Non-infectious Disease

Although many diseases in the world are infectious, some of them are not. Non-infectious diseases do not spread out, but just affect the one who is infected. Some examples of these diseases are Diabetes, Allergies, Cardiovascular Diseases, Cancer and Genetic diseases. Here, the causes, types, effects and prevention of these diseases will be discussed as follows.

Diabetes

Diabetes is a disease in which there is too much glucose (sugar) in the blood. In a normal person, a hormone named insulin helps the body metabolize the sugar and lowers the sugar level in the blood. In a diabetic person, the body does not produce enough insulin or the insulin produced is not effective. As a result the blood sugar level rises, causing problems. The four main causes are: people who have a family history of diabetes mellitus are more at risk. And particularly those with abdominal fat deposit. Also, people who are middle-aged or above and women who have suffered from diabetes during pregnancy or who have given birth to big babies (Big baby refers to a baby heavier than 4 kg at birth.) may also have this disease. Above all, lack of physical activity is a reason too. The effects of having diabetics are frequent urination and increased amount of urine excretion, frequent thirsty sensation, easy fatigue, increased appetite, weight loss, vulval itchiness due to yeast infections, blurred vision due to retinopathy, numbness, piercing pain or weakness of the legs and wounds that are prone to infection and difficult to heal.

In order to prevent this disease, prevention can be done by many ways. By having a balanced diet, eating more food rich in fibre, such as vegetables, fruits, raw grains, wholemeal bread and brown rice and taking part in regular and moderate physical activity.

Allergies

There are many types of allergies. Since the air pollution in Hong Kong is acute, the most common type of allergies is Asthma. The causes of Asthma are wide ranging. Some causes, however, are more commonplace than others. At the top of the list are specific allergens. People suffering specific allergy induced Asthma are usually very aware of the offending allergen and try to avoid it. Pollutants, dust, smoke, irritants, chemicals, viral infections, bacteria, stress, emotion and exercise are other frequently diagnosed causes. The effects of Asthma are shortness of breath, tightness in chest, hard to breathe while exercising, missed work or school and almost always coughing.

We can get away from the disease Asthma by breathing freely and have nearly normal lung
function, minimizing or eliminate asthma attacks, reducing absences from work or school, because of Asthma, participating in sports and other activities and, avoiding emergency room visits or hospital stays.

Cancer

There is about 10% of the cancer cases found in Hong Kong are Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma. Most of the people having this disease are fishers who always eat the salted fish or the one who infected with the EB virus. For the sake of preventing this disease, less salted food should we eat in our daily life. On the other hand, Skin Cancer is also another common cancer. The sun's rays, which are called ultraviolet A and ultraviolet B rays (UVA and UVB rays) damage your skin. This leads to early wrinkles, skin cancer and other skin problems. Skin cancer is most likely to occur on parts of the body that are repeatedly exposed to the sun. These areas include the head, neck, face, tips of the ears, hands, forearms, shoulders, back, chests of men, and the back and lower legs of women. You may ask how can I prevent skin cancer, the key is to avoid being in the sun or using sunlamps. If you're going to be in the sun for any length of time, wear clothes made from tight-woven cloth so the sun's rays can't get through to your skin, and stay in the shade when you can. Wear a wide-brimmed hat to protect your face, neck and ears. And use sunscreen products to protect us from the UVA.

Cardiovascular disease

In 21^st Century, many foods are comprised of rich content of sugars, especially snack. When the children eat those snacks with an excessive extent, they will have great chance of suffering from cardiovascular disease. As the food contains lots of sugar, the sugars will convert into fats when our body has taken enough glucose.

Genetic disease

Many diseases are causing by heredity and those diseases are called Genetic disease. Down syndrome is a kind of genetic disease that causes delays in physical and intellectual development. It occurs in approximately one in every 800 live births. Individuals with Down syndrome have 47 chromosomes instead of the usual 46. It is the most frequently occurring chromosomal disorder. Down syndrome is not related to race, nationality, religion or socioeconomic status. The most important fact to know about individuals with Down syndrome is that they are more like others than they are different. Down syndrome is usually caused by an error in cell division called nondisjunction. It is not known why this occurs. However, it is known that the error occurs at conception and is not related to anything the mother did during pregnancy. It has been known for some time that the incidence of Down syndrome increases with advancing maternal age. However, 80% of children with Down syndrome are born to women under 35 years of age.

Two types of procedures are available to pregnant women for knowing if the baby has Down syndrome: screening tests and diagnostic tests. The screening tests estimate the risk of the baby having Down syndrome. Diagnostic tests tell whether or not the baby actually has Down syndrome.

As a conclusion, there are many non-infectious diseases in the world. And some of them are quite dangerous to us. For the purpose of preventing those disease mentioned above, we should do more exercises, have a balanced diet and check our body regularly.