what is the clinical course of a disease

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What is the course of a disease?

The course of a disease, also called its natural history, refers to the development of the disease in a patient, including the sequence and speed of the stages and forms they take. A patient may be said to be at the beginning, the middle or the end, or at a particular stage of the course of a disease or a treatment.

What is a course of medication?

A course of medication is a period of continual treatment with drugs, sometimes with variable dosage and in particular combinations. For instance treatment with some drugs should not end abruptly. Instead, their course should end with a tapering dosage.

What is the range of the disease process?

In others, the disease process may result in illness that ranges from mild to severe or fatal. This range is called the spectrum of disease. Ultimately, the disease process ends either in recovery, disability or death. For an infectious agent, infectivity refers to the proportion of exposed persons who become infected.

Why study the morphologic and Clinical Correlates of diseases?

One hundred and fifty years of attention to the morphologic and clinical correlates of diseases has led to sets of diagnostic criteria for the recognized diseases, as well as a reproducible nomenclature for rapid description of the changes associated with newly discovered diseases.

What happens after the prodromal phase?

After the prodromal phase, the acute phase will normally begin. During this time, a person living with schizophrenia may have several positive symptoms such as hallucinations or delusions, which may cause them a lot of distress.

What are the phases of schizophrenia?

There are three main phases – a prodromal phase, an acute phase and a stable phase. 1,2. The word prodromal refers to a period that happens before the first acute episode. The prodromal phase refers to the time ...

Is schizophrenia a clinical condition?

Schizophrenia has a diverse clinical profile depending on the individual and the stage. Accurate determination of the phase of the condition might help find the best treatment choice and management approach.

What is the course of a disease?

The course of a disease, also called its natural history, refers to the development of the disease in a patient, including the sequence and speed of the stages and forms they take. Typical courses of diseases include: chronic. recurrent or relapsing.

What does "course" mean in medicine?

In medicine the term course generally takes one of two meanings, both reflecting the sense of " path that something or someone moves along...process or sequence or steps ": A course of medication is a period of continual treatment with drugs, ...

What is course of medication?

A course of medication is a period of continual treatment with drugs, sometimes with variable dosage and in particular combinations. For instance treatment with some drugs should not end abruptly. Instead, their course should end with a tapering dosage.

What does "acute" mean?

recurrent or relapsing. subacute: somewhere between an acute and a chronic course. acute: beginning abruptly, intensifying rapidly, not lasting long. fulminant or peracute: particularly acute, especially if unusually violent.

What is precursor in medical terms?

A precursor is a sign or event that precedes the course or a particular stage in the course of a disease, for example chills often are precursors to fevers.

What is progressive MS?

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic, progressive disease that leads to increasing disability in many individuals. Approximately 85 percent of individuals initially present with a relapsing-remitting course of the disease ( Lublin et al., 2013 ). Most people with relapsing remitting MS transition to a more progressive course called secondary-progressive MS (SPMS) that is characterized by accumulation of disability with fewer relapses. About 10 to 15 percent of people with MS begin the disease with a progressive course, without relapses, known as primary progressive MS (PPMS).#N#In 2013, the International Advisory Committee on Clinical Trials of MS identified four MS disease courses ( Lublin et al., 2013). In 2020 this group further clarified the concepts underlying these disease courses, highlighting the need for time framing the disease course modifiers “activity” and “progression” ( Lublin et al., 2020 ). The Committee also clarified the terms “worsening” and “progression” and provided guidance for their use.

Is RIS a course of MS?

Although not considered a course of MS, radiologically isolated syndrome (RIS) has been used to describe asymptomatic individuals who have MRI clinical features that are suggestive of MS and are therefore at an increased risk of developing MS ( Okuda et al., 2009 ).

What are the stages of disease?

There are five stages: incubation period, prodromal period, period of illness, period of decline, and period of convalescence. The symptom threshold is the point at which symptoms are apparent.

What is the prodromal phase of Lyme disease?

In Lyme disease the prodromal phase corresponds to both the early localized and acute disseminated stages of the disease, which are when the symptoms of a skin rash (erythema migrans) and meningeal irritation (headache) become apparent. The host has a generalized feeling of being unwell.

What is the disease caused by ticks?

The Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria, a spirochete, is transmitted by tick bite and can cause Lyme disease. The "bull's-eye" rash is a common symptom. Credit: CDC (left), CDC/James Gathany (right) The decline phase is the stage of disease when symptoms begin to abate and the pathogen population begins to decline.

What is the prodromal phase?

The prodromal phase is the stage of the disease process when symptoms first become apparent. These symptoms are typically unspecific to the pathogen and vague; they may include fever, fatigue, and headaches.

How do infections progress?

Differences in severity and duration of the stages in disease progression are often of diagnostic value. After initial invasion of the host, there is an incubation period followed by the prodromal period, the period of illness, the period of decline, and finally the period of convalescence before the infection is completely cleared.

What happens during the convalescence stage of a virus?

During this stage, the infected host develops arthritis, heart rhythm disturbances, memory loss, encephalitis, numbness in the extremities, and severe headaches. The period of decline transitions into the convalescence period, which is the stage of the disease process when symptoms disappear. It is considered a recovery period, when host strength ...

When do you need antibiotics for lyme disease?

Some hosts infected with Lyme disease are able to reach the convalescence period without treatment, but most require the disease to be diagnosed and treated with antibiotics during the first two stages of the disease: early localized or acute disseminated.

What is a person who is infectious but has subclinical disease called?

Such persons who are infectious but have subclinical disease are called carriers. Frequently, carriers are persons with incubating disease or inapparent infection. Persons with measles, hepatitis A, and several other diseases become infectious a few days before the onset of symptoms.

What is a timeline in medical terminology?

Description: Timeline shows state of susceptibility, exposure, subclinical disease in which pathologic changes takes place, onset of symptoms, followed by usual time of diagnosis, clinical disease, followed by recovery, disability, or death. Return to text.

What is the incubation period of a disease?

This stage of subclinical disease, extending from the time of exposure to onset of disease symptoms, is usually called the incubation period for infectious diseases, and the latency period for chronic diseases. During this stage, disease is said to be asymptomatic (no symptoms) or inapparent. This period may be as brief as seconds for hypersensitivity and toxic reactions to as long as decades for certain chronic diseases. Even for a single disease, the characteristic incubation period has a range. For example, the typical incubation period for hepatitis A is as long as 7 weeks. The latency period for leukemia to become evident among survivors of the atomic bomb blast in Hiroshima ranged from 2 to 12 years, peaking at 6–7 years. ( 44) Incubation periods of selected exposures and diseases varying from minutes to decades are displayed in Table 1.7.

What is the difference between pathogenicity and infectivity?

For an infectious agent, infectivity refers to the proportion of exposed persons who become infected. Pathogenicity refers to the proportion of infected individuals who develop clinically apparent disease.

What is the transition from subclinical to clinical?

The onset of symptoms marks the transition from subclinical to clinical disease. Most diagnoses are made during the stage of clinical disease. In some people, however, the disease process may never progress to clinically apparent illness.

What is the definition of virulence?

Virulence refers to the proportion of clinically apparent cases that are severe or fatal. Because the spectrum of disease can include asymptomatic and mild cases, the cases of illness diagnosed by clinicians in the community often represent only the tip of the iceberg.

Can pathologic changes be detected during incubation?

Although disease is not apparent during the incubation period, some pathologic changes may be detectable with laboratory, radiographic, or other screening methods. Most screening programs attempt to identify the disease process during this phase of its natural history, since intervention at this early stage is likely to be more effective than treatment given after the disease has progressed and become symptomatic.

What does "clinical" mean?

Clinical means involving or relating to the direct medical treatment or testing of patients. [...]

What was the clinical course of the poisoning?

The clinical course of the poisoning was peracute.

What are the three variants of calculous cholecystitis?

3 variants of the clinical course of calculous cholecystitis were revealed: acute, chronic and asymptomatic.