Illnesses – Descriptions, Types, Examples And Greatest Threats
A disorder that blocks the customary function from the body is defined as a disease. There are 3 kinds of diseases.
They’re, intrinsic illnesses, extrinsic diseases and unknown diseases.
Intrinsic illnesses are the ones, which come from inside one’s own entire body. Some examples of intrinsic illnesses are diabetes (Kind 1 and Type 2), hemophilia, goiter, pellagra, rickets, heart murmurs, lupus and arthritis rheumatoid. Intrinsic illnesses aren’t contagious although some, like hemophilia can be inherited.
Extrinsic diseases are those caused by factors that exist outside your body. Samples of extrinsic illnesses could be bacterial infections such as anthrax, cholera, pertussis, tuberculosis and urinary tract infections. They also include infections like, AIDS, dengue fever, hepatitis, influenza, mumps, smallpox and yellow fever. Additionally, you will find fungal infections, which include blastomycosis, cryptococcosis and histoplasmosis. Oh yes, let us keep in mind parasitic infections ranging from cysticercosis to trypanosomiasis. Finally, you will find the prion infectious illnesses, only discovered in the 1960’s the scientific community is still struggling to understand the illness sufficiently to find a cure. Our knowledge at this point is quite basic. Prions are primarily composed of protein and propagate by folding abnormally, creating thereby, a structure able to convert normal protein into an abnormally structured form. Some chilling examples of these diseases consist of Alpers syndrome, Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow illness), and Kuru. All recognized prion diseases attack the central nervous system and/or brain. All are fatal.
The final category is unknown diseases. This one gets a little confusing. It isn’t necessarily that the disease is not known, but rather that its cause is not known. Prime examples of these are Alzheimer’s illness, chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia.
Although most deaths globally are due to extrinsic diseases, that’s only true in the developing world. Within the developed world, 8 of the top 10 causes of death are intrinsic diseases. This is readily attributable to better nutrition, superior health care, better environmental conditions and longer life expectancy.
Perhaps most frightening are the prion extrinsic illnesses. We have an insufficient knowledge of how they’re transmitted, how they propagate and more importantly how to cure them. They are robust! They’re resistant to ultraviolet light and could be rendered harmless by only the most rigorous sterilization process. In numerous respects, they are one of the most insidious, attacking the nervous program and brain; death is slow and painful for the victim and also the victim’s family.
As we discussed earlier, this illness was only discovered within the 1960’s, and not even named until 1982. Prion diseases aren’t getting a great deal of attention from the medical researchers, drug manufacturers or the government. Victims do not exist in great numbers.
My fear is, that like AIDS, a prion illness will rear its head in a surprise attack on an unprepared population. Like AIDS, the developing globe will likely be the hardest hit. We should focus much more attention on this new threat. We must learn in the mistakes of the AIDS outbreak. We should be prepared!
Winston P. McDonald enjoys writing for Uniformhaven.com which sells cherokee scrubs, baby phat scrubs and urbane scrubs as well as a host of additional products.
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