A disorder that blocks the customary function of the entire body is described as a disease. There are three kinds of diseases.
They are, intrinsic diseases, extrinsic illnesses and not known illnesses.

Intrinsic illnesses are the ones, which come from within one’s own body. Some samples of intrinsic diseases are diabetes (Kind one and Kind two), hemophilia, goiter, pellagra, rickets, heart murmurs, lupus and arthritis rheumatoid. Intrinsic diseases aren’t contagious even though some, like hemophilia can be inherited.

Extrinsic diseases are those caused by factors which exist outside an individual’s body. Samples of extrinsic diseases would be bacterial infections for example anthrax, cholera, pertussis, tuberculosis and urinary tract infections. They also include viral infections like, AIDS, dengue fever, hepatitis, influenza, mumps, smallpox and yellow fever. Additionally, there are fungal infections, which include blastomycosis, cryptococcosis and histoplasmosis. Oh yes, let’s not forget parasitic infections ranging from cysticercosis to trypanosomiasis. Finally, you will find the prion infectious illnesses, only discovered within the 1960’s the scientific community is still struggling to understand the disease sufficiently to discover a cure. Our knowledge at this point is very basic. Prions are primarily composed of protein and propagate by folding abnormally, creating thereby, a structure able to convert normal protein into an abnormally structured form. Some chilling examples of these diseases include Alpers syndrome, Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease), and Kuru. All known prion illnesses attack the central nervous program and/or brain. All are fatal.

The final category is unknown illnesses. This one gets a little confusing. It isn’t necessarily that the illness is unknown, but rather that its cause is not known. Prime examples of these are Alzheimer’s disease, chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia.

Even though almost all deaths globally are because of extrinsic illnesses, that’s only true in the developing world. Within the developed globe, 8 of the top 10 causes of death are intrinsic diseases. This is readily attributable to much better nutrition, superior health care, much better environmental conditions and longer life expectancy.

Perhaps most frightening are the prion extrinsic illnesses. We have an insufficient understanding of how they’re transmitted, how they propagate and much more importantly how to cure them.

They’re robust! They are resistant to ultraviolet light and can be rendered harmless by only the most rigorous sterilization process. In many respects, they are one of the most insidious, attacking the nervous system and brain; death is slow and painful for the victim and the victim’s family.

As you can see earlier, this disease was only discovered in the 1960’s, and not even named until 1982. Prion diseases aren’t getting a fantastic deal of attention from the medical researchers, drug manufacturers or the government. Victims don’t exist in great numbers.

My fear is, that like AIDS, a prion disease will rear its head in a surprise attack on an unprepared population. Like AIDS, the developing globe will likely be the hardest hit. We should focus much more attention on this new threat. We must learn from the mistakes of the AIDS outbreak. We must be prepared!

Winston P. McDonald enjoys writing for Uniformhaven.com which sells cherokee scrubs, baby phat scrubs and urbane scrubs as well as a host of additional products.