Acute (medicine)

In medicine, an acute disease is a disease, a short course, or both.

Acute may be used to distinguish a disease from a chronic form, such as acute leukemia and chronic leukemia, or to highlight the sudden onset of a disease, such as acute myocardial infarction. The word "acute" may also be used in the context of medicine to refer to the acute phase of injury, meaning the immediate post-injury healing processes.

Definition of acute

The term "acute" may often be confused by the general public to mean "severe". However, not all acute diseases or injuries are severe, and vice versa. For example, 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.

The term "acute" is also included in the definition of several diseases, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome, acute leukemia, acute myocardial infarction, and acute hepatitis. This is often to distinguish diseases from their chronic forms, such as chronic leukemia, or to highlight the sudden onset of the disease, such as acute myocardial infarct.