Health and Disease

Health: Health can be defined as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being.
Basic conditions for good health:

 Proper balanced and nutritious diet.
 Personal hygiene.
 Clean environment and surroundings.
 Healthy air, no pollution in the surrounding.
 Regular exercise.
 Proper rest and good standard of living and economic condition.
Disease: A disease is an abnormal condition of a body characterised by specific signs or symptoms
that deteriorates the normal functioning of the body.
Distinctions Between Healthy And Disease-Free
Disease-free Healthy
It is a state of absence from diseases. Health is a state of physical, mental and social well
being
It refers to the individual only. It refers to the individual and its social and
community environment.
A disease-free individual may have good health or A healthy individual is always considered disease
poor health free.
TYPES OF DISEASE:
(A) Acute and Chronic Disease: Diseases that last for only short period of time are called acute
disease. For example: headache, common cold etc. Diseases that last for long time are called chronic
diseases. For example : elephantiasis, tuberculosis, etc.
Effect Of Chronic Diseases:

(a)Chronic diseases take relatively a long period of time and affect our general health, growth.
(b) They increase stress in adults, make us feel tired all the time.
(c)They increase or decrease weight. They can also affect our day to day activities and the ability to
learn new things. Hence, they have long-term effects on health than acute diseases.
(B) Infectious Diseases and Non-Infectious Diseases: Diseases which are easily transmitted
from one person to another, are called infectious diseases. These diseases are caused by
microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, worms, and protozoans.
Diseases that do not transmit from one person to another are called non-Infectious disease.
Examples are hypertension, diabetes, cancer, asthma, etc.
(C) Congenital disease and Acquired disease: Congenital disease can be defined as structural or
functional anomalies that occur during intrauterine life. A disease that appears in an individual over
the course of their lifetime is called an acquired disease.
(D) Organ-Specific And Tissue specific Manifestations: When the microbes infect an entire organ
such as the lung, kidney or intestine it is called an organ-specific manifestation of the microbes. On the
other hand, when the microbes reside in a particular tissue type and manifest an infection, it is called a
tissue-specific manifestation.
CAUSES OF DISEASES: Diseases are caused by: (i)Pathogens like virus, bacteria, fungi, protozoans or
worms. (ii)Poor health and under nourishment.(iii) Hereditary and genetic disorder.(iv)Lack of proper
treatment of immunization. (v)Environmental pollution (air, water etc.)
A wide range of organisms belonging to bacteria, viruses, fungi, protozoans, helminths, etc., could
cause diseases in human. Such disease-causing organisms are called pathogens.
Infectious Agents Diseases

Viruses Common cold, influenza, measles, chicken pox, AIDS, Hepatitis-B
etc.
Bacteria Cholera, typhoid, TB, tetanus, anthrax, food poisoning etc.
Fungi Skin infections
Protozoan Malaria, kala-azar, amoebic dysentery, sleeping sickness
Worms Intestinal infections, elephantiasis
Some common infectious diseases and their causative agents:
 Typhoid is caused by a pathogenic bacterium Salmonella typhi.
 Pneumonia is caused by bacteria like Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenza.
 Common cold is caused by Rhino viruses.
 Malaria is caused by different species of Plasmodium (P. vivax, P. malaria and P. falciparum).
 Elephantiasis or filariasis is caused the filarial worms Wuchereria.
 AIDS is caused by HIV (human immunodeficiency virus)
Means of spread of Infectious disease:
a) Air-borne diseases: Microbial agents can move from an affected person to someone else through
air. It occurs through the little droplets thrown out by an infected person who sneezes or coughs.
Someone standing close by can breathe in these droplets, and microbes get chance to start a new
infection .For Example :Common cold, pneumonia, tuberculosis
b) Water-borne diseases: They can be spread through water. If the excreta from someone suffering
from an infectious gut disease such as cholers or amoebiasis gets mixed with drinking water used by
people living nearby. The cholera infected bacteria will enter new hosts through the water they drink
and cause disease.
c) Sexually Transmitted diseases: These diseases are transmitted by sexual contact from one partner
to other. For examples: Syphilis, AIDS. ( AIDS virus can also spread through blood to blood contact with
infected people or infected mother to her baby during pregnancy or breast feeding.)
d) Through vectors: Vectors are carrier of a disease or infection. These animals carry infecting agents
from a sick person to another host. Mosquitoes are vector of a disease called malaria.
Principles of treatment: The treatment of infectious diseases consists of two steps. They are (i) To
reduce the effects of the disease and (ii) To kill the microbes which caused the disease.
(i) To reduce the effects of the disease:- This can be done by taking medicines to bring down the
effects of the disease like fever pain or loose motions etc. and by taking bed rest to conserve our
energy.
(ii) To kill the microbes:- This can be done by taking suitable antibiotics and drugs which kills the
microbes and the disease is cured.
Prevention Of Infectious Diseases: There are two ways for prevention of diseases. They are (i)
General ways (ii) Specific ways.
(i)General ways:- Infectious diseases can be prevented by public health hygiene measures that
reduce exposure to infectious agents.
( ii) Specific ways of prevention:- The specific ways to prevent infectious disease is immunisation by
taking vaccines. Vaccines provide immunity from infectious diseases like tetanus, diphtheria, whooping
cough ,measles, polio etc.
( Our body has an immune system which fights microbial infection. When this system first sees an
infectious microbe it kills the microbe and remembers it. So if the microbe enters the body the next time
it responds more vigorously. Vaccines mimic infectious microbe and strengthen our immune system and
protect the body from infectious diseases.)
Note:-
 Immune system and immunity: The immune system is a complex network of organs, cells and
proteins that defends the body against infections and other disease. The ability of the host to
fight the disease-causing organisms conferred by the immune system is called immunity.
 Immunization: Immunization is the process whereby a person is made resistant to a disease,
typically by the administration of a vaccine.

Health and Disease

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Health: Health can be defined as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being.

Basic conditions for good health:

Effect Of Chronic Diseases:

Infectious Agents Diseases

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