|
|
| Re: Railfans and Asperger's Syndrome - find out for yourself (89685) | |||
 |
|||
| Home > SubChat | |||
|
[ Read Responses | Post a New Response | Return to the Index ] |
|
||
|
Re: Railfans and Asperger's Syndrome - find out for yourself |
|
|
Posted by Mark Michalovic on Fri May 27 08:18:59 2005, in response to Re: Railfans and Asperger's Syndrome - find out for yourself, posted by Max Roberts on Fri May 27 07:58:31 2005. this isn't a proper syndrome (like a cold), it is a collection of behaviours that when they exist in a particular combination become noticeable in particular circumstances.Actually, that's pretty close to the definition of syndrome. Merriam-Webster defines it as "a group of signs and symptoms that occur together and characterize a particular abnormality." We use the word "syndrome" when we don't know what the cause of the symptoms is, or even if all the symptoms have the same cause. This is different from a disease, which is a condition whose symptoms we know to share a common cause. A historical expample is AIDS, or Accquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. It got its name in the late 1970s, before we knew that the symptoms of AIDS were caused by HIV infection. Not knowing why the symptoms of immune deficiency, etc. showed up together, the condition was named a syndrome. Today, we know the cause of AIDS, and that it's symptoms share a common cause. So today, AIDS can't really be considered a syndrome, but a disease. Mark |
|
|
|