Abrasion : a scrape in the skin in which there is surface bleeding or oozing of blood. Abrasions easily become infected and should be thoroughly washed with mild soap and water and then covered with a sterile dressing.

Abscess: A painful, infected area in which pus forms. An abscess may be either internal or external, and is most often caused by bacteria, which can enter the body through a wound in the skin.

Acne: An inflammation of the sebaceous glands just beneath the surface of the skin, causing pimples, blackheads, whiteheads and in extreme cases infected cysts and scarred skin.

Adipose: Adipose means fatty, or containing fat. Fat is stored in the adipose tissues of the body.

Aetiology: Aetiology is the cause, or the study of the causes of a disease.

Amputation: The removal of a part of the body, such as a limb or a section of a limb. It is undertaken only when there is serious damage or disease to the part.

Anaemia: A disorder of the blood in which the red cells are fewer than normal or have less haemoglobin than normal. Haemoglobin is the pigment that gives the red blood cells their color. These cells play a vital role in breathing because they carry oxygen from the lungs to all the tissues of the body. The RBCs (erythrocytes) are manufactured in the bone marrow. Anaemia is usually not a disease in itself, but a symptom of disease.

Anaesthesia: It means without feeling. The loss of feeling or sensation, throughout the body or in part of it, produced by various methods, such as administration of drugs, is called anaesthesia. A substance capable of producing loss of sensation, removing all sensitivity to pain is called anaesthetic.

Analgesic: A drug that relieves pain without causing loss of consciousness is called analgesic.

Angina: A pain in the chest which usually occurs when there is an unusual demand for blood in the heart muscle, but the coronary arteries cannot supply enough. A susceptible person may feel angina pectoris after eating a heavy meal, when he is excited, or while doing anything that, for him, is strenuous.

Anthrax: A serious disease of cattle, sheep and other animals, which can be passed on to man by contact with the animals, their hides or their meat. Features of the disease include fever, skin ulcers, swelling of the lymph nodes and pneumonia. It is treated with antibiotics, if untreated, can be fatal.

Appendix: This is hollow, tube-like organ, a part of the digestive system on the right side of the abdomen, with no apparent function. If infected and inflamed, it results in the condition known as appendicitis.

Arteriosclerosis: commonly called hardening of the arteries. In middle and later years of life the arteries become narrow and less flexible, and are therefore not so efficient at their job of pumping oxygen rich blood through the body. Fatty deposits build up in the arteries also results in arteriosclerosis. This condition is also known as Atherosclerosis.

Arthritis: A general term for any condition in which the joints are the major infected sites. Arthritis describes a whole group of diseases, chief of which are osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Wearing away of the cartilage of the joints causing pain, stiffness and swollen is known as arthritis.

Asthma: A disorder of the bronchial tubes, causing difficulty in breathing. Most asthmatic attacks are mild, but the condition is a chronic one.

Athlete's Foot: This fungal skin condition can be produced by a number of different microscopic fungal growth , clausing inflammation and itching. Despite its name , it is neither confined to the feet nor only restricted to athletes!

Beri-beri: A deficiency disease caused by a lack of thiamine in the diet. There are two types of the disease: wet beri-beri, in which the patient has general swelling of the body ( oedema), and dry beri-beri, which results in numbness and weakness of the legs, feet, arms and hands.

Bronchitis: Inflammation of the bronchial tubes, but often much more is involved. The infection affects the air passages of the nose, throat and larynx, and often the bronchioles, the small air passages in the lungs. In its worst form it may lead to pneumonia.

Boils: A boil is an acute inflammed and infected area on skin,often in blocked hair follicle. If number of boils occur together,they may produced large inflammed lump with several pus-filled "heads", and are termed a carbuncle.

Cancer: Any one of several diseases that result when the process of cell division, by which tissues normally grow and renew themselves, gets outs of control and leads to the development of malignant cells. These cancer cells multiply in an unco-ordinated way, independently of normal growth-control mechanisms, to form a tumour. Cells from the original cancer site may travel by means of the blood stream or lymph vessels to form secondary cancers elsewhere in the body by the process known as metastasis. Cancer can affect almost any part of the body, including the blood as in leukaemia. Cancer is not contagious, not is it inherited.

Cardiac arrest: Stopping of the heart beat; also called heart stoppage. The heart muscle may stop beating completely, called asystole; or the muscle may quiver very rapidly without pumping any blood, a condition called ventricular fibrillation.

Cerebral Haemorrhage: Bleeding inside the brain from a ruptured blood vessel, usually from an artery that has been weakened by arteriosclerosis. When the blood vessel ruptures, some brain cells are deprived of blood and permanently damaged.

Chicken pox: An acute, infectious disease that is caused by a virus and marked by eruptions on the skin. The disease is not serious, and generally lasts about two weeks after the first appearance of symptoms.

Cholera: An acute epidemic disease caused by a bacterium spread through the faeces of infected people. Cholera is caught by drinking polluted water or eating contaminated food. The chief symptoms of cholera are the sudden onset of severe vomiting and diarrhoea.

Conjunctivitis: Inflammation of the conjunctiva, the membrane that lines the eyelids and covers the eyeball. Infectious conjunctivitis, or pink-eye may be caused by various bacteria or viruses. The infection is highly contagious, being easily transmitted by fingers or towels, and both eyes are invariably affected.

Constipation: Difficulty in emptying the bowel. Usually the waste material has become compact and hard making it painful to evacuate.

Cramp: A popular term for any sharp muscular pain. The muscle contracts and goes into spasm. Frequent cramp may be a symptom of poor circulation caused by diseased arteries.

Cystitis: Cystitis is an acute infection of the bladder , which may often recur and become a chronic condition. It is more common in girls and women than in boys and men, due to much shorter length of the urethra in women; in many women it can be triggered off by irriation during sexual intercourse., and useful advice can include emptying the bladder before sex and certainly afterwards.

Cytology: Study of the Cells.

Diabetes: Diabetes mellitus, commonly called simply diabetes, is a disorder in which the body is unable to control the use of sugars as a source of energy. When carbohydrate foods containing sugar and starches are digested, they are absorbed into the blood as glucose. Insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas, is released into the bloodstream when the level of glucose rises, and the hormone enables glucose to be stored and used in the tissues. In diabetes there is insufficient insulin causing glucose being accumulated in the blood (hyperglycemia).

Diarrhoea: Loose, frequent bowel movements can happen as a short-term reaction to infection, inflammation or food poisioning , and such are quite positive , cleansing action. A common experience is holiday diarrhoe, and this is usually a response to exposure to unfamiliar bacteria.

Eczema: A skin condition characterized by a red, itchy rash and blisters.

ECG: Electrocardiogram, a tracing or graph made by amplifying the minute electrical impulses generated in the heart.

Fluid Retention: Excess fluid in the tissues, or odema, can happen in a variety of ways. Local or temporary swelling will occur with an injury, for instance a sprained ankle or a large bruise. Fluid retention in the things and hips in women is often associated with build-up of toxins, as in cellulite, and in general detoxyfying programme of diet, excercise and massage will be most effective.

Fibrositis: This is inflammation of the muscle fibres, often a chronic condition which can lead to the formation of hard nodules within muscle.Fibrositis particularly affect the lage muscle of back, neckand shoulders and sometimes into the buttocks.

Gastro-enteritis: An inflammation of the membrane that lines the intestines and the stomach. The most common causes of gastro-enteritis are a contagious disease, an allergy, emotional disturbance and irritation of the intestine by over indulgence in food or drink, or by a drug or poison.

Gout: This condition occurs when there is an excess of uric acid in body, and the kidneys can not get rid of it effectively. The acid crystallizes into tiny sharp deposit like miniature needles;these collect in joints, often in toes or feet but sometimes elsewhere such as the earlobes, causing intense pain and inflammation.

Haemorrhage: It means severe bleeding.

Heart block: slowing down of the pumping action of the heart due to damage to the fibrous bundles that conduct nerve impulses from the pacemaker to the lower chambers, or ventricles. The volume of blood pumped out of the heart is reduced.

Heart burn: A non-medical term for a type of indigestion.

Hay Fever: Hay fever is an allergic raction, which can be triggered not just by grass pollens but in some people by various flower or tree pollens too. It is often seen together with other allergic reaction such as asthma and/or eczema, and if it is not relieved by suggested self-help approaches, then seek qualified treatment. Practitioners may well start to act preventively before the hay fever season

Impotence: Inability of a man to complete sexual intercourse. It may have a physical or an emotional cause.

Insomnia: It is important to distinguish between habitual sleeplessness, repeated night after night, and a temporary problem due perhaps to some worry or anxiety. It is also important not to become obessed with trying to get a certain amount of sleep; not everyone needs an 8 hour quota - quality is more vital than quantity . People generally needs less sleep as they get older, or at least less continuously, so if granny has a day time snooze and sleeps for less time at night, that is perfectly normal.

Influenza: Anyone who has had influenza will know that it is more serious complaint than simply having bad cold. Different viral strains produce differing symptoms, but generally threr is fever , aching muscles,headache and general weakness. Sometimes there may also be a harsh cough. In older,frail people it can seriously debilitate

Jaundice: This is not in itself a disease, but rather a feature of a disorder. Patients have a yellowish skin, and the whites of the eyes may also become yellow. The reason for this discoloration is that the blood contains too much of one of the constituents of bile, Bilirubin.

Laryngitis: Inflammation of the voice box, or larynx. Laryngitis is accompanied by hoarseness, and there may be coughing and a tickling feeling or soreness in the throat.

Lumbago: A general term used to describe pain in the lower back.

Meningitis: Inflammation of the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord.

Migraine: A disorder in which the victim has recurrent headaches, which vary in severity, frequency and length. The condition often runs in families. Migraine attacks usually occur on one side of the head and are often associated with loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting.

Myopia: The ability to see distinctly only things that are close, commonly called short-sightedness.

Obesity: The condition of being overweight, with excessive accumulation of fat in various parts of the body. Although more frequent in the middle years, obesity may occur at any age. It nearly always results from over-eating especially of fatty and carbohydrate foods.

Oedema : An abnormal accumulation of fluid in body cavities or tissues, producing swelling. Oedema is not disease in itself, but it may be a symptom of a disease.

Ophthalmia: Inflammation of the eye and the membranes lining the eyelids. It is sometimes called ophthalmitis. A common form is known as conjunctivitis.

Osteoarthritis: A term often used for degeneration of the joints of the body resulting in pain, swelling and inflammation.

Osteoporosis: Loss of part of the protein framework (matrix) of the bones, leading to increased brittleness. It may be due to lack of use, as in a paralysed limb or after sever burning, or be associated with a reduction in the amount of sex hormones.

Psoriasis: A skin disease characterized by itchy, red patches that become covered with loose, silvery scales.

Rickets: A children’s disease in which the bones do not harden properly and excessive growth of cartilage occurs at the ends of bones. It is due to a combination of lack of vitamin D and insufficient sunlight to form the vitamin D in the skin. Vitamin D is essential for calcification of the bones.

Rheumatism: This is a general term which covers any inflammatory process in the muscle or joints; here its meaning will be limited to muscular rheumatism as Arthitris has already been covered.

Sciatica: Severe pain in the sciatic nerve ( the major nerve which passes from the lower back into the legs), often associated with inflammation of the nerve, or neuritis. Sciatica may result from various conditions.

Strain: Tearing of muscle fibres.

Sprain: Tearing of the ligaments of a joint.

Tendonitis: Inflammation of a tendon, a band of tissue which anchors a muscle to a bone.

Thalassaemia: A blood disease, also called Mediterranean anaemia, which runs in families and is found more often in some races than in others. In a healthy person, red blood cells last about four months before being replaced by new ones. In thalassaemia, the red cells are broken down faster than normal, leading to anaemia.

Thrombosis: The blocking of a blood vessel by a blood clot (thrombus) is called thrombosis.

Tonsils: A pair of flat, oval masses of tissue that lie one on each side of the entrance to the throat. Through them circulates lymph, which assists in removing bacteria and impurities from the blood stream. The tonsils are subject to infection (tonsillitis) and enlargement causing pain.

Ulcerative colitis: A condition in which inflammation and ulcers occur in the colon or large intestine.

Varicose vein: An abnormally dilated and knotted blood vessel, fairly close to the surface of the skin, usually in the leg. Varicose veins are especially common in people whose work involves long periods of standing.

Whooping Cough: This highly infectious bacterial infection tends to occur in epidemics every few years. Thick sticky mucus gives rise to a spasmodic cough and difficulty in inhaling with this gives the characteristic wooping sound. It is mostly seen in children, and in babies it can be serious, so get professional help as soon as possible. Symptoms can linger on for several weeks, so continue to help breathing.