Disease Overview

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Disease Overview Objectives

Provide examples of non-infectious and infectious diseases.
List the non-infectious and infectious diseases that cause the most adult human deaths each year.
Describe global conditions that increase the risk of disease occurrence.

The rest of BI 103 Focus is on disease content & finishing the final portfolio

Week 8

Both of this week’s media pieces could be good contenders for the final portfolio, as well as answers to this week’s quiz questions. Keep adding your best work to the portfolio, including a few lines that explain how the pieces addresses each outcome.

Week 9

One of the media pieces will be an analysis of your body data. Wrap up your weeks of body data collection. The data analysis could be a good piece to match one of the three skill outcomes in the final portfolio.

Week 10

One of the media pieces is writing the introduction page for the final portfolio. As soon as your last (Module 10) quiz and media pieces are submitted, all that will remain is completing and turning in the final portfolio by Wednesday of week 11.

The rest of BI 103 focuses on human diseases. This guide provides a perspective on the non-infectious diseases that have been mentioned throughout the course. The remaining guides focus on infectious diseases, including COVID-19.

Before COVID-19, these were the most significant causes of adult deaths. The numbers are approximations: not all deaths have an identified cause and not all countries report the same information (source: WHO.int)

In the United States in 2021, COVID-19 surpassed all of the other infectious (communicable) diseases to become the third largest disease cause of adult death, after cardiovascular diseases and cancers. Infectious disease coverage, including COVID-19, begins in the next guide.

Non-infectious, also called non-communicable, diseases are typically not spread from one individual to the next. Contact with another human, organism, or virus does not give you the disease.

From the course so far, list five examples of non-infectious diseases.

Examples include cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s Disease, and most cancers. These diseases occur associated with age, genetics, environmental factors, and chance. As a result, they can vary significantly from one person to the next.

Non-infectious diseases like hypertension (high blood pressure) can impact multiple organs. This is another reason why individual’s symptoms can vary significantly.

During this video, determine which organ systems are most linked to adult deaths.

Stroke is a leading cause of adult deaths. This is an opportunity to recall what you have learned about this disease.

Globally, some disease risks for infectious and non-infectious diseases have been persistent for decades.

Significant Disease Risks

Underweight

Insufficient nutrients to sustain homeostasis.

Iron Deficiency

Insufficient iron reduces the amount of red blood cells that can carry oxygen throughout the body.

Unsafe Water

Unclean and insufficient drinking water, cooking water, and bathing water threatens transmission of pathogens and also organ damage.

Indoor Smoke

Fumes and particulates increase risk of respiratory diseases.

Alcohol

Alcohol consumption increases risk for several potentially deadly diseases.

Tobacco Products

Cigarette smoking, chewing tobacco, and other behaviors increase incidence of a variety of potentially lethal diseases.

Hypertension

High blood pressure can cause vascular damage to multiple organs.

High Cholesterol

High blood cholesterol can lead to arterial atherosclerosis and increased risk of cardiovascular diseases.

Obesity

Increased obesity correlates with increased risk for a variety of diseases.

Unsafe Sex

Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), particularly AIDS, remain a significant threat.

For many non-infectious diseases, diet and exercise can reduce incidence. This video provides some of the current recommendations. The amount of exercise is more than many people regularly get.

This video reinforces two important concepts that have previously appeared in the course.

The next section provides a context for the various cancers that can occur in the human body.

Check your knowledge. Can you:

provide examples of non-infectious and infectious diseases?
list the non-infectious and infectious diseases that cause the most adult human deaths each year?
describe global conditions that increase the risk of disease occurrence?

Go back to the Non-Infectious Diseases Guide Overview

Go forward to the Cancer Page

Non-Infectious Diseases Lecture Guide Contents

The material from this guide and corresponding lecture is assessed on the weekly quiz.