Biology

Need a list of common diseases? The most common illnesses are listed here by name, including information about their symptoms. They include the most common communicable diseases and and common infectious diseases. Most common bacterial diseases and common viral diseases can be gotten over quickly or treated medically by a doctor. Since these are so common, there's definitely <a href="http://www.ranker.com/fact-lists/diseases--and--medical-conditions/treatments">treatments for</a> these common ailments. For more information about genetic diseases you can see this <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/rare-genetic-diseases-list-of-rare-genetic-disorders/diseases-and-medications-info">genetic disorders list</a>. For valuable information on central nervous system disorders see the <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/list-of-central-nervous-system-diseases-and-nerve-disorders/diseases-and-medications-info">central nervous system disorders</a> page. What are the most common sicknesses? Finally if you are having any trouble going to the bathroom see the <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/list-of-urinary-system-diseases-and-urinary-disorders/diseases-and-medications-info">urinary system diseases</a> page.

List of Common Diseases: Most Common Illnesses

Disease or medical condition

Diseases and Medications Info

Diseases / Medical Conditions

Neurological diseases affect a sizable portion of people in the US. Those suffering from brain &amp; neurological diseases can have symptoms ranging from seizures and physical affects to erratic behavior and mood swings. Many brain disorders are genetic, while a small number can be brought on by environmental factors. Disorders of all types are addressed in this detailed brain diseases list. Treatment for brain disorders and neuro diseases can range from radiation therapy, medications to even surgery, depending on what rare brain disease the patient is affected by. What conditions affect the brain? To see some disorders that can affect the brain see the <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/list-of-central-nervous-system-diseases-and-nerve-disorders/diseases-and-medications-info">nerve disorders</a> page. Your brain relies on your circulatory system for oxygen so check out these <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/list-of-diseases-affecting-the-circulatory-system/diseases-and-medications-info">diseases of the circulatory system</a> and see a doctor if you think you may be sick.&nbsp;All brain diseases <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/apu-should-be-taken-off-the-simpsons/anncasano?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">should be taken</a> seriously, so if you recognize symptoms after consulting this neurological disorders list, please contact a licensed professional immediately. &nbsp;

Brain Diseases: List of Neurological Disorders 

Brain Diseases | List of Neurological Disorders 

Lifestyle

For parents, this is a helpful list of childhood diseases and disorders affecting children. Over 30 of the more common childhood diseases are listed here. Childhood illnesses are very common and are often no reason to be alarmed. Consulting a doctor on a child's sickness or disorder is always advisable, but often kids diseases will cure themselves. Ranging from the kids sickness chicken pox to the ringworm, kids often tend to get sick more than adults. Feel free to sort this list by symptoms, treatment, or alphabetically by name.<a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/list-of-common-diseases-most-common-illnesses/diseases-and-medications-info?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">What are some common</a> childhood diseases? No parent likes to see their child sick. It's a scary ordeal! Learn about the diseases and disorders that can affect your children before it is too late. All parents should be aware of Leukemia and the possible risk it poses to their children. If your child frequently gets sick you should also see this list of <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/immune-system-disorders-and-diseases/diseases-and-medications-info">immune system diseases</a>. Also if your child ever shows signs of mental impairment check out these <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/brain-diseases-list-of-neurological-disorders-/diseases-and-medications-info">diseases of the brain</a>.Pediatric illnesses can be a nightmare for the whole family, but if you have more information on common diseases in children, you can spot the symptoms early and avoid panic about your baby's health. When it comes to diseases that affect children, ignorance is definitely not bliss!

Diseases and Disorders Affecting Children

Childhood Diseases | List of Diseases Affecting Children

Poliomyelitis

Poliomyelitis, often called polio or infantile paralysis, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 90% to 95% of infections cause no symptoms. Another 5 to 10% of people have minor symptoms such as: fever, headache, vomiting, diarrhea, neck stiffness and pains in the arms and legs. These people are usually back to normal within one or two weeks. In about 0.5% of cases there is muscle weakness resulting in an inability to move. This can occur over a few hours to few days. The weakness most often involves the legs but may less commonly involve the muscles of the head, neck and diaphragm. Many but not all people fully recover. In those with muscle weakness about 2% to 5% of children and 15% to 30% of adults die. Years after recovery post-polio syndrome may occur, with a slow development of muscle weakness similar to what the person had during the initial infection.
Poliovirus is usually spread from person to person through infected feces entering the mouth. It may also be spread by food or water containing human feces and less commonly from infected saliva. Those who are infected may spread the disease even if no symptoms are present for up to six weeks.

Best Medical Conditions Lists, Top 10 Diseases- Find any Disease List at Ranker

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You know when you have a cold and feel like you're dying? Well buck up, because your little sniffles are nothing compared to the world's scariest diseases. This list of the scariest diseases of all time, as ranked by the Ranker Community, will have you checking WebMD like a madman (or woman). Everyone wants to be healthy from the minute they are born to the last breath they take, but that doesn't always happen. There are a lot of scary, debilitating things that can happen to your body along the way. A slow, wasting sickness or a something that only gives you 3 months to live? How do you rank it? Which scary illnesses frighten you the most?From scary skin diseases, to terrifying viruses, some of these illnesses even just have plain scary disease names to go along with their awful symptoms. Being a shut in might sound appealing after learning about these worst, horrible diseases, but that's no way to live. Still, what are the most distressing fatal diseases? Choose the fatal diseases that freak you out the most and vote them up, then talk to your doctor about how to stay healthy.&nbsp;

Huntington's disease

The Scariest Diseases of All Time

Fatal Diseases | List of Scariest Diseases of All Time

Ranker Community

Exploring plagues and pandemics throughout history.

It's an Epidemic

Pandemics throughout history have shaped societies - not only in the loss of life but through social, economic, and political shifts. The impact of infectious diseases on society has been evident since the Justinian Plague of the sixth century (although the degree of its influence&nbsp;<a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/justinianic-plagues-devastating-impact-was-likely-exaggerated-180973680/" target="_blank">remains contested</a>), as well as&nbsp;the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/how-black-plage-changed-the-world/kellen-perry" target="_blank">Black Plague that ravaged Europe</a> during the 14th century.&nbsp;

Through the 20th and early 21st centuries, there were numerous pandemics that changed individual lives, government functions, and public health practices around the world. Illness and death serve as immediate consequences of infectious disease, but how epidemics affect the economy and other aspects of the world can take years or decades to fully understand.

The pandemics that shaped the modern world wrought devastation, but&nbsp;they also offer lessons on how to rectify the mistakes of the past and create a healthier future.

The 7 Pandemics That Shaped The Modern World

General

Melissa Sartore

Lists about the pre-historic, ancient, medieval, olden, and not-that-long-ago days of medicine, when doctors made bizarre assumptions and prescribed totally insane treatments that made sense at the time...

We Didn't Know Any Better

It's always made the world go-round, but how did people of the past let others know how much they had before the days of fast, shiny cars and cheesy name brand apparel? And why do economies keep collapsing? Study up to see why history repeats itself.

Money Matter$

Interesting

Sometimes it feels like the rich get the best of everything: better cars, clothes, food -&nbsp;but do they get better diseases? While money can&#39;t buy everything, like a flattering <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/unflattering-royal-portraits/danielle-ownbey" target="_blank">royal portrait</a>, it turns out that at certain points in history, the rich have had different afflictions than the people&nbsp;of&nbsp;lower-status classes. Differences in diet, genetics, and lifestyle have all contributed to a higher incidence of certain illnesses. For example, gout was so identified with the upper class it was called &quot;the rich man&#39;s disease.&quot;

These diseases reach&nbsp;back to ancient Egypt and continue to this day. Some are the result of&nbsp;self-control issues and overindulgence, while others are caused by <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/mutations-and-birth-defects-caused-by-royal-inbreeding/peterdugre" target="_blank">royal inbreeding</a> or&nbsp;trends and fashion, but they all disproportionately affect the wealthy.

Health Issues Throughout History That Made People Think You Were Rich

Historical Diseases That Were Status Symbols

Quinn Armstrong

Cause Of Death

Symptom/Disease

Science

Best Rankings of Interesting Scientific Facts, Topics, and Cool Science News

science

Medicine

Developed during the 1920s, the iron lung was invented to help individuals with polio breathe after their torso and abdominal muscles ceased to work. Improvements to the iron lung were made&nbsp;throughout the 20th century, but the almost-obsolete <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/historical-mental-hospital-conditions/genevieve-carlton" target="_blank">hospital</a> device still looks&nbsp;a lot like a machine used in interrogations or a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/crazy-medical-practices/mike-rothschild" target="_blank">cruel medical tool</a>. For many, the iron lung&#39;s lifesaving benefits were - and, for a few, still are - worth the trouble of living in a cylindrical breathing machine.

Life inside an&nbsp;iron lung means long hours spent keeping one&#39;s mind busy while the body gains the ability to breathe. An iron lung could be viewed as a medical marvel, a potential prison, or a minor inconvenience as the experience of using one changed over time. Being in an iron lung means survival and freedom from pain but at the expense of physical liberty. In the end,&nbsp;it&#39;s up to the user to decide&nbsp;what life he or she lives while surrounded by metal, tubes, and the constant rhythm&nbsp;of the iron lung.

What Life Was Like In An Iron Lung

History

Polio reached its apex in the United States in 1952, with <a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/salk-announces-polio-vaccine" target="_blank">roughly 58,000</a> new cases of the disease reported. People spent their summers, also called &quot;<a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2012/10/16/162670836/wiping-out-polio-how-the-u-s-snuffed-out-a-killer" target="_blank">Polio Season</a>,&quot; hiding inside, staying away from public swimming pools, movie theaters, and other communal spaces. Parents were so fearful of polio that they even purchased Infantile Paralysis insurance, the name for polio at the time, to protect themselves and their children.

As a disease that afflicted thousands of children, adolescents, and adults each year, polio was devastating and incurable. Polio led to paralysis and, in many cases, death. With no cure available, vaccination was the only real hope.

Polio vaccine history includes some noteworthy names. <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/people-ended-by-cured-diseases/aaron-edwards" target="_blank">President Franklin D. Roosevelt </a>and Drs. Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin were essential in the original polio vaccines, with countless <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/scientist-test-subjects/robert-f-mason" target="_blank">other researchers</a>, volunteers, and supporters coming together to find relief from the disease. The story of the polio vaccine - its origin, how it was tested, its distribution, and its ultimate success - provides insight into how to combat a pandemic.&nbsp;

While polio-stricken children struggled to survive, scientists worked to develop a polio vaccine. Once identified, collective action on the part of governments, private citizens, and the healthcare community alike facilitated the widespread distribution of the polio vaccine,&nbsp;ultimately&nbsp;reducing instances of the disease exponentially by the end of the century.&nbsp;

What Happened After The Polio Vaccine Was Developed?

Lists about medical practices and working in the medical field.

Practicing Medicine

The polio vaccine changed lives in the mid-1950s, a decade during which&nbsp;thousands of children were devastated by the disease. At its height in 1952, the virus infected nearly&nbsp;<a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2012/10/16/162670836/wiping-out-polio-how-the-u-s-snuffed-out-a-killer" target="_blank">60,000 children</a> in the United States. Thousands of these children were paralyzed, and over 3,000 of them died from the epidemic. Summer of that year was a particularly brutal period for the disease, which is generally spread through contact with human feces. Many towns closed swimming pools, and moviegoers were advised not to sit next to one another to prevent any spread of germs. While many&nbsp;people suffering from the disease never exhibited polio symptoms, those who were struck&nbsp;with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/polio/symptoms-causes/syc-20376512" target="_blank">paralytic polio</a> were left no choice but to stay&nbsp;in hospitals on life support.

Thankfully, virologist Jonas Salk and his colleagues at the University of Pittsburgh invented a <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/what-happened-after-polio-vaccine-developed/melissa-sartore" target="_blank">polio vaccine</a> in 1952. In 1954, they tested their creation&nbsp;on a group of children in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania;&nbsp;mass immunization would follow in 1955. The history of polio is heart-wrenching, as are&nbsp;the photos of both children and adults&nbsp;affected by the disease. Fortunately, the polio vaccine eventually eradicated the disease in America, a testament to the benefits of scientific progress in medicine.&nbsp;

Poliomyelitis

Lists about Poliomyelitis

Poliomyelitis is listed on