Communicable and Non-Communicable Diseases

Both Communicable and Non-Communicable Diseases are a group of problems that may cause damage to the body. If a person catches a communicable disease, he may become sick, and if he is immune to it, there is no damage that can cause to his body. But if it happens with some non-communicable diseases, they can cause damage to the body by their occurrence. In other words, the Communicable Diseases that are caused by germs have short-term symptoms but Non-Communicable Diseases have long-term symptoms.

What are Communicable Diseases?

Communicable diseases are caused by the organism (insect, virus, or bacterium). They are contagious and can be transmitted from one person to another. The most common communicable diseases are:

1. Measles: It is caused by the British National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICE). It is a respiratory disease that affects young children.
2. Human Chikungunya Virus: This disease can be transmitted through mosquito bites, so it is a mosquito-borne disease.
3. Mumps: It is caused by viruses, which have acquired immunity to be vaccinated against.
4. Pertussis: This is a disease that affects the respiratory system.
5. Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever: It is caused by the bacterium, which is transmitted to humans through bites of ticks or deer flies.
6. Rubella: It is caused by the virus, and it can be transmitted through saliva or sharing glasses, utensils, etc.
7. Influenza: It is caused by viruses, which are contagious and can be passed from one person to another.

What are Non-Communicable Diseases?

Non-communicable diseases are not caused by a microorganism. They can be transmitted from one person to another, but they do not happen as a result of the infectious disease. The most common non-communicable diseases are:

1. Arthritis: It is a disease that involves inflammation in the joints and it becomes too difficult to move.
2. Blindness: It is a condition in which the patient loses his sight completely so he cannot see anything during his whole life and spend his time with blind people at home or in special centres.
3. Cancer: This is a group of various diseases, which affect the body cells and cause various symptoms such as metastasis ( cancer spreads to other areas), pain, etc.
4. Diabetes Mellitus: It is caused by the pancreas, which produces insulin and controls the levels of sugar in the blood.
5. High Blood Pressure: This disease will cause a patient unstable blood pressure and increases the risk of having a heart attack and stroke.
6. Heart Disease: If a person does not control his diet, he may suffer from heart diseases such as cardiomyopathy (increased heart).
7. Kidney Failure: It is due to the decrease in kidney function that causes

Communicable and Non-Communicable Diseases: Difference

1. Communicable diseases can be spread to other people easily because they require close contact with the suspected person or his belongings. But non-communicable diseases are hard to be transmitted because they involve genetic traits or environmental factors so it is hard to develop in another person. This means that if you get infected with a non-communicable disease, you will not catch the disease again. 
2. With communicable diseases, there is only a short period while we may wait for the illness to show itself before starting treatment. But with non-communicable diseases, we need to deal with the disease from the first moment up to the end of life.
3. Communicable diseases are limited in their symptoms; if you got sick with a communicable disease once, the illness will heal quickly and normally. However, with non-communicable diseases, there is no cure and only supportive treatment can make us get back our health. If you have caught a communicable disease once, you may catch it again because they are contagious; but if you have caught a non-communicable disease once, you will not catch it again because they do not spread easily. 
4. Because of the limitations of communicable diseases, they can be easily cured; but because of their limitations, they will not kill the people that have them. But with non-communicable diseases, even if we rest there is no cure, so we will die at some point.
5. Because of the limited terms that can be treated with communicable diseases (short time, healing), we normally move to a hospital as soon as we feel sick and wait until the treatment starts; but with non-communicable diseases (long time, no healing), most patients cannot be treated in a hospital so people will lose their lives because hospitals cannot provide them with the treatment required by them.

Conclusion

Communicable diseases are contagious because they can be transmitted from one person to another. The lives of people are limited because there is no cure for them, so people will die if they do not get treated in time. On the other hand, non-communicable diseases cannot be transmitted easily and they may not kill the patients. But if you catch them once, you will suffer from their symptoms throughout your whole life. The main difference between communicable and non-communicable diseases is that they are caused in two different ways; therefore their symptoms are also different as well as their treatments.