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disease
/dɪˈziːz/
A state of abnormal health that implies a systemic failure or an invasive presence within an organism. It carries a heavier weight than 'illness' (which is the subjective experience of being sick) or 'condition' (which can be neutral or permanent). In medical contexts, it suggests a specific pathology with identifiable causes and symptoms. It evokes a sense of clinical diagnosis and biological malfunction. When applied to the mind or society, it shifts toward a metaphor for corruption, decay, or a pervasive negative influence that spreads and destroys from within.
💬Trò chuyện
KAREN DOES THE DOG HAVE THAT SKIN DISEASE AGAIN? I SAW A PIC ON FB.
It's just a rash. Please stop stirring the pot on my page.
Ý nghĩa
Ví dụ
The disease spread quickly through the valley.
He struggled with a rare heart disease since birth.
Doctor, is this disease actually treatable or am I doomed?
I can't believe he's hiding a mental disease from us!
God, this disease is just eating him alive from inside.
We need a vaccine for this disease immediately.
The plant's leaves were ruined by a fungal disease.
Stop it! This obsession is practically a disease, Sarah!
Cụm từ kết hợp
infectious disease
A disorder caused by pathogenic microorganisms that can be spread from one organism to another.
chronic disease
A condition that persists for a long time and generally cannot be cured completely.
autoimmune disease
A condition in which the immune system mistakenly attacks the body's own healthy cells.
rare disease
A health condition that affects a small percentage of the population.
disease prevention
The practice of taking measures to stop a disorder from developing.
Bối cảnh văn hóa
In July 1518, in the city of Strasbourg, a woman named Frau Troffea stepped into the street and began to dance. She didn't stop for days. Within a month, hundreds of people had joined her in a frenzied, compulsive dance that lasted until they collapsed from exhaustion or died of heart failure. To modern eyes, this looks like a scene from a horror movie, but at the time, it was viewed as a terrifying medical and spiritual crisis.
Historians and scientists have long debated whether this 'dancing disease' was caused by ergotism—a type of food poisoning from fungus-infected rye that can cause hallucinations and spasms—or if it was a manifestation of mass psychogenic illness. The latter is far more fascinating: the theory that extreme psychological distress, fueled by famine, plague, and crushing poverty, triggered a collective dissociative state. In an era where people believed in divine punishment and demonic possession, the mind's response to unbearable stress manifested as a physical compulsion.
What makes this event truly bizarre is the 'cure' attempted by the city authorities. Instead of resting the dancers, Strasbourg officials hired musicians and built a wooden stage, believing that the only way to cure the disease was to encourage the victims to dance even more until the fever broke. This intervention likely exacerbated the crisis, turning a psychological break into a public spectacle of endurance and agony.
This episode serves as a haunting reminder of the thin line between the mind and the body. It illustrates how social contagion can mimic biological pathology, creating a 'disease' of the spirit that manifests in the flesh. The Dancing Plague remains one of history's most enigmatic examples of how human psychology, when pushed to its absolute limit, can override the most basic instincts of survival.