Concepts of Health and Disease

Question 1

What are the three classifications of disease

Answer 1

• anatomical
• physiological
• pathological

Question 2

What is an anatomical disease

Answer 2

a disease based on the organs affected
eg. heart, brain and liver disease

Question 3

What is a physiological disease

Answer 3

a disease that affects the process or a function
eg. metabolic, digestive or respiratory disease

Question 4

What is a pathological disease

Answer 4

a disease where classification is based upon the nature of the disease at cellular/tissue level
eg. neoplastic/inflammatory disease

Question 5

What are the four different types of disease

Answer 5

• deficiency diseases
• genetic diseases
• physiological diseases
• infectious diseases

Question 6

What is a deficiency disease

Answer 6

a disease caused by a lack of essential nutrients in diets, commonly linked with malnutrition
eg. scurvy, anaemia, rickets

Question 7

What is a genetic disease

Answer 7

a disease that occurs due to genetic mutation, that can be inherited or acquired
eg. down syndrome, haemophilia, cystic fibrosis

Question 8

What is a physiological disease

Answer 8

a disease that occurs as a result of malfunctioning of the organs or systems of the body
eg. asthma, diabetes, multiple sclerosis

Question 9

What is an infectious disease

Answer 9

a disease caused by pathogens
- can be from person to person, insects to humans, animals to humans

Question 10

What are the seven different types of pathogens

Answer 10

• bacteria
• viruses
• protozoa
• fungi
  -helminths (parasitic worms)
• ectoparasites
• prions

Question 11

What is bacteria

Answer 11

• a prokaryotic single-celled organism
• grouped by gram positive or negative
• has different shapes
• not all pathogenic
• Streptacoccus pneumoniae, Escherichia coli

Question 12

What is a virus

Answer 12

structure
- DNA, capsid, tegument, envelope, glycoproteins
- HIV, measles, influenza

Question 13

What is a protozoa

Answer 13

• unicellular eukaryotes
• account for vast global diseases
• eg infected RBC with Plasmodium vivax

Question 14

What is fungi

Answer 14

• fungal infection (mycoses) from injury/inhalation
• cutaneous infections on skin, nails or hair
• eg ringworm, athlete’s foot, mouth thrush

Question 15

What are helminths

Answer 15

• eukaryotic multicellular endoparasites
• roundworms (nematodes) and flatworms (platyhelminthes)
• has evasive strategies to survive in host

Question 16

What are ectoparasites

Answer 16

• organisms that are found on the outer-surface of the host
• arthropods: insects (6 legs) and arachnids (8 legs)
• eg fleas (pulicosis), lice (pediculosis) and ticks (lime disease)

Question 17

What are prions

Answer 17

• misfolded infectious proteins
• can cause other proteins to misfold most abundantly in the brain
• have no genetic material, known as TSEs

Question 18

What are the different infection transmission routes

Answer 18

1. direct person to person: mother to child, handshake, sexual contact/touch
2. indirect person to person: bloodborne, airborne, faecal-oral, waterborne, foodborne, fomite
3. animal to human (zoonotic): toxoplasmosis, trichinosis, rabies
4. insect to humans: vector born eg Malaria (mosquitoes), Leishmaniasis (sandflies)

Question 19

What is mortality

Answer 19

deaths in a population
mortality rate: how many deaths occur in a population over a given time

eg. infant mortality rate, under 5 mortality rate and maternal ration

Question 20

What is morbidity

Answer 20

illnesses, diseases or disorders

DALYs (disability adjusted life years) are used to quantify the overall burden of disease

DALYs = Years of life lost (YLL) + Years lived with disability (YLD)