Animal Disease

Animal diseases are disorders in the structure or function of animal organisms. Such diseases usually produce specific symptoms and affect specific locations in the animal’s body. Rather than being a direct result of physical injury or trauma to the body of the animal, such diseases are interpreted as medical conditions with a set of specific symptoms and signs. Many animal diseases are caused by external factors including viruses, bacteria, fungi, parasites, proteins, prions, and infections while other diseases are caused by dysfunctions within the animal’s body, such as autoimmune diseases. Animal diseases include deficiency diseases, hereditary diseases, pathogenic diseases, and physiological diseases. In many cases, diseases can also be classified as communicable or non-communicable. When used in the context of animals, diseases are used to refer to any physical condition that causes dysfunction, pain, distress, problems, or death to the animal that is afflicted. The umbrella term of disease can include disorders, syndromes, infections, unusual variations of structure and function in the body. In medical context, diseases are infections. Infectious diseases result from the presence of various pathogenic agents, which include fungi, bacteria, viruses, multicellular organisms, protozoa, and aberrant proteins called prions. There are diseases that do not immediately manifest; an infection that is does not exhibit symptoms during its incubation period but will produce signs and symptoms at a later time is considered a disease. This section contains information on diseases, which is any kind of disorder in the structure or function of living animals.