Medicine & Public Health in Credo: Diseases and Disorders

Disease caused by infection with various strains of the bacillus Vibrio cholerae, transmitted in contaminated water and characterized by violent diarrhoea and vomiting. It is prevalent in many tropical areas.

Inflammation of the intestine characterized by the frequent passage of feces, usually with blood and mucus.

Inflammation of the liver. There are many types of hepatitis. Causes include viruses, toxic chemicals, alcohol consumption, parasites and bacteria, and certain drugs.

Infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) leads to a progressive destruction of the human immune system.

Acute, highly contagious disease caused by a RNA virus (family Orthomyxoviridae); formerly known as the grippe. There are three types of the virus, designated A, B, and C, but only types A and B cause more serious contagious infections.

Infectious parasitic disease of the tropics transmitted by mosquitoes, marked by recurrent episodes of high fever, sometimes associated with rigor, and an enlarged spleen. Disease caused by four species of Plasmodium: P. falciparum, P. vivax, P. ovale, and P. malariae.

Inflammation of the meninges (membranes) surrounding the brain, caused by bacterial or viral infection. Bacterial meningitis, though treatable by antibiotics, is the more serious threat. Diagnosis is by lumbar puncture.

Polio, or infantile paralysis, acute viral infection, mainly of children but also affecting older persons.

Acute infection of one or both lungs that can be caused by a bacterium, usually Streptococcus pneumoniae (also called pneumococcus; see streptococcus), or by a virus, fungus, or other organism.

Sexually transmitted disease (STD) or venereal disease, term for infections acquired mainly through sexual contact.

Acute, highly contagious disease causing a high fever and successive stages of severe skin eruptions. The disease dates from the time of ancient Egypt or before.

Contagious, wasting disease. Tuberculosis results from infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The lungs are the site most often affected, but most organs in the body can be involved in tuberculosis.

Whooping cough or pertussis, highly communicable infectious disease caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis.

Acute infectious disease endemic in tropical Africa and many areas of South America.

Disease characterized by impaired control over the consumption of alcoholic beverages.

Lack of desire to eat, or refusal to eat, especially the pathological condition of anorexia nervosa, most often found in adolescent girls and young women.

Anticipatory tension or vague dread persisting in the absence of a specific threat. In contrast to fear, which is a realistic reaction to actual danger, anxiety is generally related to an unconscious threat. Anxiety is an unpleasant affect accompanied by a myriad of physiologic manifestations (quickened heart beat, gastrointestinal distress, ‘butterflies’ and diarrhoea, a tightening in the chest, tremulousness, sweating, muscle tension) as well as psychological manifestations (a sense of dread and impending danger, of helplessness, of insecurity and uncertainty).

One of a spectrum of disorders defined by problems with communication, imagination, and social interaction. The symptoms may be present from birth or may develop in early childhood, around the third year. In rare cases, autistic individuals may show extraordinary talents in some areas. A condition of neurodevelopment, autism is more common in males, with onset typically in infancy. It is diagnosed when a child or adult has abnormalities in a ‘triad’ of behavioral domains: social development, communication, and repetitive behavior / obsessive interests.

Bipolar disorder, formerly manic-depressive disorder or manic-depression, severe mental disorder involving manic episodes that are usually accompanied by episodes of depression. Any of several psychological disorders of mood characterized usually by alternating episodes of depression and mania.

Disorder best defined as a collection of psychological symptoms including sadness; unhappy thoughts characterized by worry, poor self-image, self-blame, guilt and low self-confidence; downbeat views on the future; and a feeling of hopelessness. As a diagnosis, depression is part of a cycle or syndrome (also called a depressive illness) which used to be called melancholia because of its association with low spirits. Depression is commonly used as a definition of an emotion like despondency, dejection, or gloom.

Dissociative identity disorder (DID) has been one of the most controversial diagnostic categories in the history of psychiatry. According to conventional definitions, it occurs when an individual acquires separate, multiple identities, some of which may be amnesic for others and some of which may have full awareness of the others.

A chronic disorder of cerebral function characterized by periodic convulsive seizures. There are many conditions that have epileptic seizures.

In psychology, a disorder commonly known today as conversion disorder, in which a psychological conflict is converted into a bodily disturbance.

In psychiatry, a broad category of psychological disturbance, encompassing various mild forms of mental disorder.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a chronic, disabling anxiety disorder characterized by intrusive, persistent thoughts and repetitive behaviors. While obsessions and compulsions are fairly common mental phenomena that most people have experienced, when they become severe enough to interfere with one's functioning it may be OCD. Obsessive-compulsive disorder is defined in the DSM-IV as the presence of either obsessions or compulsions (or both). Obsessions are defined as recurrent and persistent thoughts, impulses or images that are experienced as intrusive and inappropriate and that cause marked anxiety or distress.

Mental disorder that follows an occurrence of extreme psychological stress, such as that encountered in war or resulting from violence, childhood abuse, sexual abuse, or serious accident.

In psychiatry, a broad category of mental disorder encompassing the most serious emotional disturbances, often rendering the individual incapable of staying in contact with reality.

Group of severe mental disorders characterized by reality distortions resulting in unusual thought patterns and behaviors.

From the Encyclopedia of Special Education
Tourette syndrome is a child-onset neurological disorder characterized by involuntary movements or vocalizations, otherwise known as tics, and occurs in approximately .04 to .4 percent of the population.

AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) is a chronic, life-threatening disease that is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Most serious of all the sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).

Common manifestation of dementia , thought to afflict 1 in 20 people over 65. After heart disease, cancer, and strokes it is the most common cause of death in the Western world. Attacking the brain's ‘grey matter’, it is a disease of mental processes.

Condition in which the concentration of hemoglobin in the circulating blood is below normal.

Condition characterized by chest pain that occurs when the muscles of the heart receive an insufficient supply of oxygen. This results when the arteries that supply the heart muscle with oxygenated blood are narrowed by arteriosclerosis.

General term for a condition characterized by thickening, hardening, and loss of elasticity of the walls of the blood vessels.

Chronic condition characterized by difficulty in breathing due to spasm of the bronchi (air passages) in the lungs.

Partial or complete loss of sight. Blindness may be caused by injury, by lesions of the brain or optic nerve, by disease of the cornea or retina, by pathological changes originating in systemic disorders (e.g., diabetes) and by cataract, glaucoma, or retinal detachment.

Group of diseases characterized by abnormal proliferation of cells.

Any of several abnormalities of the heart and its function in maintaining blood circulation. Also called Heart Disease.

Degeneration of tissue in an organ resulting in fibrosis, with nodule and scar formation.

Visual defect resulting in the inability to distinguish colors. About 8% of men and 0.5% of women experience some difficulty in color perception.

Condition that results when the coronary arteries are narrowed or occluded, most commonly by atherosclerotic deposits of fibrous and fatty tissue.

Diabetes mellitus, often referred to simply as diabetes, is not a single disease but a group of metabolic disorders characterized by hyperglycemia (elevated blood glucose) resulting from defects in insulin secretion, insulin action, or both. It is a major public health problem in the United States, affecting ~24.1 million individuals.

Abnormal accumulation of fluid in the body tissues or in the body cavities causing swelling or distention of the affected parts.

Pathological or physiological enlargement or overdistention of the air sacs of the lungs. A major cause of pulmonary insufficiency in chronic cigarette smokers, emphysema is a progressive disease that commonly occurs in conjunction with chronic bronchitis.

Ocular disorder characterized by pressure within the eyeball caused by an excessive amount of aqueous humor (the fluid substance filling the eyeball).

The term for high BLOOD PRESSURE (raised pressure of the circulating blood).

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a disease of the central nervous system characterized by recurring episodes of neurological disturbance.

A condition in which the energy stores of the body (mainly fat) are too great. It is commonplace in prosperous countries and is increasing in developing countries, particularly amongst children and young people. Obesity has been defined as a weight more than 20% above what is considered normal.

A disease, most commonly of post-menopausal women, in which the bones become porous, brittle and liable to fracture, owing to the loss of calcium from the bone substance.

A form of arthritis, particularly common in women, that causes pain, swelling, stiffness and deformity of the joints, especially of the fingers, wrists, ankles, feet or hips.