Infectious and Non-infectious Disease: Introduction
A thermometer might help tell you if a person is sick.
What is disease?
An infectious disease is a harmful condition that is spread from one living thing to another or through the environment. In this unit, you will learn about various infectious diseases that have an impact on health around the world. Lets examine the major disease groups.
American microbiologist Rene DuBois commented in his book, The Mirage of Health, that "We will always have disease; that there will never be a time when mankind is disease-free." He made this comment in 1968, and it appears that he was correct. Even though we have been successful in eradicating smallpox as well as managing other diseases like polio, newer diseases such as HIV/AIDS and Bird Flu have appeared since he made that statement.
