Reminders
Communicable/transmissible diseases are those
in which the pathogen is passed from one host to another.
A non-communicable/non-transmissible disease
cannot be passed from one host to another.
Non-communicable diseases
by their nature cannot be
transmitted between individual organisms e.g. cancer, diabetes, heart
diseases (eg cardiovascular) or respiratory diseases of the lung.
Health is the state of an organism's well-being
- physical or mental, but ill health is where there is a problem
including suffering from some disease.
The World Health Organisation defines good heath as "a
state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely
the absence of disease or infirmity".
So, even if you are a very fit person, you are
not necessarily healthy e.g. if you had mental health issues and/or
lonely.
A disease is a medical condition where part of an
organism (plant or animal) isn't functioning properly - in some way the
organism is not as it should be.
The disease may take the form of cell damage
to the host (plant or animal) which in some way impairs the healthy
('normal') structures or functions of the organism.
Most
organisms, including ourselves, experience ill health at some point
in their life.
If you have an increased chance of contracting a
disease you are described as susceptible.
There are many causes of ill health in plants
and animals
from a non-communicable disease e.g.
mutation in an organism's genes (DNA)
eg cancers,
an organism might suffer some deficiency
eg lack of vitamins in human diet, lack of light on plant growth
an organism may experience mental or
physical trauma triggered by some event eg depression,
bereavement, serious accident,
the lifestyle of an organism can have
consequences on your health eg links between: smoking and lung
cancer, too much sugary/fatty food and obesity and/or diabetes,
All diseases show symptoms at some point in
their development.
Symptoms are indications of disease in an
organism - usually observable eg cough, rash, diarrhoea, leaf
discolouration etc.
Sometimes symptoms do not show up immediately
after infection - the virus or bacteria may multiply for days or
weeks when sufficient of the pathogen is present to create visible
symptoms.
This period of infection without symptoms
is called the incubation period and may last hours, days,
weeks or months - which is a bit scary, because you can't apply
medical treatment to a medical condition you don't know you've
got!
Diseases can be classified as communicable and
non-communicable.
See communicable diseases and
plant
diseases
Non-communicable diseases cannot be
transmitted between individual organisms e.g. cancer, diabetes, heart
diseases (eg cardiovascular) or respiratory diseases of the lung.
These cannot be spread from person to person
or between other animals and people.
They tend to last for a long time and slowly
get worse over time, in the case of 'humans' they can be often
linked to our lifestyles.
Examples are asthma, cancer and heart
diseases.
If you are suffering from one
non-communicable disease, your bodies
defences may be weakened by it making you more susceptible to another
disease - a 'knock on' effect reducing your body's ability to fight off
a second disease.
