Leukemia (Blood Cancer)

 

The moment a baby is born, it is attacked by several microbes present around.

But not all organisms are successful in their attack. However, the body does not always win the battle either!

There are many infections that successfully infect us, irrespective of our age groups.

And not only this, but many times it happens that the same infection repeats its occurrence!

Take the common cold for example!

It is one of the most common infectious diseases caused by a virus known as Rhinovirus.

And what do we mean by an infectious disease? The term “infectious” stands for “liability of transmission”. And the term “disease” literally means the body is “NOT AT EASE”.

So a Disease can be defined as an illness caused by numerous factors, which withholds the body from functioning normally. There is one more concept similar to this, which we need to know. It is called a “Disorder”. And what does that mean?  Well, the term literally means the body is not able to work properly, or simply, is “out of order”. So are the two conditions different? 

Well, technically yes!

Diseases are mainly caused by pathogens. That is, external agents like viruses, fungi, bacteria, and so on, enter the body and create problems. On the other hand, disorders are caused by some of the other defects in the functioning of certain cells or tissues. 

Take diabetes for example. It can occur due to either improper production or improper uptake of insulin by the cells. Now, diseases are usually infectious or transmissible whereas disorders are not! There are many sources that use the term “non-infectious diseases” synonymously with “disorders”. But what are these “non-infectious diseases” by the way? Non-infectious diseases, as the name suggests, are those diseases that do not spread with mere contact.

So logically they can be used interchangeably. But for now, we will not get into the details of this classification of the types of Diseases. Rather, we will have a look at examples of each type! For studying infectious diseases in detail, we will have a look at some known diseases like Malaria, Typhoid, and a few others.

On the other hand, for studying disorders, or say the non-infectious ones, we will have a look at an important example like Cancer.

Let us have a look at each one in detail in the upcoming blogs! 

Stay tuned