A rare disorder is a disease or condition that affects fewer than 200,000 Americans. Cumulatively, there are more than 7,000 rare diseases affecting more than 30 million Americans. NORD is committed to the identification, treatment, and cure of rare diseases through education, advocacy, research, and service programs.
How many people have rare diseases? According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), there are approximately 7,000 rare diseases affecting between 25 and 30 million Americans. This equates to 1 in 10 Americans, or one on every elevator and four on every bus.
With only four diagnosed patients in 27 years, ribose-5-phosphate isomerase deficiency is considered the rarest known genetic disease.
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in both men and women.
cancer. dementia, including Alzheimer's disease. advanced lung, heart, kidney and liver disease. stroke and other neurological diseases, including motor neurone disease and multiple sclerosis.
Alkaptonuria. Frequency: one in one million people globally. Alkaptonuria, or “black urine disease”, is a very rare inherited disorder that prevents the body from fully breaking down two protein building blocks (amino acids) called tyrosine and phenylalanine.
The world's biggest killer is ischaemic heart disease, responsible for 16% of the world's total deaths.
In the U.S., for example, rare disease is typically defined as any disease affecting less than 200,000 people, or around one in every 1,500 Americans. The European Union, however, defines a rare disease as a rare or debilitating condition affecting fewer than one in 2,000 people.
Cystic fibrosis is a common genetic disease within the white population in the United States. The disease occurs in 1 in 2,500 to 3,500 white newborns. Cystic fibrosis is less common in other ethnic groups, affecting about 1 in 17,000 African Americans and 1 in 31,000 Asian Americans.
Are there other types of genetic disorders? Genetic disorders may also cause rare diseases. This group of conditions affects fewer than 200,000 people in the U.S. According to experts, there may be as many as 7,000 of these diseases.
Around one in 17 people will develop a rare disease at some point in their lives, so while they are individually rare, cumulatively these diseases affect a substantial proportion of the population.
People who have nosophobia have an illogical fear of developing a specific disease. Usually, the illness they fear is life-threatening. The word nosophobia originates from the Greek words for disease, “nosos,” and fear, “phobos.”
More than 1 in 5 US adults live with a mental illness. Over 1 in 5 youth (ages 13-18) either currently or at some point during their life, have had a seriously debilitating mental illness. About 1 in 25 U.S. adults lives with a serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or major depression.
Serial killers with the highest known victim count. The most prolific modern serial killer is arguably doctor Harold Shipman, with 218 probable murders and possibly as many as 250 (see "Medical professionals", below). However, he was actually convicted of a sample of 15 murders.
Cholera, bubonic plague, smallpox, and influenza are some of the most brutal killers in human history. And outbreaks of these diseases across international borders, are properly defined as pandemic, especially smallpox, which throughout history, has killed between 300-500 million people in its 12,000 year existence.
About Chronic Diseases. Chronic diseases are defined broadly as conditions that last 1 year or more and require ongoing medical attention or limit activities of daily living or both. Chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes are the leading causes of death and disability in the United States.
Cancer. Cancer refers to the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in the body. This can affect almost any organ or tissue including lungs, breast, colon, skin and ovaries. Due to the complexity of the disease and the variety of forms it can take, developing a cure has proven difficult.
Abstract. Neurophobia is the fear of neurological diseases. Its main symptom is that medical students and young doctors are not able to utilize their basic neurological knowledge at the bedside. According to statistics, every second student suffers from neurophobia.