# disease

> abnormal condition negatively affecting organisms

**Wikidata**: [Q12136](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q12136)  
**Wikipedia**: [English](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disease)  
**Source**: https://4ort.xyz/entity/disease

## Summary
A disease is an abnormal condition that negatively affects organisms, fundamentally representing a departure from health. It is studied by pathology and the sociology of health and illness, and encompasses a vast range of medical conditions, disorders, and ailments that can cause discomfort and, rarely, death. As a broad biological process and manner of death, it is the opposite of physical health and is managed through prevention, early detection, and medical treatment.

## Key Facts
- **Definition:** An abnormal condition that negatively affects organisms.
- **Classification:** An instance of a "class of disease" and a "variable-order class," it is a subclass of health problem, biological process, and manner of death.
- **ICD-9-CM Code:** 799.9.
- **Disease Ontology ID:** DOID:4.
- **UMLS CUI:** C0012634.
- **Mondo ID:** MONDO_0000001.
- **Mesh Descriptor ID:** D004194.
- **NCI Thesaurus ID:** C2991.
- **Causes:** Caused by disease causative agents.
- **Effects:** Mainly causes discomfort; rarely results in death.
- **Components:** Includes congenital disorders and acquired disorders.
- **Opposite:** It is the opposite of health and physical health.
- **Categorization:** Can be a union of infectious and non-communicable diseases; endogenous processes and exogenous diseases; and localized and systemic diseases.
- **Wikipedia Presence:** Has sitelinks in 221 languages.

## FAQs
**What are the main types or components of disease?**
Diseases are broadly composed of congenital and acquired disorders. They can be categorized as infectious or non-communicable, endogenous or exogenous, and localized or systemic. They are also considered a "manner of death."

**What scientific and medical fields study disease?**
Disease is studied by pathology and the sociology of health and illness. It is described in major medical ontologies including the Human Disease Ontology (DOID:4), the NCI Thesaurus, and MeSH.

**How is disease managed or mitigated?**
Disease is managed, mitigated, or handled through disease prevention, early detection of disease, medical treatment, and disease management programs.

**What is the relationship between disease and health?**
Disease is the direct opposite of health and physical health. It is considered a health problem and is partially coincident with a "medical state."

**How is disease classified in major reference systems?**
It is indexed in the Dewey Decimal Classification under 616, the Colon Classification as L:4, and has a Library of Congress Authority ID of sh85038411.

## Why It Matters
Disease is a foundational concept in medicine and biology, defining the state of ill health that medical science seeks to understand, treat, and prevent. Its study, pathology, forms the core of diagnostic medicine, while its sociological study illuminates how illness affects populations and societies. As a variable-order class of biological processes, it serves as a crucial ontological category in scientific research, allowing for the structured classification of everything from infectious diseases to chronic disorders, and driving public health initiatives like disease prevention and early detection. Its universal impact is highlighted by its presence in the "List of articles all languages should have" on Wikipedia.

## Notable For
- Being a "variable-order class" and a "class of disease" in formal ontology.
- Being a core concept in major biomedical ontologies like MONDO, UMLS, and DOID.
- Being a "manner of death."
- Being the opposite of "physical health."
- Having a Wikipedia article in over 200 languages.
- Being on the "List of articles all languages should have" (Vital Articles Level 4).

## Body

### Definition and Core Characteristics
A disease is defined as an abnormal condition that negatively affects organisms. It is a type of health problem and a biological process. Its primary characteristics include symptoms, disease burden, duration, severity, disease attributes, and disease state. It is fundamentally distinct from health, specifically physical health, though it is partially coincident with a medical state.

### Ontological Classification and Categorization
In formal knowledge systems, a disease is an "instance of" a class of disease and a variable-order class. It is a "subclass of" health problem, biological process, and manner of death. The concept can be described as the "union of" several dichotomies:
- Infectious disease and non-communicable disease.
- Endogenous process and exogenous disease.
- Localized disease and systemic disease.

It is further divided into "has part" categories of congenital disorder and acquired disorder.

### Standardized Identifiers and Medical Codes
Disease is universally identified through numerous standardized codes and identifiers:
- **Disease Ontology ID:** DOID:4
- **Mondo ID:** MONDO_0000001
- **UMLS CUI:** C0012634
- **MeSH Descriptor ID:** D004194 (Tree Code C23.550.288 under pathologic processes)
- **NCI Thesaurus ID:** C2991
- **ICD-9-CM Code:** 799.9
- **ICPC-2 ID:** A99

### Causation, Effects, and Management
The primary cause of a disease is a "disease causative agent." The effects of a disease are "mainly" discomfort and "rarely" death. The concept of disease is actively managed through key interventions including disease prevention, early detection of disease, medical treatment, and disease management.

### Academic and Scientific Context
The study of disease is central to multiple disciplines. It is "studied by" pathology and the sociology of health and illness. It is a key subject in major encyclopedic works including the Sytin Military Encyclopedia, Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, and the Encyclopædia Britannica. It is also indexed by the Dewey Decimal Classification under 616 and the Library of Congress Authority ID sh85038411.

### Digital and Global Presence
Disease is a pervasive concept across global digital platforms. It has a "sitelink count" of 221, indicating extensive coverage across Wikipedia language editions. Its Wikipedia title is "Disease" and its "topic's main category" is Category:Diseases and disorders. It is represented in the BabelNet, DBpedia (equivalent class), and Schema.org (equivalent class MedicalCondition) knowledge bases. Its influence extends to pop culture and general knowledge, with presence on Quora (topic: Medical-Conditions-and-Diseases), IMDB (keywords: illness, disease), and Fandom wikis.

## References

1. Monarch Disease Ontology release 2018-06-29
2. Nuovo soggettario
3. Freebase Data Dumps. 2013
4. Medical Subject Headings
5. Disease Ontology
6. [Registros de autoridad de "Materia" de la Biblioteca Nacional de España. Spain open data portal](https://www.bne.es/media/datosgob/catalogo-autoridades/materia/materia-UTF8.zip)
7. BBC Things
8. [MedicalCondition - Schema.org Type](https://schema.org/MedicalCondition)
9. YSO-Wikidata mapping project
10. BabelNet
11. [Identifiers.org](https://registry.identifiers.org/registry/doid)
12. Great Norwegian Encyclopedia
13. FactGrid
14. National Library of Israel
15. CC 6
16. KBpedia
17. GF WordNet
18. [OpenAlex](https://docs.openalex.org/download-snapshot/snapshot-data-format)
19. [Source](https://www.emro.who.int/about-who/public-health-functions/health-promotion-disease-prevention.html)
20. [Source](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15587433/)
21. [Source](https://kidshealth.org/en/teens/curable.html)
22. [Source](https://www.amcp.org/about/managed-care-pharmacy-101/concepts-managed-care-pharmacy/disease-management)