Health Problems and Diseases

This article is on health problems and diseases. The world health organization has said for an individual to be healthy he must be on a complete physical, mental and social well-being not just because you are not sick. Because you are free from disease does not mean you are healthy. Diseases are more difficult to define than health. To be healthy the three state of mind which are physical, mental and social state must be good.

A disease may suitable be describe with a person with tuberculosis, a liver affected by high intake of alcohol or lung with tumors.

Classification of Disease

Disease may be classified into six different groups:

1. Disease caused by other living organisms
2. Disease that are human- induced or self-inflicted
3. Deficiency disease
4. Genetic and congenital(presents of birth) disorders
5. Ageing and degeneration diseases
6. Mental illness

1 Disease Caused by other Living Organisms:

Viruses, bacteria, protozoans, fungi, flatworms and roundworms are diseases-causing organisms. The mentioned organisms lived parasitically in or on the body of human being and interfere with its normal working. The disease caused by these organisms is referred to as infectious diseases or communicable diseases example cholera (caused by a bacterium), measles (caused by a virus). Malaria is caused by a protozoan and it is a parasitic diseases.

2 Diseases that is Human- Induced or Self-Inflicted

The diseases are brought upon by human on themselves. The diseases are described as social diseases. These diseases are associated with modern industrialized societies and are coronary hearth diseases, alcoholism, abuses of drugs, lung cancer, domestic and industrial accidents. Brain damage can be brought on by mercury or lead poisoning. Cancer related disease caused by living near nuclear power stations.

3 Deficiency Diseases:

Diet caused by Kwashiorkor and marasmus. The absence of vitamins may results in a number of disease example Pellagra (vitamin B1), scurvy (vitamin C) or rickets (vitamin D). Lack of minerals in the food or diets may also results in diseases such as calcium and phosphate causing rickets or lack of iodine causing thyroid goitre.

4 Genetic and Congenital Disorders:

It is a concern in the medical field and society at large. Example of the genetic disorder is cystic fibrosis, Down syndrome and Huntingtons diseases. Many children have died from the diseases. Genetic screening can gives information before birth whereby babies with this genetic disorder can be aborted.

5 Ageing and Degenerative Diseases

Degeneration can be caused by diseases in the human body. Example long sightedness in older people can be caused by weakening of the eye muscle. The disease of the circulatory system example Artenosclerosis is caused by hardening of the arteries which results from ageing. Arthritis is caused by ageing of the joint and bone tissues.

6 Mental ILLNESS:

It covers wide variety of disorder example Schizophrenia, senile dementia and depressions. Several drugs have been manufactured to control and reduced various forms of mental illness. Treating these illness changes during the twentieth century from life long confinements in lunatics asylums to care in the community.

The six Groups may be grouped into the following categories

1. Infectious or Communicable Disease:

These diseases are passed from one organism to other organisms and thus said to be infectious, contagious and also communicable. Some of the diseases are transferred or transmitted by droplets of liquid, in the air, food or water, by sexual intercourse or simply by touch. Some are transmitted by intermediate organisms called the vector, example malaria by way of the mosquito, bubonic plague by way of the rat flea.

Read Also: What is Strain Improvement

2. Non-Infectious Disease:

Some of the disease is described as non-infectious or non-transmissible. Genetic disorder is transmitted from parents to offspring due to the presence of inherited genes.

INFECTIOUS DISEASE

1 Cholera

It is a waterborne disease. It is seen in part of Asia especially India. The epidemics occur time to time in other countries example in Peru in 1992 being the first outbreak in South America in the twentieth century. The year 1991, 16000 people or more died worldwide from half a million case of cholera. Modern treatment has reduced the death rate drastically but is still one of the serious diseases affecting the world. It is caused by a comma-shaped motile bacterium called vibrio cholerae . The major source of infections is water contaminated by feaces.

2 Tuberculosis

It is historically one of the world’s worst killer diseases. TB has been found in skeletons of the late Stone Age. In the nineteenth century TB was one of the world’s worst killer diseases. Nowadays the number of children dying from these diseases had been reduced to less than 1 in 1 million in developed countries but atleast 30% million people still suffered symptoms today.