emergencies must be provided promptly, often through an emergency department or, in less critical situations, through an urgent care facility.


Main article: Epidemiology

Epidemiology is the study of the factors that cause or encourage diseases. Some diseases are more common in certain geographic areas, among people with certain genetic or socioeconomic characteristics, or at different times of the year.

Epidemiology is considered a cornerstone methodology of public health research, and is highly regarded in evidence-based medicine for identifying risk factors for disease. In the study of communicable and non-communicable diseases, the work of epidemiologists ranges from outbreak investigation to study design, data collection and analysis including the development of statistical models to test hypotheses and the documentation of results for submission to peer-reviewed journals. Epidemiologists also study the interaction of diseases in a population, a condition known as a syndemic. Epidemiologists rely on a number of other scientific disciplines such as biology (to better understand disease processes), biostatistics (the current raw information available), Geographic Information Science (to store data and map disease patterns) and social science disciplines (to better understand proximate and distal risk factors). Epidemiology can help identify causes as well as guide prevention efforts.

In studying diseases, epidemiology faces the challenge of defining them. Especially for poorly understood diseases, different groups might use significantly different definitions. Without an agreed-on definition, different researchers may report different numbers of cases and characteristics of the disease.[21]

Some morbidity databases are compiled with data supplied by states and territories health authorities, at national level (National hospital morbidity database (NHMD), for example[22][23]), or at European scale (European Hospital Morbidity Database or HMDB[24]) but not yet at world scale.

Social and cultural responses[edit]

Obesity was a status symbol in Renaissance culture: "The Tuscan General Alessandro del Borro", attributed to Andrea Sacchi, 1645.[25] It is now generally regarded as a disease.

How a society responds to diseases is the subject of medical sociology.

A condition may be considered a disease in some cultures or eras but not in others. For example, obesity can represent wealth and abundance, and is a status symbol in famine-prone areas and some places hard-hit by HIV/AIDS.[26] Epilepsy is considered a sign of spiritual gifts among the Hmong people.[27]

Sickness confers the social legitimization of certain benefits, such as illness benefits, work avoidance, and being looked after by others. The person who is sick takes on a social role called the sick role. A person who responds to a dreaded disease, such as cancer, in a culturally acceptable fashion may be publicly and privately honored with higher social status.[28] In return for these benefits, the sick person is obligated to seek treatment and work to become well once more. As a comparison, consider pregnancy, which is not interpreted as a disease or sickness, even if the mother and baby may both benefit from medical care.

Most religions grant exceptions from religious duties to people who are sick. For example, one whose life would be endangered by fasting on Yom Kippur or during Ramadan is exempted from the requirement, or even forbidden from participating. People who are sick are also exempted from social duties. For example, ill health is the only socially acceptable reason for an American to refuse an invitation to the White House.[29]

The identification of a condition as a disease, rather than as simply a variation of human structure or function, can have significant social or economic implications. The controversial recognitions as diseases of repetitive stress injury (RSI) and post-traumatic stress disorder (also known as "Soldier's heart", "shell shock", and "combat fatigue") has had a number of positive and negative effects on the financial and other responsibilities of governments, corporations and institutions towards individuals, as well as on the individuals themselves. The social implication of viewing aging as a disease could be profound, though this classification is not yet widespread.

Lepers were people who were historically shunned because they had an infectious disease, and the term "leper" still evokes social stigma. Fear of disease can still be a widespread social phenomenon, though not all diseases evoke extreme social stigma.

Social standing and economic status affect health. Diseases of poverty are diseases that are associated with poverty and low social status; diseases of affluence are diseases that are associated with high social and economic status. Which diseases are associated with which states varies according to time, place, and technology. Some diseases, such as diabetes mellitus, may be associated with both poverty (poor food choices) and affluence (long lifespans and sedentary lifestyles), through different mechanisms. The term diseases of civilization describes diseases that are more common among older people. For example, cancer is far more common in societies in which most members live until they reach the age of 80 than in societies in which most members die before they reach the age of 50.

Language of disease[edit]

An illness narrative is a way of organizing a medical experience into a coherent story that illustrates the sick individual's personal experience.

People use metaphors to make sense of their experiences with disease. The metaphors move disease from an objective thing that exists to an affective experience. The most popular metaphors draw on military concepts: Disease is an enemy that must be feared, fought, battled, and routed. The patient or the healthcare provider is a warrior, rather than a passive victim or bystander. The agents of communicable diseases are invaders; non-communicable diseases constitute internal insurrection or civil war. Because the threat is urgent, perhaps a matter of life and death, unthinkably radical, even oppressive, measures are society's and the patient's moral duty as they courageously mobilize to struggle against destruction. The War on Cancer is an example of this metaphorical use of language.[30] This language is empowering to some patients, but leaves others feeling like they are failures.[31]

Another class of metaphors describes the experience of illness as a journey: The person travels to or from a place of disease, and changes himself, discovers new information, or increases his experience along the way. He may travel "on the road to recovery" or make changes to "get on the right track" or choose "pathways".[30][31] Some are explicitly immigration-themed: the patient has been exiled from the home territory of health to the land of the ill, changing identity and relationships in the process.[32] This language is more common among British healthcare professionals than the language of physical aggression.[31]

Some metaphors are disease-specific. Slavery is a common metaphor for addictions: The alcoholic is enslaved by drink, and the smoker is captive to nicotine. Some cancer patients treat the loss of their hair from chemotherapy as a metonymy or metaphor for all the losses caused by the disease.[30]

Some diseases are used as metaphors for social ills: "Cancer" is a common description for anything that is endemic and destructive in society, such as poverty, injustice, or racism. AIDS was seen as a divine judgment for moral decadence, and only by purging itself from the "pollution" of the "invader" could society become healthy again.[30] More recently, when AIDS seemed less threatening, this type of emotive language was applied to avian flu and type 2 diabetes mellitus.[33] Authors in the 19th century commonly used tuberculosis as a symbol and a metaphor for transcendence. Victims of the disease were portrayed in literature as having risen above daily life to become ephemeral objects of spiritual or artistic achievement. In the 20th century, after its cause was better understood, the same disease became the emblem of poverty, squalor, and other social problems.[32]

See also[edit]


  1. ^ "Disease" at Dorland's Medical Dictionary
  2. ^ Science Reporter - Volume 32 - Page 47, 1995
  3. ^ what is the deadliest disease in the world? retrieved 28 November 2013
  4. ^ "Mental Illness—Glossary". US National Institute of Mental Health. Retrieved 2010-04-18. 
  5. ^ "Regents Prep: Living Environment: Homeostasis". Oswego City School District Regents Exam Prep Center. Retrieved 2012-11-12. 
  6. ^ "Illness" at Dorland's Medical Dictionary
  7. ^ Emson HE (April 1987). "Health, disease and illness: matters for definition". CMAJ 136 (8): 811–3. PMC 1492114. PMID 3567788. 
  8. ^ McWhinney IR (April 1987). "Health and disease: problems of definition". CMAJ 136 (8): 815. PMC 1492121. PMID 3567791. 
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  10. ^ Johnson R (2002). "The concept of sickness behavior: a brief chronological account of four key discoveries". Veterinary Immunology and Immunopathology 87 (3–4): 443–450. doi:10.1016/S0165-2427(02)00069-7. PMID 12072271. 
  11. ^ Kelley KW, Bluthe RM, Dantzer R, Zhou JH, Shen WH, Johnson RW, Broussard SR (2003). "Cytokine-induced sickness behavior". Brain Behav Immun 17 (Suppl 1): S112–118. doi:10.1016/S0889-1591(02)00077-6. PMID 12615196. 
  12. ^ American Psychiatric Association. Task Force on DSM-IV (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association. ISBN 978-0-89042-025-6. 
  13. ^ "Expat Insurance Glossary by The Insurance Page". Retrieved 2008-11-20. 
  14. ^ Dorland's Medical Dictionary: morbidity, Dorland's Medical Dictionary, MerckSource
  15. ^ Lenzer, Jeanne (14 August 2012). "Blood pressure drugs for mild hypertension: Not proven to prevent heart attacks, strokes, or early death - Slate Magazine". Slate. Retrieved 16 August 2012. 
  16. ^ Alexander van Geen, et al. "Impact of population and latrines on fecal contamination of ponds in rural Bangladesh." Science Of The Total Environment 409, no. 17 (August 2011): 3174-3182.
  17. ^ Olson, James Stuart (2002). Bathsheba's breast: women, cancer & history. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 168–170. ISBN 0-8018-6936-6. 
  18. ^ a b c d e f g h "Disease and injury regional estimates for 2004". World Health Organization. 
    Standard DALYs (3% discounting, age weights).
    DALY spreadsheet
    YLL spreadsheet.
  19. ^ "Technical Report Male Circumcision by the American Academy of Pediatrics". Retrieved 2013-05-09. 
  20. ^ Hardy, Paul A.; Hardy, Paul A. J. (1997). Chronic Pain Management: The Essentials. Cambridge University Press. p. 10. ISBN 978-1-900151-85-6. OCLC 36881282. 
  21. ^ Tuller, David (4 March 2011). "Defining an illness is fodder for debate". The New York Times. 
  22. ^ National hospital morbidity database retrieved 2013-07-11
  23. ^ database containing demographic, administrative and clinical data on inpatient hospitalizations in Canada.
  24. ^ European Hospital Morbidity Database which contains hospital discharge data by detailed diagnosis, age and sex, which were submitted by European countries to the WHO Regional Office for Europe.; World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe ; updated oct 2012, retrieved 2013-07-11
  25. ^ Carol Gerten-Jackson. "The Tuscan General Alessandro del Borro". 
  26. ^ Haslam DW, James WP (2005). "Obesity". Lancet 366 (9492): 1197–209. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(05)67483-1. PMID 16198769. 
  27. ^ Fadiman, Anne (1997). The spirit catches you and you fall down: a Hmong child, her American doctors, and the collision of two cultures. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. ISBN 0-374-52564-1. 
  28. ^ Sulik, Gayle (2010). Pink Ribbon Blues: How Breast Cancer Culture Undermines Women's Health. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-974045-3. 
  29. ^ Martin, Judith (2005). Miss Manners' Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. p. 703. ISBN 978-0-393-05874-1. OCLC 57549405. 
  30. ^ a b c d Gwyn, Richard (1999). "10". In Cameron, Lynne; Low, Graham. Researching and applying metaphor. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-64964-3. OCLC 40881885. 
  31. ^ a b c Span, Paula (22 April 2014). "Fighting Words Are Rarer Among British Doctors". The New York Times. 
  32. ^ a b Diedrich, Lisa (2007). Treatments: language, politics, and the culture of illness. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. pp. 8, 29. ISBN 978-0-8166-4697-5. OCLC 601862594. 
  33. ^ Hanne M, Hawken SJ (December 2007). "Metaphors for illness in contemporary media". Med Humanit 33 (2): 93–9. doi:10.1136/jmh.2006.000253. PMID 23674429. 

External links[edit]