Pathogenic bacteria are those that invade the human body and cause disease. Once in the body, the bacteria multiply potentially causing cellular damage. Many pathogenic bacteria produce toxins and other proteins that accelerate tissue invasion and...
Food manufacturers use preservatives, such as antioxidant and antimicrobial chemicals, to sustain the freshness of products and prevent the growth of pathological microorganisms. Some preservatives may cause medical conditions or diseases. Read...
Your posture is considered proper if your joints are not bent and your spine is aligned. A variety of ailments bring about problems with posture. The results of these conditions range from mild postural misalignment to severe disability. Most...
Peyronie's disease basically amounts to a bend in the penis when it is erect. The bend is prompted by a layer of fibrous scar tissue (plaque) that develops beneath the skin on the either the upper or lower side of the penis. Peyronie's disease...
People with thyroid disease have a variety of symptoms with a variety of causes. The unique butterfly-shaped gland, located in the mid-lower region of the neck, produces thyroid hormones responsible for regulating growth and metabolism. Too much...
As the largest organ of the body, the skin is a common site of disease. Serving as the body's interface with the environment, the skin is vulnerable to an array of infectious diseases that occur throughout life. Bacteria, viruses and fungi cause...
Huntington's disease is a degenerative disease of the brain that destroys specific brain cells. According to the Cleveland Clinic, people with the disease progress to develop uncontrollable movements and suffer mental deterioration and emotional...
Asthma is a chronic condition of the lungs consisting of irritated airways that become inflamed and swollen with an increasing accumulation of mucus. When airways get inflamed, an asthmatic experiences episodes of difficulty breathing, including...
Thyroid disease occurs when the thyroid gland, located in the neck, is not functioning properly. The thyroid produces and releases two hormones, thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3), which regulate the body's metabolism (the rate at which...
Our bodies consist of 206 bones that have a primary function to provide support. The bones are also important for storing minerals and producing new blood cells. Although diseases of the bone are not a common primary source of morbidity, they do...
Crohn's disease is one of two chronic inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) affecting the digestive system, the other being ulcerative colitis. These two disorders of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract have similar signs and symptoms, including diarrhea,...
Smoking tobacco products is among the six major risk factors for coronary heart disease that you can control or modify. The other factors include high cholesterol, high blood pressure, physical inactivity, obesity and diabetes. Smoking is the...
Alzheimer's disease is a neurodegenerative disease and a leading cause of dementia. It is the sixth most common cause of death in the United States, causing approximately 74,600 deaths in 2007, according to the Centers for Disease Control and...
Active and passive cigarette smoking affects the human body in ways that lead to serious illness and death. After determining which health problems tobacco use causes, the Office of the U.S. Surgeon General evaluated cumulative research on the...
Each cell within the human body contains DNA, made up of a sequence of billions of chemicals called base pairs. The sequence of specific base pairs codes for thousands of genes found on two sets of 23 chromosomes--large pieces of DNA, each...
Sometimes a genetic mutation will cause an irregular protein to form, which can lead to significant health problems. One such disorder, known as Huntington's disease, results in the death of brain cells that control movement throughout the body....
Huntington, or Huntington's, disease is a progressive neurodegenerative genetic disorder, which typically becomes noticeable at middle age, and is characterized by problems with muscle coordination, combined with cognitive decline and dementia,...
Crohn's disease, also called enteritis or ileitis, causes swelling and inflammation of the lining of the digestive or gastrointestinal (GI) tract. The swelling affects all of the tissue layers of the intestines, causing pain and frequent diarrhea....
The kidneys are vital organs that filter the blood and help remove waste and excess water from the body through the urine. If the kidneys become damaged and are unable to filter and reprocess blood, waste may build up in the body and become toxic,...
Vascular disease refers to narrowing of the arteries and restricted blood flow. Coronary artery disease, stroke and peripheral vascular disease or disease of the arteries in the extremities are considered types of vascular disease. Smoking, high...
The Kawasaki Disease Foundation posts that this childhood illness currently affects more than 4,200 children per year and is the leading cause of early life-acquired heart conditions. The onset generally occurs among boys of Asian or Pacific...
Approximately 500,000 people in the United States have Crohn's disease, according to the FamilyDoctor.org. Crohn's disease is a type of inflammatory bowel disease that causes inflammation of the lining of the gastrointestinal and digestive tract....
According to the American Dental Association, gum diseases occur because bacteria and germs settle in the small gaps between your teeth and where you gums meet your teeth. Untreated gum disease can cause these gaps to become larger, which may...
The thyroid, a butterfly-shaped gland in the lower front of the neck, regulates the body's metabolism. Graves' disease, a defect in the immune system, is the most common reason for hyperthyroidism, which is an overactive thyroid, according to the...
Celiac disease is a disease of the digestive system that alters the intestine and disrupts nutrient absorption. According to the National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse (NDDIC), those suffering from celiac disease cannot tolerate the...
Renal disease, also known as kidney disease, is a decline in kidney function that leads to the buildup of waste products and excess fluid in the blood. Signs and symptoms of renal disease include fatigue, itching, nausea, vomiting, easy bruising...
The kidneys are two bean-shaped organs that filter waste from the blood and maintain fluid, electrolyte and acid-base balance in the body. The causes of kidney disease can be trauma, infection, or genetic disorders that damage the filtering units...
There are many factors that can cause pulmonary or lung disease. There are many types of lung disease including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder and tuberculosis; people with lung disease often have a difficult time breathing. If all...
Alzheimer's disease is a progressive form of dementia characterized by the loss of memory and cognitive function. The loss of neural cells associated with Alzheimer's disease is believed to be caused by the accumulation of beta amyloid plaques...
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