Glossary

Author: Glossary

  • Disease burden

    The total effect of a disease on an individual or on a society.  

  • Subacute disease

    A disease in which symptoms are less pronounced but more prolonged than in an acute disease; this type is intermediate between acute and chronic disease.  

  • Secondary disease

    A disease caused by another disease, as when obesity causes diseases of the joints and muscles of the lower limbs due to the increased trauma of transporting and supporting the added weight.  

  • Neglected disease

    Any disease affecting a large number of persons (especially in developing nations) that receives little attention from governments, medical researchers, and pharmaceutical companies. The term is used to raise social awareness of the illness among public health practitioners and citizens of Western nations. Examples of neglected diseases include Chagas’ disease, leishmaniasis, malaria, malnutrition, sleeping sickness,…

  • Hereditary diseases

    A disease due to genetic factors transmitted from parent to offspring. Also known as an inherited disease. A disease caused by abnormal chromosomes or by defective genes inherited by a child from one or both parents.  

  • Anticipated disease

    A disease that may be predicted to occur in individuals with a certain genetic, physical, or environmental predisposition.  

  • Disdiadochokinesia

    The inability to make finely coordinated antagonistic movements, as when quickly supinating and pronating the hand.  

  • Two-point discrimination

    The ability to localize two points of pressure on the surface of the skin and to identify them as discrete sensations.  

  • Tonal discrimination

    The ability to distinguish one tone from another. This is dependent on the integrity of the transverse fibers of the basilar membrane of the organ of Corti.  

  • One-point discrimination

    The ability to locate specifically a point of pressure on the surface of the skin.