Defining disease

摘要

There is consensus that the transition from infectious to chronic disease was a necessary rite of passage to modernity. Yet as this thoughtful book makes clear, the concept of chronic disease has long been elastic and fluid, making the term a cultural concept rather than a self-evident clinical entity or epidemiologi-cal category. This account, then, is not one of epidemiological statistics on death and disease incidence, but a cultural history about a key medical and policy-related category. Although the focus of this book is firmly on the United States, author George Weisz recognizes that chronic disease has had a long history throughout the world.