Disease Types and Symptoms Quiz

Understanding Signs, Symptoms, and Types of Diseases

• Disease is any condition that impairs or damages the normal structure or functions of the body, including infections caused by pathogens, genetics, noninfectious environmental factors, or inappropriate immune responses.

• Signs of disease are objective and measurable, such as changes in vital signs including body temperature, heart rate, breathing rate, and blood pressure. Other observable conditions may also be considered signs of disease, including the presence of antibodies in a patient's serum that can be measured through blood tests.

• Symptoms of disease are subjective and felt or experienced by the patient, but they cannot be clinically confirmed or objectively measured. Examples of symptoms include nausea, loss of appetite, and pain.

• A specific group of signs and symptoms characteristic of a particular disease is called a syndrome, and many syndromes are named using a nomenclature based on signs and symptoms or the location of the disease.

• Diagnosis of a disease is complicated by the fact that different microorganisms can cause similar signs and symptoms in a patient, and some diseases may be asymptomatic or subclinical, meaning they do not present noticeable signs or symptoms.

• The World Health Organization's International Classification of Diseases (ICD) is used in clinical fields to classify diseases and monitor morbidity and mortality. An infectious disease is any disease caused by the direct effect of a pathogen, which may be cellular or acellular. Some infectious diseases are also communicable or contagious.

• Diseases that are contracted as the result of a medical procedure are known as iatrogenic diseases, and diseases acquired in hospital settings are known as nosocomial diseases.

• Certain infectious diseases are not transmitted between humans directly but can be transmitted from animals to humans, and these diseases are called zoonotic diseases.

• In contrast to communicable infectious diseases, a noncommunicable infectious disease is not spread from one person to another, and examples include tetanus and Legionnaires disease.

• Noninfectious diseases (those not caused by pathogens) are an important cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide and can be caused by a wide variety of factors, including genetics, the environment, or immune system dysfunction.

• The five periods of disease include the incubation, prodromal, illness, decline, and convalescence periods, and infectious diseases can be contagious during all five periods.

• Diagnosis of a particular disease and the potential causative agent involves relying on signs and symptoms, medical history, and the patient's recent activities.Duration and Types of Diseases

• Recovery from diarrheal diseases may still pose a risk of transmission through feces shedding.

• The duration of illness depends on the pathogen, immune response, and medical treatment received.

• Acute diseases have a short period of illness and a rapid onset of symptoms.

• Influenza is an acute disease with an incubation period of 1-2 days and a contagious period of 5 days.

• Chronic diseases have longer periods of illness and pathologic changes that can occur over months, years, or a lifetime.

• Chronic gastritis is caused by Helicobacter pylori, which can colonize the stomach and persist indefinitely.

• Hepatitis B virus can cause a chronic infection and continued production of infectious virus for 6 months or longer.

• Latent diseases have a dormant causal pathogen with no active replication.

• Herpes simplex viruses, varicella-zoster virus, and Epstein-Barr virus can go into a latent state.

• Herpes viruses and varicella-zoster virus can reactivate during times of stress and immunosuppression.

• Epstein-Barr virus can reactivate years later to produce B-cell lymphoma.

• Understanding the duration and types of diseases is important in preventing transmission and developing treatment strategies.