1.

2. disease
nombre enfermedad, dolencia: the disease
was killing him, la enfermedad le estaba
matando

Recuerda que disease se refiere a una

enfermedad específica y no a la
enfermedad como estado
(illness).[/COLOR]

illness
nombre enfermedad: they diagnosed the
illness, diagnosticaron la enfermedad Ver
nota en disease

-- Source: Diccionario Espasa Concise ©

2000 Espasa Calpe

el_novato, 22 de Septiembre de 2004

#2

3. VickiSenior Member

United States/English

To add a bit of context:

They're interchangeble terms at times. But I see a couple of basic distinctions in how
they're generally used:

- Disease is the more clinical term.

- Illness doesn't convey as much severity of the condition.

For example,
You could say, "Dr. García treats diseases of the nose, throat..."
You could say, "Mary was out of school for a couple of days due to illness."
You would not say, "Lung cancer is an illness characterized by..."

Perhaps in Spanish there's no need to distinguish them if "enfermedad" covers a

broader range of meanings than the English words do?

Hope this helps.

Saludos.
Vicki
Vicki, 22 de Septiembre de 2004
#3
 4.

cuchufleteSenior Member

Maine, EEUU
EEUU-inglés

I agree with Vicki, in that 'enfermedad' covers both. For me, disease is the agent that
causes the problem, while illness is the resulting state.
cuchuflete, 22 de Septiembre de 2004
#4

5. Henrik LarssonBanned

Socuéllamos
Spanish

No acabo de ver clara la diferencia entre disease y illness... SI alguien me lo explica...

Henrik Larsson, 11 de Junio de 2005
#5

6.

MitaSenior Member

Chile
Chile - Español

¡Hola! Lo consulté en mi diccionario y aquí sale una explicación (espero que esté
bien ). Ahora te la escribo; ejem, ejem :

- Cuando se habla de una enfermedad sin darle un nombre específico, se

puede usar tanto "illness" como "disease". "Disease" es más frecuente
cuando la enfermedad es contagiosa:
Una enfermedad muy grave = A very serious illness/disease.
Una enfermedad infecciosa/contagiosa = An infectious/contagious disease.
- Cuando se especifica a qué parte del cuerpo afecta, suele usarse "disease",
que a veces equivale a "enfermedades":
Una enfermedad de la piel = A skin disease.
Las enfermedades del corazón = Heart disease.
- En los siguientes contextos se usa "illness":
Una enfermedad mental = A mental illness.
Una enfermedad terminal = A terminal illness.
- Cuando se habla de contraer o contagiarse una enfermedad, se usa
"disease":
Contrajo la enfermedad en un viaje al Amazonas = She caught the disease on a trip to
the Amazon.
-Para referirse al tiempo que uno está enfermo o al estado de estar enfermo,
se usa "illness":
Murió ayer tras una corta enfermedad = She died yesterday after a short illness.
No pudo asistir por razones de enfermedad = She wasn`t able to attend because of
illness.

¡Uff! Un poquito larga, ¿no?

Espero que te sirva (y no haberte enredado más )
Saludos
Mita, 11 de Junio de 2005
#6

7. ojyramSenior Member

Tampa, Fl, USA

USA English (Learning Spanish)

Disease and illness mean the same: some germs, a virus, or a condition of the body
that makes one sick or unhealthy.
It is a convention to use one or the other in certain phrases such as the examples in
Mita's list.
In many cases they are interchangeable.
If you'd like to list some specific sentences, I'll tell you which word would be commonly
used in the USA.
ojyram, 11 de Junio de 2005
#7

8. Henrik LarssonBanned

Socuéllamos
Spanish

Muchas gracias por toda la información!!!!

Henrik Larsson, 11 de Junio de 2005
#8

9. TabacSenior Member

Pacific Northwest (USA)

U. S. - English

Henrik Larsson dijo:

No acabo de ver clara la diferencia entre disease y illness... SI alguien me lo explica...

All the examples given above are absolutely correct. Is this an over-
simplification? Illness = a general state of being. Disease = something that is
specific.

I believe this fits with all the examples given so far.

Tabac, 11 de Junio de 2005
#9

10. garryknightSenior Member

Kent, UK
UK, English
Even more simplistic: disease is the cause and illness is the effect.
garryknight, 12 de Junio de 2005
#10

11.

EdwinSenior Member

Tampa, Florida, USA

USA / Native Language: English

Por medio de tener dos palabras para traducir "enfermedad" así nos vengamos un poco
de ellos por tener dos palabras para decir ''to be'' y dos palabras para decir ''for'' en
castellano.
Edwin, 12 de Junio de 2005
#11

12.

DoncelleMember

California
Spanish / USA

Wow! Que alivio! No importa la fecha en que fueron escritas estas respuestas,
justamente hoy Marzo 9, 2006, tuve la necesidad de encontrar justo lo que estaba
buscando! Keep on piling up the "thank yous" and make sure you add tons of mine! =)
Doncelle, 9 de Marzo de 2006
#12

13. araceliSenior Member

Buenos Aires
Argentine, Spanish

Hola Doncelle:
Justamente ése es uno de los propósitos principales de estos foros: que las preguntas
le sirvan a todo el mundo y no sólo al que la formuló.
Con los aportes de todos incrementamos los contenidos del diccionario, y ello redunda
en beneficio de todos: es como una especie de bumerán...
Saludos.
araceli, 10 de Marzo de 2006
#13

14. Soy YoSenior Member

USA
EEUU - inglés
¿Dónde cae "sickness" dentro de este esquema de disease y illness?
Soy Yo, 10 de Marzo de 2006
#14

15.

DoncelleMember

California
Spanish / USA

Hi Aracely, me encanta tu comentario.Tienes toda la razón!

Hola Soy yo, in my humble opinion I'd say this:
Since disease is the CAUSE
and illness is the EFFECT
I'd say, sickness is the CONDITION or STATE of being ill because of the disease
Doncelle, 11 de Marzo de 2006
#15

16. Soy YoSenior Member

USA
EEUU - inglés

OK... but I don't get it. jejeje

Soy Yo, 11 de Marzo de 2006
#16

17.

DoncelleMember

California
Spanish / USA

Hi SOY,
I totally hear you ! it was hard for me to get "it" as well. Yet, it was really important for me to
understand it, since I am translating Insurance Policies and a little mistake or misleading words
podría significar una gran diferencia en los beneficios a una persona, that's why I was so
concerned , yet now with the help of this awesome forum, I got it !
In many cases, terms such as disease, disorder, morbidity and illness are used
interchangeably.3There are situations however when specific terms are considered preferable.
Disease
The term disease broadly refers to any condition that impairs the normal functioning of the
body. For this reason, diseases are associated with dysfunctioning of the body's normal
homeostatic process.4 Commonly, the term disease is used to refer specifically to infectious
diseases, which are clinically evident diseases that result from the presence of pathogenic
microbial agents, including viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa, multicellular organisms, and
aberrant proteins known as prions. An infection that does not and will not produce clinically
evident impairment of normal functioning, such as the presence of the normal bacteria and
yeasts in the gut, or of a passenger virus, is not considered a disease. By contrast, an infection
that is asymptomatic during its incubation period, but expected to produce symptoms later, is
usually considered a disease. Non-infectious diseases are all other diseases, including most
forms of cancer, heart disease, and genetic disease.
Illness
Illness and sickness are generally used as synonyms for disease.5 However, this term is
occasionally used to refer specifically to the patient's personal experience of his or her
disease.[6][7] In this model, it is possible for a person to have a disease without being ill (to
have an objectively definable, but asymptomatic, medical condition), and to be ill without
being diseased (such as when a person perceives a normal experience as a medical condition, or
medicalizes a non-disease situation in his or her life). Illness is often not due to infection, but a
collection of evolved responses—sickness behavior by the body—that helps clear infection.
Such aspects of illness can include lethargy, depression, anorexia, sleepiness, hyperalgesia, and
inability to concentrate.[8][9][10]
Interestingly, the current use of the words, reverses the etymological implications with disease
representing the objective nature, and illness representing the subjective experience of a
malady.

etymonline.com wikipedia.com

shareimprove this answer

edited Feb 10 '15 at 18:58

answered Feb 10 '15 at 18:08

ScotM
29.2k451115

add a comment

up vote2down vote

The difference is less in their actual meaning and more in their purported usage. In olden days,
any ailment was a disease, but now 'known' or 'easily recoverable' ailment is considered illness
and those that required severe, life-death type treatment are considered diseases. So 'fever' is
considered illness, while 'malaria' or 'jaundice' is disease. There is no bacterial/viral distinction
as well as the words are used for either.

shareimprove this answer

answered Feb 10 '15 at 17:42

Raghuraman R
79437

add a comment

up vote1down vote

We see that Oald says the words illness and disease are synonyms, the University of Ottowa
wants to see semantic differences, but I am sure that such distinctions are unknown to almost
any speaker. My experience is that illness is preferred in spoken language and disease is often
used in texts that have medical topics such as Alzheimer's disease. But you find illness in such
texts as well.

shareimprove this answer

answered Feb 4 '16 at 13:57

rogermue
11.5k41545

add a comment

protected by tchrist♦ Feb 5 '16 at 10:26

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