Non-communicable disease Non-communicable disease A non-communicable disease (NCD) is a disease that is not transmissible directly from one person to another. NCDs include Parkinson's disease, autoimmune diseases, strokes, most heart diseases, most cancers, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, Alzheimer's disease, cataracts, and others. NCDs may be chronic or acute. Most are non-infectious, although there are some non-communicable infectious diseases, such as parasitic diseases in which the parasite's life cycle does not include direct host-to-host transmission. NCDs are the leading cause of death globally. In 2012, they caused 68% of all deaths (38 million) up from 60% in 2000. About half were
Evolution of Infectious Disease Evolution of Infectious Disease Evolution of Infectious Disease is a 1993 book by the evolutionary biologist Paul Ewald. In this book Ewald contests the traditional view that parasites should evolve toward benign coexistence with their hosts. He draws on various studies which contradict this dogma and asserts his own theory that is based on fundamental evolutionary principles. This book provides one of the first in-depth presentations of insights from evolutionary biology on various fields in health science, including epidemiology and medicine. Infectious disease are illnesses induced by another organism. Such diseases range from mild to severe cases. The onset of