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General Illness Information Common Name: BURNS Medical Term: None Specified Description: Injury to the skin, and sometimes other organs, from contact with heat, radiation, electricity or chemicals. Causes: Rise in skin temperature form a heat source, such as fire, steam or electricity. Open flame and hot liquid are most common causes. Tissue injury caused by chemicals or radiation, including sunlight. Lighting strikes can cause internal burns with minimal external signs….

General Illness Information Common Name: BELL’S PALSY Medical Term: Acute Peripheral Facial Palsy Description: A form of acute paralysis of one side of the face, without an obvious acquired cause, in an otherwise healthy patient. Causes: Unknown- but it may involve swelling of the facial nerve secondary to a viral infection, compression or to lack of blood supply. Prevention: Cannot be prevented at present. Signs & Symptoms Pain behind the…

General Illness Information Common Name: BOILS Medical Term: Furuncles and Carbuncles Description: Hair follicles occasionally get infected. When infected hair follicles separate (form pus) furuncles are formed. Furuncles are cutaneous (skin) abscesses. Carbuncles start as furuncles. Furuncles that extend or bore through the subcutaneous tissues are called carbuncles. These can occur anywhere on the skin, but are most common on neck, face, buttocks, and breasts. Causes: Infection, usually from Staphylococcus…

General Illness Information Common Name: BLEPHARITIS Medical Term: None Specified Description: Infection or inflammation of the margins or edges of the eyelids. It can affect eyelids, eyelashes, meibomian glands (lubricating glands of the eyelid) or conjunctiva (whites of the eyes). Causes: Blepharitis can be cause by the following: Bacterial infection, usually staphylococcal, of the eyelash follicles and the meibomian glands; Allergic reaction (less serious- inflammation only); Body lice (rare). Prevention:…

General Illness Information Common Name: ARTHRITIS, JUVENILE RHEUMATOID (JRA) Medical Term: None Specified Description: Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis begins before 16 yrs of age. It is a syndrome of unknown cause causing inflammation affecting one or more joints for at least six weeks. Joint inflammation is characterized by swelling, warmth, tenderness, pain on movement, limitation of movement or redness. Starts at age 2-5 years old and often disappears by young adulthood….

General Illness Information Common Name: BED-WETTING Medical Term: Enuresis Description: Involuntary urination during sleep in children 5 years of age or older. It is 3 times more common in boys than in girls. The occurrence of bed-wetting in children is: 15% at age 5, 10% at age 6, 7% at age 8, 3% at age 12, and 1% at age 18. Bed-wetting is usually caused by slow maturation ,but it…

General Illness Information Common Name: ATRIAL FIBRILLATION (AF) Medical Term: None Specified Description: A completely irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia), arising from the hearts upper chamber (atrium), and conducted downwards to the hearts main chambers (ventricles) causing the ventricles to contract faster and less efficiently than normal. Atrial fibrillation is the most frequent form of serious cardiac arrythmia. It’s incidence varies from 1% before age 60 to 20% at age 80. It…

General Illness Information Common Name: ASTHMA Medical Term: None Specified Description: Asthma is a chronic disorder with recurrent attacks of wheezing, shortness of breath and cough. Asthma is defined as an inflammatory disorder of the airways characterized by intermittent or persistent symptoms such as shortness of breath, chest tightness, wheezing, sputum production and cough, associated with variable airflow limitation and a variable degree of airway hyperresponsiveness to endogenous or exogenous…

General Illness Information Common Name: ARTHRITIS, RHEUMATOID Medical Term: None Specified Description: A chronic auto-immune disease characterized by inflammation, swelling and pain in the joints, and it affects muscles, membrane linings of the joints and cartilage. Usually joints of the hands and feet are symmetrically inflamed. It is a multi-system disease, and sometimes the eyes and blood vessels are affected. It is 3 times more common in women than men….

General Illness Information Common Name: ATHLETE’S FOOT Medical Term: Tinea Pedis, Ringworm of the Feet Description: A common, contagious fungus infection of the skin on the feet, especially the soles and skin between toes (often the 4th and 5th toes). It usually affects adolescents and adults. Usually occurs in warm moist weather Causes: Caused by an infection by a fungus, usually Trichophyton or Epidermophyton that grows in warm moist areas…