for consulting medical experts and explanations of illness. these common illness were examined not because of their seriousness but because of their frequency. the researchers explain five possible triggers that people seek medical aid: 1- the occurrence of an interpersonal crisis 2- perceived interference with social and personal relations 3- perceived interference with vocational & physical activity 4- sanctioning by other people 5- patients' ideas about how long certain complaints should last. these kind of explanatory models are part of the process that people use to construct medical culture. they give meaning to illness and health, answer questions about personal responsibility about health and most importantly are part of the dialogue between patients' and professionals' illness explanations. it can help explore why some patients will follow a doctors instructions to the letter and others ignore them completely. a patient's explanation or understanding of their illness can be much broader than a physician's and this dynamic has become a major criticism of modern medical practice since it normally excludes the "social, psychological and experiential dimensions of illness." the finnish study examined 127 patients and the results have been different from findings in other countries where there is more 'lay consultation'. half of the respondents did not have any lay consultation before coming to the doctors office. one-third did not try any self-treatment and three-quarters of the sample consulted the doctor within three days of symptoms developing. possible explanations are that in finland there is an aspect "over-protectiveness" within their health care system. many might conclude that the finnish people are dependent and helpless but the researchers of this study found that people chose to consult professionals because they trusted them over some lay explanation. these results echo similar studies in ireland that explain this phenomenon as being based in a strong work ethic. illness in these countries will affect their work and finnish people will quickly get treatment so they can return to work. this research out of finland also describes that this relationship between patient and doctor is based on: national and municipal administrative bureaucracies that demand more output and more satisfied patients the public demanding better care nurses criticizing physicians for not taking a holistic view of patients hospital specialists wanting better/earlier screening for serious illnesses (e.g. cancer). the conflict between medical and lay worlds is prominent. on one hand many patients believe they are the expert of their own body and view the doctor-patient relationship as authoritarian. these people will often use knowledge outside the medical field to deal with health and illness. others see the doctor as the expert and are shy about describing their symptoms and therefore rely on the doctor for diagnosis and treatment. in europe, sociology of health and illness is represented by the european society for health and medical sociology (eshms). north america compares figures in the population of oecd countries and the percentage of total population (aged 15 and above) with a body mass index greater than 30. data was collected between 1996 and 2003. north america is a fairly recent settled continent, made up of the united states, canada, mexico, central america, and the caribbean. it was built by an amalgamation of wealth, ideas, culture, and practices. north america is highly advanced intellectually, technologically, and traditionally. this advantageous character of north american nations has caused a high average life expectancy of 75 years for males and 80 years for females. this leads to the conclusion that north america has cultivated a comparatively healthy society. as north america contains several core nations, the growing economies in those nations are able to maintain and develop medical institutions. this subsequently provides more access to health care for american citizens but health care is not universal. north america is known for being a leading nation in regards to industrialization and modernization, but the united states lacks federal laws regarding health care as a basic human right. this lag of health care security causes subsequent issues with pharmaceutical competition, lack of care for the elderly, and little attention to alternative medicine. health care and education are plentiful at a price and illness still persists for many reasons. a main reason is that a lower- and middle-class population still exists in plentiful numbers, maintaining a group that is highly vulnerable to physical ailment. world map showing alcohol consumption around the world north america's primary risk factors for illness are currently excessive alcohol use, malnutrition, obesity, tobacco use, and water sanitation. obesity is a recent epidemic in north america. the 1990s brought a rise in the average body mass index, or bmi. from the beginning and to the end of the decade, the median percent of adults who were obese rose from 12% to 20%. alcoholism is the addiction of over-consumption of alcohol and is highly prevalent in the us. there are high incidence rates in many other world regions. roughly 61% of american adults drank in 2007, and 21% of current drinkers consumed five or more drinks at one point in the last year. there have also been 22,073 alcohol induced deaths in the united states in the past year, about 13,000 of which were related to liver disease. alcoholism has many risk factors ingrained in north american culture, such as heredity, stress from competition or availability. the swine flu (also known as h1n1) epidemic is a recent disease emerging in the early 21st century. in april 2009, during the early days of the outbreak, a molecular biologist named dr. henry miller wrote in the wall street journal about new york city high-school students. these students apparently brought the virus back from mexico and infected their classmates. all six cases so far reported in canada were connected directly or indirectly with travel to mexico as well. flu viruses can be directly transmitted (via droplets from sneezing or coughing) from pigs to people, and vice versa. these cross-species infections occur most commonly when people are close to large numbers of pigs, such as in barns, livestock exhibits at fairs, and slaughterhouses. the flu is transmissible from human to human, either directly or via contaminated surfaces." south america there are many diseases that affect south america, but two major conditions are malaria and hepatitis d. malaria affects every country in south america except uruguay, chile, and the falkland islands. elevation is a major factor in the areas where malaria is found. the disease is spread from person to person via mosquito bites. people are typically bitten by mosquitoes at dusk and dawn. symptoms of this disorder are: high fever, chills, sweating, headaches, body aches, weakness, vomiting and diarrhea. if left untreated, new symptoms can occur; people that are infected may experience seizures, delirium and coma. severe cases may end in death. malaria can be cured, but the symptoms may not become noticeable until months later. there are three forms of medication that can cure malaria. an infected person's accessibility to these drugs is dependent upon their access to medical care and their financial situation. literature about malaria treatment typically is focused toward people who are tourists. most sources are not written with the native in mind. malaria the first sign of hepatitis d was detected in 1978 when a strange and unrecognizable internuclear antigen was discovered during a liver biopsy of several italians who developed hbv infections. scientists initially thought that it was an antigenic specificity of hbv, but they soon found that it was a protein from another disease altogether. they called it "hepatitis delta virus" (hdv). this new virus was found to be defective. hdv needed hbv to act as a helper function in order for it to be detected. normally hepatitis b is transmitted through blood or any type of blood product. in south america hepatitis d was found to be fatal. scientists are still unsure in what way this disease was being transmitted throughout certain south american countries. sexual contact and drug use are the most common means of transmission. hdv is still considered an unusual form of hepatitis. agents of this virus resemble that of plant viroids. it is still hard to tell how many stereotypes exist because hdv is under the umbrella of hbv. hdv causes very high titers in the blood of people who are infected. incubation of hepatitis d typically lasts for thirty five days. most often hepatitis d is a co-infection with hepatitis b or a super-infection with chronic hepatitis. in terms of super infections there are high mortality rates, ranging seventy to eighty percent; in contrast with co-infections which have a one to three percent mortality rate. there is little information with the ecology of hepatitis d. epidemics have been found in venezuela, peru, columbia, and brazil. people who are treated for hepatitis b have been able to control hepatitis d. people who have chronic hdb will continue to get hdv. another disease that affects south america is hiv and aids. in 2008 roughly two million people had hiv and aids. by the end of 2008 one hundred and seventy thousand people were infected with aids and hiv. seventy seven thousand people died from this disease by the end of that year. brazil has the most people that are affected with aids and hiv in south america. forty-three percent of people in brazil have hiv. in brazil sixty percent of the inhabitants use drugs, are hiv positive, and are hiv positive because of their drug use. usually this disease is transmitted by either drug use involving needles or unprotected sex. sharing needles and being infected with hiv and aids is most common in paraguay and uruguay. south america is trying to get treatment to the thousands of people infected by this disease. brazil is offering generic aids prescriptions that are much less expensive than the name brand drugs. one hundred and eighty-one thousand inhabitants in brazil who were infected are being treated. that accounts for eighty percent of those who needed immediate help. this aid from the government has had positive results. statistics show that there was a fifty percent decrease in mortality rates, approximately sixty to eighty percent decrease in morbidity rates and a seventy percent decrease in hospitalization of infected people. in very remote areas of south america, traditional healers are the only forms of health care people have. in north aymara and south mapuche, where the indigenous groups have the strongest voices, they still heavily use traditional medicine. the government in chile has implemented an indigenous health system to help strengthen the health care system. even with chile's indigenous groups, chile still has the best public health services in south america. they also have the lowest mortality rates in the area. their health care policies are centered around family and community wellbeing by focusing on the strategies for prevention health strategies. reports have shown an increase in mental health issues, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. south america's economy is developing rapidly and has a great deal of industries. the major industry in south america are agriculture. other industries are fishing, handicrafts, and natural resources. its trade and import-export market is continually thriving. in the past south american countries moved slowly in regards to economic development. south america began to build its economy ever since world war ii. south america's largest economies are brazil, chile, argentina, and columbia. venezuela, peru, and argentina's economy are growing very rapidly. journals sociology of health and illness social science and medicine health: an interdisciplinary journal for the social study of health illness and medicine social theory and health health, risk and society