Pathogenesis

Pathogenesis investigates the development of a disease and the chain of events associated with it, which step by step determine morpho-functional changes of the cells and tissues belonging to the affected organs. These alterations can be caused by chemical, physical, or biological agents (viruses, bacteria, etc.).

We could therefore define pathogenesis as the mechanism by which an etiological agent (causal agent, for example a bacterium or a radiation) determines the disease. It is no coincidence that the term pathogenesis derives from the union of Greek words pathos, "disease", e genesis, "creation".

While etiology defines the causes, pathogenesis studies the consequences.

In reading medical texts we can therefore come across terms such as: microbial pathogenesis, inflammatory pathogenesis, viral pathogenesis, malignant pathogenesis (tendency of a disease, usually tumor, to progressively worsen until it becomes potentially lethal). Many diseases recognize different causal factors (multifactorial etiology) and even more numerous are those characterized by different evolutionary mechanisms (multiple pathogenesis).