Disease And Illness

[albaqwerty]

I'm sure there is a difference and it probably been asked and answered before.

There was an item on the news at lunch-time when it was mentioned that the person had the disease called cancer.
To my mind, that is an illness (can be a very cruel one)
A disease is contagious surely?

I know, pedantics etc. but was just wondering.

[emmie]

cancer can kill, i have never thought of it as a disease.

[LazyGun]

An illness is the human response to a disease; A disease is the medical cause of the illness, if that makes any sense ;)

In its most general definition, a disease is an alteration or imbalance in the normal workings of the body or the mind....

[China Doll]

'a disease is an alteration or imbalance in the normal workings of the body or the mind'

^^^ That being the case, today I'm diseased! :c)

[albaqwerty]

exaclt Em x Thank you.

I've had to read that a few time LG, but I do finally 'get it' xx
You are wonderful btw.

[LazyGun]

@CD LoL Surely not.

- perhaps the definition of disease I offered is a bit too general ;)

Strike out imbalance, insert pathological before the word alteration - that might work a bit better :)

[albaqwerty]

lol, CD, I'm working on that this evening during dinner time :-D
A nice chilled white will definitely imbalance me brain cell

[emmie]

my o/h, BIL, several friends, and the odd acquaintance didn't have a disease, they had cancer that killed them.

[albaqwerty]

ooh, now pathology, it's not the perceived concept of pathos and death, it's the understanding of thingies and how they work isn't it?

(I only did higher Biology many moons ago)

[LazyGun]

alba - thats a very kind comment, thank you.

And surely you jest when you refer to a single brain cell? :)

[China Doll]

Ahhh... I feel better now... thanks LG ;o)

[albaqwerty]

Em, my dad and his brothers died of different forms of cancer, to my mind that was an illness, not a disease, hence the question.

[LazyGun]

@Em You are confusing me somewhat. Why are you attempting to distinguish between cancer and disease? Cancer IS a disease.....

From the dictionary
"can·cer
/ˈkansər/
Noun
The disease caused by an uncontrolled division of abnormal cells in a part of the body.
A malignant growth or tumor resulting from such a division of cells."

[Peter Pedant]

having had a few of both myself.... used interchangeably


are you sure you're not having a senior moment over contagious/infectious ?

[emmie]

i have never thought of it as one, that is all

[albaqwerty]

LG, I wish I did, sometimes I think I'm kinda losing it, but that's another question for another day :-D

[albaqwerty]

Having had pre-cancerous cells, I didn't think I was diseased, just potentially not well/ill.
Hummm, so the cells are diseased, so OK, I finally understand.
(I think)
Many thanks all.

[LazyGun]

@ Alba You have prompted me to hastily stuff a bottle of australian pinot grigot in the fridge for later anyway, so thank you for your excellent suggestion :)

[LazyGun]

I suspose the term disease and diseased carries with it unpleasant connotations, whereas having an illness sounds rather more acceptable...