When one mentions disease, the next thought that runs through your mind is 'will I catch an infection?'. It is not wrong to worry about an infection as most of the diseases are caused by microorganisms that can pass on from one person to another. However, not all diseases are infectious. There are many non-infectious diseases that do not spread from one person to another. These non-infectious diseases are also known as non-communicable diseases. What are Non-Infectious Diseases? Those diseases that are not caused by a pathogenic agent, and cannot be transferred from one person to another are called non-infectious diseases. There are many types of non-infectious diseases that are caused by different factors. These factors include genetics, environment, nutritional deficiency, or lifestyle patterns. These diseases are not transmissible, but genetic diseases are generally passed down from parents to their children. What Causes Non-Infectious Diseases in Humans? Non-infections diseases are caused by genetic inheritance, environmental disposition or lifestyle pattern. Some diseases can either occur as an interaction of genetic disorder and environmental factors. Let us have a look at the causes below: Genetic Diseases Diseases that are caused by chromosomal errors come under non-infectious diseases. These diseases are not communicable, but can be transferred from parents to their children during fertilization. There are different types of mutations that occur. These include single gene mutation, rearrangement of genetic information and change in chromosomal numbers.

• Achondroplasia
• Acid Maltase deficiency
• Albinism
• Alzheimer's disease
• Angelman syndrome
• Bardet-Biedl syndrome
• Bloom syndrome
• Bipolar disorder
• Canavan disease
• Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease
• Color blindness
• Cri du chat syndrome
• Cystic fibrosis
• Down's syndrome
• Duchenne muscular dystrophy
• Fragile X syndrome
• Galactosemia
• Hemophilia
• Huntington's disease
• Jackson-Weiss syndrome
• Krabbe disease
• Klinefelter's syndrome
• Langer-Giedion syndrome
• Lesch-Nyhan syndrome
• Marfan syndrome
• Muscular dystrophy
• Myotonic dystrophy
• Nail-patella syndrome (NPS)
• Neurofibromatosis
• Noonan syndrome
• Osteogenesis
• Patau syndrome
• Phenylketonuria
• Porphyria
• Prader-Willi syndrome
• Retinoblastoma
• Rett syndrome
• Sickle-cell disease
• Spina bifida
• Tay-Sachs disease
• Triple X syndrome
• Turner syndrome
• Usher syndrome
• Von Hippel-Lindau syndrome
• Waardenburg syndrome
• Wilson's disease
• Xeroderma pigmentosum
• XXXX syndrome
• YY syndrome

Environmental Diseases The category of non-infectious diseases due to environmental factors is a very broad term. This category encompasses a range of factors like sunlight, food, lifestyle, pollution, occupational hazards, etc. These environmental diseases are influenced by genetic predisposition of an individual, as well as type of lifestyle. Examples of noninfectious diseases caused by environmental factors are as follows:

• Diabetes
• Heart diseases
• Alzheimer's disease
• Chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases
• Anorexia nervosa
• Hypertension
• Hyperthyroidism
• Hypothyroidism
• Asthma
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome
• Fibromyalgia
• Narcolepsy
• Osteoporosis
• Appendicitis
• Arteriosclerosis
• Carpal tunnel syndrome
• Liver cirrhosis
• Emphyema
• Fetal alcohol syndrome
• Glaucoma
• Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)
• Tick paralysis

As you can see, most of these diseases arise due to drug, alcohol abuse, tobacco abuse, eating unhealthy junk food and sedentary lifestyles. Many congenital diseases are due to genetics and environmental factors put together (e.g. Fetal alcohol syndrome). These diseases have become of the leading causes of deaths worldwide according to World Health Organization (WHO). So, the take home message is non-infectious diseases in humans is not transmissible from person to person. But, choosing a healthy lifestyle, and avoiding factors that lead to these diseases will help prevent their occurrence to some extent.