What is an acute disease?

Answer 1

is a disease with either or both of: # a rapid onset, as in acute infection # a short course

Answer 2

An acute disease (as opposed to chronic disease) is medically defined as an adverse condition that appears suddenly, progresses rapidly, and is of relatively short duration. For example, acute bronchitis usually presents itself over a course of less than a week and usually can be cured within a week. Chronic bronchitis usually comes on during a period of years of respiratory damage and is usually a permanent condition. Acute pain appears suddenly and is soon alleviated, while chronic pain goes on for a lengthy period of time. Occasionally the term "subacute" is used for a condition that is not lengthy enough to be considered chronic but is more drawn out than what is typically considered acute. Often people get the mistaken impression that "acute" and "severe" are the same; but a condition can be acute without being severe, and can be severe even though chronic.

Answer 3

Acute inflammation is the body's short-term immune response to injuries, infections, microorganisms and foreign stimuli. It helps us to fight off potentially life-threatening viruses and bacteria so that healing can take place. Without inflammation, it is suffice to say that wounds will take a long time to heal and may even kill us.

But when acute inflammation fails to turn off and continues to simmer for extended period of time, it can turn against us. This is known as chronic inflammation. Inflammation can become chronic when there is a persistent stimulus. The stimulus might come from free radicals in processed foods. It might be a food allergy or intolerance that inflames your digestive tract, or a low-grade, lingering infection from an old injury or illness. The persistent stimulus that causes chronic inflammation may also be continual stress. It may be a growing body burden of heavy metals, pesticides, and chemicals. The EPA estimates there are more than 20,000 chemicals that your body cannot metabolize. Unable to be excreted from the body, chemicals find their way into your liver, and then migrate to fat cells throughout your body where they are stored. Studies show that most of us have between 400 and 800 chemical residues stored in our cells.

With chronic inflammation, the inflammatory cells continually attack healthy ones.

While we easily recognize the signs of accute, external inflammation, chronic, internal inflammation may fall below the threshold of perceived pain. You may have become accustomed to your daily symptoms, or you may not feel sick, but a fire is quietly smoldering within you, upsetting the delicate balance among all of the major systems: endocrine, central nervous, digestive, and cardiovascular/respiratory. In a healthy body, these systems communicate with each another. With chronic inflammation, that communication becomes distorted. Lack of energy and general sluggishness, regular digestive discomfort, accumulated belly fat that is difficult to shed, and dry, irritated, or acne-ridden skin are just a few of the indicators of an internal imbalance. A continual craving for sugar or other junk food is also a red flag.

Chronic, low-grade inflammation breaks down healthy cells, blood vessels and tissues, and has been associated with many degenerative diseases, including Heart disease, rheumatoid Arthritis, Alzheimer's, inflammatory bowel disease, cancer, diabetes, asthma, osteoporosis, Crohn's disease, and ulcerative colitis, to name a few. It may even be linked to depression and suicide.

Chronic inflammation has a damaging effect on arteries, which can lead to heart attacks, strokes, and kidney failure. Microorganisms, free radicals, and trans fats attack the linings of blood vessels, causing inflammation. Immune cells are dispatched to fight the damage, and then and then cholesterol and white blood cells are deposited over the wound like a bandage, which eventually leads to a decrease in the vessels' diameter. This decrease in diameter leads to decreased blood flow to essential organs like your brain (which could lead to stroke), heart (which could lead to heart attack) and kidneys (which could lead to kidney failure). In addition, the inflammation remains active under the "bandage," causing the inflamed area of the blood vessel to bulge. In time, a small part of the blood vessel may give way, and your body must form a blood clot to close it. If the clot breaks loose and goes to your brain, you have a stroke. If it goes to your heart, you have a heart attack.

Chronic inflammation depresses the immune system and helps promote the formation of cancerous tumors. Chronic inflammation can predispose you to cancer, as demonstrated by the association between chronic inflammatory bowel diseases and the increased risk of colon cancer. The longer the inflammation persists, the higher the risk of associated cancers.

Chronic inflammation destroys nerve cells in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. In your digestive tract, inflammation causes the pain and diarrhea of Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis. Inflammation in the inside lining of the intestines can lead to a syndrome called "leaky gut," allowing bacteria and their toxins, incompletely digested fats, waste, and foreign proteins, including cow's milk proteins, to leak into the blood stream. Your body makes antibodies to these invading particles. Unfortunately, the attack is not isolated to the invading proteins. Proteins of similar structure are also attacked in your joints, which can destroy cartilage and cause inflammation with swelling and crippling pain known as arthritis. Leaky gut can also lead to inflammatory bowel disease, type 1 diabetes, Allergies, asthma, and autism. These diseases, where the body attacks itself, are referred to as autoimmune diseases. In Rheumatoid Arthritis, an autoimmune disorder, the inflammation is systemic, attacking your entire body. Inflammation of your kidneys, known as nephritis, may cause kidney failure or high blood pressure. Unchecked inflammation in your pancreas can cause both pancreatitis, a potentially fatal disease, and type 1 diabetes, in which the pancreatic islet cells that produce insulin are destroyed. Inflammation of the small airways that transport air to your lungs may cause asthma or chronic bronchitis.

When you gain weight, more and larger fat cells produce more biochemically inflammatory compounds. The ensuing inflammation promotes insulin resistance, a central feature of such as metabolic syndrome and subsequent type 2 diabetes.

Answer 4

is a disease with either or both of: # a rapid onset, as in acute infection # a short course