Pathogenesis is the origin and development of a disease, with multiple factors often influencing it. Specialized fields include hematopathology, clinical microbiology, genetics, and immunopathology. Understanding the entire pathogenesis of a disease may require studying multiple factors.
In medicine, disease pathogenesis is a term used to refer to the origin and development of a disease. The study of disease pathogenesis, more often referred to simply as pathogenesis, forms a sub-branch of the broader fields of pathobiology and pathology. While pathobiology and pathology refer to the general biology, development and progress of a disease, pathogenesis usually focuses on the factors that lead to the initial origin of the disease.
In the case of many diseases, multiple factors influence the pathogenesis of the disease. For example, an individual may have a genetic predisposition to a disease, but the disease may not actually manifest itself unless certain environmental factors are also present. Similarly, some types of infectious diseases are often fought off by an infected individual with no symptoms ever manifesting. Such infections could only cause disease, for example, if the causing bacteria or virus is present, and at the same time the immunity of the infected person is weakened by malnutrition or an immune system disorder.
There are many different types of disease pathogenesis. These include the invasion of the body by viruses or bacteria, inflammation as a response to chemicals, physical trauma, the presence of cancerous cells, and many different types of genetic diseases. Because there are so many possible origins of disease, physicians and researchers who study disease pathogenesis often specialize in a particular field of pathogenesis.
Some specialized fields of pathogenesis include hematopathology, clinical microbiology, genetics, and immunopathology. Hematopathology is about abnormalities in the blood, bone marrow, and lymphatic system and how those abnormalities can lead to disease. In clinical microbiology, the study of pathogenesis includes examining how bacteria and viruses spread and multiply. Genetics has a very important influence on pathogenesis, since a large number of diseases originate in part or wholly, following a particular gene, a mutation or an anomaly in the patient’s genetic material. Immunopathology is of particular importance in the pathogenesis of infectious disease, as it pertains to the immune system, including how immune weaknesses can allow a virus or bacterium to gain a foothold and cause disease.
While some physicians specialize in one of the above fields of pathogenesis, other physicians and researchers may work in multiple fields. This is often the case for individuals studying pathogenesis in relation to a specific disease. In the case of some types of cancer, understanding the entire pathogenesis of the disease may include genetic, infectious, chemical and immunological factors.
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