medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, and Health promotion ...

, describing a

disease A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that a ...

as acute denotes that it is of short duration and, as a corollary of that, of recent

onset Onset may refer to: * Onset (audio), the beginning of a musical note or sound * Onset, Massachusetts, village in the United States **Onset Island (Massachusetts), a small island located at the western end of the Cape Cod Canal *Interonset interval ...

. The quantification of how much time constitutes "short" and "recent" varies by disease and by context, but the core denotation of "acute" is always qualitatively in contrast with " chronic", which denotes long-lasting disease (for example, in acute leukaemia and chronic leukaemia). In addition, "acute" also often connotes two other meanings: sudden onset and

severity Severity or Severely may refer to: * ''Severity'' (video game), a canceled video game * "Severely" (song), by South Korean band F.T. Island See also

* * {{disambig ...

, such as in

acute myocardial infarction A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may ...

(AMI), where suddenness and severity are both established aspects of the meaning. It thus often connotes that the condition is fulminant (as in the AMI example), but not always (as in acute rhinitis, which is usually

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are al ...

ous with the common cold). The one thing that acute MI and acute rhinitis have in common is that they are not chronic. They can happen again (as in recurrent

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

, that is, multiple acute pneumonia episodes), but they are not the same

case Case or CASE may refer to: Containers * Case (goods), a package of related merchandise * Cartridge case or casing, a firearm cartridge component * Bookcase, a piece of furniture used to store books * Briefcase or attaché case, a narrow box to c ...

ongoing for months or years (unlike

chronic obstructive pulmonary disease Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a type of progressive lung disease characterized by long-term respiratory symptoms and airflow limitation. The main symptoms include shortness of breath and a cough, which may or may not produce ...

, which is). In the context of the mass noun "acute disease," it refers to the acute phase (that is, a short course) of any disease entity. For example, in an article on ulcerative enteritis in

poultry Poultry () are domesticated birds kept by humans for their eggs, their meat or their feathers. These birds are most typically members of the superorder Galloanserae (fowl), especially the order Galliformes (which includes chickens, quail ...

, the author says, "in acute disease there may be increased mortality without any obvious

signs Signs may refer to: * ''Signs'' (2002 film), a 2002 film by M. Night Shyamalan * ''Signs'' (TV series) (Polish: ''Znaki'') is a 2018 Polish-language television series * ''Signs'' (journal), a journal of women's studies *Signs (band), an American ...

", referring to the acute form or phase of ulcerative enteritis.

Meaning variations

A mild stubbed toe is an acute injury. Similarly, many acute upper respiratory infections and acute gastroenteritis cases in adults are mild and usually resolve within a few days or weeks. The term "acute" is also included in the definition of several diseases, such as

severe acute respiratory syndrome Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a viral respiratory disease of zoonotic origin caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV or SARS-CoV-1), the first identified strain of the SARS coronavirus species, '' se ...

, acute leukaemia,

, and acute hepatitis. This is often to distinguish diseases from their chronic forms, such as chronic leukaemia, or to highlight the sudden onset of the disease, such as acute myocardial infarct.

Related terminology

Related terms include:

Acute care

Acute care Acute care is a branch of secondary health care where a patient receives active but short-term treatment for a severe injury or episode of illness, an urgent medical condition, or during recovery from surgery.Alberta Health ServicesAcute care.Acc ...

is the early and specialist management of adult patients who have a wide range of medical conditions requiring urgent or

emergency An emergency is an urgent, unexpected, and usually dangerous situation that poses an immediate risk to health, life, property, or environment and requires immediate action. Most emergencies require urgent intervention to prevent a worsening ...

care usually within 48 hours of admission or referral from other specialties. Acute hospitals are those intended for short-term medical and/or surgical treatment and care. The related medical speciality is acute medicine.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Acute (Medicine) Medical terminology Pain Human diseases and disorders