Human Health and Diseases

What is Health?

Health can be defined as a person's physical, mental and social well-being.

Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being.
Health is defined as the state of complete physiological, mentally and social well-being.
Health may be defined as a state of complete bodily, mental well being.
Health is the absence of disease.
Good health is more than just being free from disease. It is often linked that a healthy
person must have the following:
a. Feels good physically
b. Able to carry out physically and mental tasks in everyday life without too
much difficulty.
c. Positive outlook on life.
To enjoy good health, a person needs proper shelter, balanced diet, exercise, enough
sleeping and rest.
Also, good hygiene and the access to medical checkups are important to reduce the
chances of infections.

What is Disease?
Any condition which interferes with the normal functioning of the body is called a
disease.
Disease is a pathological condition of a part, organ or system of an organism; resulting
from various causes such as:
a. Infection,
b. Genetic disorder,
c. Nutritional deficiency and
d. Environmental effects.

Disease can affect a specific tissue or organ due to a single cause and is known un-
factorial diseases, such as malaria, or
The diseases may have many causes and described as multi-factorial diseases, such
as heart disease.

Disease can generally either be:

i. Acute or
ii. Chronic.
Acute disease has a sudden onset with rapid changes and last for a short time, such
as influenza.
Chronic diseases continue for months or years and last long, such as TB.
Diseases are characterized by symptoms that are physical, physiological or mental.
People who are ill may usually report their symptoms to a doctor. By questioning the
patients and carrying out experimental tests, doctors are able to identify the symptoms
of a disease for make a diagnosis.
Some Important Biological Key terms in this Chapter:
1. Pathogen: a living organism which causes a disease.
2. Parasite: an organism which gets food and shelter from host.
3. Host: the living body of an organism which the disease causing organism takes
shelter.
4. Vector: an organism which harbours a pathogen and may pass it on to another
person to cause a disease. For instance, Mosquitoes harbour parasite and
transmits it to human.
5. Carrier: an organism which itself does not harbour the pathogen but physically
transmits it to another person. For instance, Housefly is the carrier of cholera
germs.
6. Epidemic: spreading of a disease among a large number of people in the same
place for same time, e.g. influenza.
(Disease which spreads rapidly to affect many people or may spread through one
or several communities is known as epidemic)
Epidemic comes from the Ancient Greek word, meaning; epi (among) + dem
(demos - people) = epidemic
7. Endemic: a disease which is regularly found among a particular group of people
e.g. Malaria, TB. (Disease which is always present in a particular region or
population is known as endemic)
Endemic comes from the Ancient Greek word, meaning; en (in) + dem (demos -
people) = endemic
8. Pandemic: a disease which is found all over the world, e.g. AIDS.
(Disease which spreads over a very large area or throughout the world is known
as pandemic)
Pandemic comes from the Ancient Greek word, meaning; pan (all) + dem (demos
- people) = pandemic
9. Incubation period: the period between entry of pathogen inside a healthy body
and appearance of the symptoms of the disease.

Categories of Human Disease:

There are nine main categories of disease but some diseases are more difficult to
classify and fit into more than one group or category.

1. Infectious diseases:
Infectious diseases are disorders caused by pathogens, such as bacteria,
viruses, fungi or parasites.
Some infectious diseases can be passed from person to person.
 Transmission of infectious diseases may occur through normal social contact or
via food, water, an animal bite as well as sexual contact; e.g. chickenpox.
Carriers are people who can transmit the pathogen but do not have the disease
symptoms.

2. Non-infectious diseases:
These are all diseases, which are not caused by pathogens and cannot be
passed on by physical contact.
Non-infectious diseases are non-transmittable among people.
An example of non-infectious diseases would be sickle cell anaemia.
3. Deficiency diseases
These are nutritional diseases caused by an inadequate or unbalanced diet.
One or more essential nutrient is missing or in short supply.
Deficiency diseases are including:
a. Vitamin C deficiency causes scurvy.
b. Vitamin A deficiency causes night blindness
c. Vitamin D deficiency causes rickets
d. Vitamin K deficiency causes prolonged bleeding
e. Vitamin E deficiency causes sterility

4. Inherited diseases
These diseases are caused by genetic disorder and can therefore be passed
only from parent to child. They are also sometimes called genetic diseases.
For instance, haemophilia
5. Mental disorders
These disorders affect a person's mind, but may be accompanied by physical
symptoms. Emotions, thoughts, memories and personal and social behaviour
can be affected.
Some mental diseases are caused by degeneration of brain tissue - for
example, Alzheimer's - a progressive deterioration in memory is followed by a
general decline in all mental faculties (dementia).
6. Self-inflicted diseases
These diseases are caused by damage to a person's health by their own
decisions and behaviour. Included in this category would be the choice
to smoke or misusing drugs, (Alcoholism and obesity).
7. Degenerative diseases
These diseases are characterised by a gradual decline or loss of function, in
one or several organs or tissues due to aging