GENERAL CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONS USED IN COMMUNITY MEDICINES :

Community medicine # It is a branch of medicine dealing with healthcare issues affecting communities as a whole.
# The Art and sciences of preventing the diseases and promoting the health .
Health WHO [1948] definition of Health:
# Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well being, and not merely an absence of
disease or infirmity.
Diseases and illness # Disease is something that needs to be cured, such as infection, injury, toxic exposure, cell degeneration,
etc. Illness is something that needs to be managed such as feelings of pain, discomfort, distress,
weakness, fatigue.
Infection and diseases It is the only Entry of infection organisms in the body of humans and animals while Disease is when
infectious organism enters and cause damage in the body.
Contamination The presences of an Infectious Agent on the surface of Living organism or Non living organism is called
Contamination
Infestation vs The term infestation mean parasitic diseases caused by animals such as arthropods (i.e. mites, ticks, and
infection: lice) and worms while The parasitic diseases caused by protozoa, fungi, bacteria, and viruses, which are
called infections.
contentious disease #It is an infectious disease (such as influenza, measles, or tuberculosis) that is transmitted by contact with
an infected individual or infected bodily discharges
Communicable and Communicable diseases Non communicable diseases
non communicable Diseases spread from one to another person. Can be Diseases cannot be transmitted from one to another
diseases spread through water, air etc person
Pathogens that are highly infectious and vectors Here, the causative are allergies, malnutrition, illness
transmit these diseases due to internal factors, lifestyle changes,
environmental changes, abnormalities in cell
proliferation etc
 Here causing Agent is virus and bacteria No agents
Example Typhoid, Tuberculosis, Malaria, Cholera Allergies, heart diseases, diabetes
Sporadic Endemic  AN EPIDEMIC is a disease that affects a large number of people within a community, population, or
pandemic and region.
epidemic  A PANDEMIC is an epidemic that’s spread over multiple countries or continents.
 ENDEMIC is something that belongs to a particular people or country.
 SPORADIC Occurring at irregular intervals or in isolated or scattered places; having no pattern or
order.
Exotic It is transfering of Diseases to yhe place where it is not occur. For example Dengue virus is exotic from
srilanka to pakistan.
Zoonosis Zoonosis occurs when diseases are transferred from animals to people. Zoonotic diseases include: anthrax
(from sheep) rabies (from rodents and other mammals)
Eradication vs Elimination Eradication
Elimination # It is the Reduction of the Disease to 0 new cases # Eradication is the permant and complete world
in a geographical area. wide reduction to 0 new cases of the diseases.
When a Diseases is Eliminated that Diseases is When a disease is Eradicated so that diseases is
only absent in a certain Geographical Area. Removed from whole World.
Eg Elimination of Measles in srilanka World wide Eradication of small Pox.