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How are diseases classified?

Diseases can be broadly classified based on two factors:

• Duration

• Causative factors

Let us look at each type one by one.

• Duration: Duration tells us the average time duration of a particular disease. Depending on the duration, diseases can be further divided into Acute and Chronic

Acute Diseases	Chronic Diseases
Diseases which last for a shorter duration are called Acute diseases. Example: Common cold	Diseases which last for a longer duration are called Chronic diseases. Example: Tuberculosis
Acute diseases do not cause much damage.	Chronic diseases generally cause severe damage and have a drastic effect.

• Causative factors: Causative agents tell us about the agents that transmit disease. Depending on the causative agents, diseases can be further divided into Infectious and Non- infectious

 

Infectious diseases	Non-infectious diseases
Diseases caused by microbes or microorganisms are called Infectious diseases.	Non-infectious diseases are not caused by microbes or microorganisms.
These diseases can spread from one person to another through infectious agents. Example: Common cold	These diseases cannot spread from one person to another. These diseases are mostly genetic and therefore passed down from generation to generation. Example: Diabetes

What is an Infectious agent?

Infectious agents are those that have the capability of spreading diseases from an infected person to a non-infected person.