Rheumatoid arthritis is one of the common types of arthritis and affects millions of people in the country. An autoimmune disease, it causes joint pain and damage due to the immune system mistakenly attacking the body’s tissues. The inflammation associated with rheumatoid arthritis affects the tissue that lines the joints and is called synovium.

Ulcerative colitis is a condition that causes inflammation in the linings of the large intestine or the rectum, or in some cases, both. About 750,000 people in the US are diagnosed with this condition every year. The number of undiagnosed cases, however, are still high. Here is everything you need to know about the condition, so that you can spot symptoms early on and get the treatment you need.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an inflammatory disease that affects the lungs by obstructing the airflow. Chronic bronchitis and emphysema are two conditions that play a big role in COPD and they both occur together usually. The main reason for COPD is smoking and the inhalation of other irritating gases.

Hepatitis C is a viral liver infection, leading to inflammation and chronic damage to the organ. The hepatitis C virus (HCV) is the causal organism of this disease. There are five stages of this infection- incubation period (time between the contact with the virus and the appearance of symptoms), acute hepatitis C (short-term illness lasting for six months), chronic hepatitis C (long-term infection), cirrhosis (scarring and severe inflammation of the liver), and liver cancer (malignancy in the liver).

Breast cancer is a type of cancer that develops in the breast cells and affects the lobules or the ducts of the breast. The gland which produces milk is the lobule and the pathways through which milk is brought from the glands to the nipple are the ducts. In some cases, the cancer also develops in the fatty tissues of the breast.

A condition identified by a dysfunctional or dead heart muscle segment, caused due to loss of blood supply is referred to as a heart attack. The supply of blood is commonly lost as a result of a blockage in an artery due to a blood clot. When the heart muscle is dead, there is an electrical instability of heart muscle tissue and the person suffers from severe pain in the chest.