Disease

DISEASE is the unhealthy state of a body part, a physiological system, or the body as a whole. A disease may be a structural anomaly, such as a congenital heart defect, or a functional condition such as high blood pressure or trauma.

An important aspect of any disease is its etiology. Many diseases are known to be caused by infectious agents for example, childhood infectious diseases; the common cold and the flu and catarrhal jaundice are considered to be viral infections while inflamatory processes and abscesses being caused by bacteria. Another important aspect of a disease is the way of its manifes­tation — the symptoms and signs.

Diagnosis, the determination of the nature of a disease, is based on many factors including the signs, symptoms and often, laboratory arid clinical findings. To make a diagnosis a physician obtains information from a physical examination, from interviewing the patient or a family member, as well as from a medical history of the patient.

The physician having made a diagnosis states the possible prognosis of the disease, the course it is to take and an outcome of the disease.

The treatment considered most effective should be prescribed and may include medication, surgery, radiation therapy, etc.

Physicians know the course of the disease often to vary. It may have a sudden onset and a short duration in which case it is stated to be an abute disease. A disease may begin insidiously curable one or have a fatal outcome.