Top Ten Diseases
Ischemic heart disease is also known as coronary artery disease or "hardening of the arteries." Cholesterol plaque can build up in the arteries of the heart and cause "ischemia," which means the heart is not getting enough blood flow and oxygen. If the plaque blocks an artery, a heart attack can result.
Knowing the signs of a stroke is the first step in stroke prevention. A stroke, sometimes called a "brain attack," occurs when blood flow to an area in the brain is cut off. The brain cells, deprived of the oxygen and glucose needed to survive, die.
Lower respiratory infectious disease is the fifth-leading cause of death and the combined leading infectious cause of death, being responsible for 2·74 million deaths worldwide. This is generally similar to estimates in the 2010 Global Burden of Disease study.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease refers to two long-term lung diseases -- chronic bronchitis and emphysema-- that often occur together. COPD makes it hard for you to breathe. Tubes called airways carry air into and out of your lungs.
In lung cancer, the most common endocrine syndromes are SIADH, Cushing’s syndrome, and gynecomastia. Complications of lung cancer include emphysema, bronchial obstruction, atelectasis, pulmonary abscesses, pleuritis, bronchitis, and compression on the vena cava.
Diabetes mellitus (or diabetes) is a chronic, lifelong condition that affects your body's ability to use the energy found in food. There are three major types of diabetes: type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, and gestational diabetes.
Hepatitis B is an infection of your liver. It can cause scarring of the organ, liver failure, and cancer. It can be fatal if it isn’t treated. It’s spread when people come in contact with the blood, open sores, or body fluids of someone who has the hep B virus. The good news is that most cases of the disease don’t last a long time.
Malaria is a life-threatening disease. It’s typically transmitted through the bite of an infected Anopheles mosquito. Infected mosquitoes carry the Plasmodium parasite.
Symptoms. Long-term infection with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) is known as chronic hepatitis C. Chronic hepatitis C is usually a "silent" infection for many years, until the virus damages the liver enough to cause the signs and symptoms of liver disease.
Dengue (pronounced DENgee) fever is a painful, debilitating mosquito-borne disease caused by any one of four closely related dengue viruses. These viruses are related to the viruses that cause West Nile infection and yellow fever.
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB). Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections do not have symptoms, in which case it is known as latent tuberculosis.
Before smallpox was eradicated, it was a serious infectious disease caused by the variola virus. It was contagious—meaning, it spread from one person to another. People who had smallpox had a fever and a distinctive, progressive skin rash.
"No Ordinary Flu" a comic book of the 1918 flu pandemic published by Seattle & King County Public Health "Closing in on a Killer: Scientists Unlock Clues to the Spanish Influenza Virus" An online exhibit from the National Museum of Health and Medicine.
Plague is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Symptoms include fever, weakness and headache. Usually this begins one to seven days after exposure.
Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) is a rare and deadly disease most commonly affecting people and nonhuman primates (monkeys, gorillas, and chimpanzees). It is caused by an infection with one of five known Ebola virus species, four of which can cause disease in people: Ebola virus was first discovered in ...
Cholera is caused by a number of types of Vibrio cholerae, with some types producing more severe disease than others. It is spread mostly by unsafe water and unsafe food that has been contaminated with human feces containing the bacteria.
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, known as MRSA, is a type of Staphylococcus aureus that is resistant to the antibiotic methicillin and other drugs in this class. Staph infections are treated with topical, oral, or intravenous antibiotics, depending upon the type of infection.
Group A Streptococcus (group A strep) is a type of bacterium that can cause many different infections that range from minor illnesses to very serious and deadly diseases. Learn more about the signs, symptoms, and risk factors for these infections, as well as how they are treated and prevented, below ...
Pseudomonas infection is caused by strains of bacteria found widely in the environment; the most common type causing infections in humans is called Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
You also have higher odds of getting C. diff if you’re dealing with a condition such as colorectal cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, or a weakened immune system caused by cancer treatment or another health problem.
E. coli (Escherichia coli), is a type of bacteria that normally lives in your intestines. It’s also found in the gut of some animals. Most types of E. coli are harmless and even help keep your digestive tract healthy.
Listeria, caused by a germ that can grow despite refrigeration, is one source of food poisoning. Though in healthy people it doesn’t usually cause lasting harm, it threatens pregnant women and their babies, people with weak immune systems, and seniors.