Symptomatic treatment is any medical therapy of a disease that only affects its symptoms, not its cause, i.e., its etiology. It is usually aimed at reducing the symptoms and signs for the comfort and well-being of the patient, but it also may be useful in reducing organic consequences and sequelae of these symptoms and signs of the disease. In many diseases, even in those that its etiology is known (e.g., most viral diseases, such as influenza), symptomatic treatment is the only one available so far. Medicine is the branch of health science and the sector of public life concerned with maintaining human health or restoring it through the treatment of disease and injury. ... Look up Therapy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Therapy (in Greek: θεραπεία) or treatment is the attempted remediation of a health problem, usually following a diagnosis. ... A disease is any abnormal condition of the body or mind that causes discomfort, dysfunction, or distress to the person affected or those in contact with the person. ... The term symptom (from the Greek syn = con/plus and pipto = fall, together meaning co-exist) has two similar meanings in the context of physical and mental health: A symptom may loosely be said to be a physical condition which shows that one has a particular illness or disorder (see... Etiology (alternately aetiology, aitiology) is the study of causation. ... A sequela (plural sequelae) is a pathological condition resulting from a disease. ... A common alternate meaning of virus is computer virus. ... Negatively stained flu virions. ...

Examples of asymptomatic treatments:

• Analgesics, for pain
• Fluid replacement therapy, for dehydration or body fluid loss (hypovolemia)
• Anti-inflammatory agents, for inflammation
• Antitussives, for cough
• Antihistaminics, for allergy
• Brain shunts, to alleviate hydrocephalus

When the etiology for the disease is known, then specific treatment may be instituted, but it is generally associated to symptomatic treatment, as well. An analgesic (colloquially known as painkiller) is any member of the diverse group of drugs used to relieve pain and to achieve analgesia. ... Pain is an unpleasant sensation which may be associated with actual or potential tissue damage and which may have physical and emotional components. ... Dehydration is the removal of water (hydor in ancient Greek) from an object. ... In physiology and medicine, hypovolemia is a state of decreased blood volume; more specifically, decrease in volume of blood plasma. ... Anti-inflammatory refers to the property of a substance or treatment that reduces inflammation. ... Inflammation is the first response of the immune system to infection or irritation and may be referred to as the innate cascade. ... A cough medicine or antitussive is a medication given to people to help them stop coughing. ... An allergy or Type I hypersensitivity is an immune malfunction whereby a persons body is hypersensitised to react immunologically to typically nonimmunogenic substances. ... A shunt in general is a sort of relief valve, or diverter. ...

Symptomatic treatment is not always recommended, and in fact it may be outright dangerous, because it may mask the presence of an underlying etiology which will then be forgotten or treated with great delay. Examples:

• Low-grade fever for 15 days or more sometimes is the only symptom of bacteremia by staphylococcus bacteria. Suppressing it by symptomatic treatment will hide the disease from effective diagnosis and treament with antibiotics. The consequence may be severe (rheumatic fever, nephritis, endocarditis, etc.)
• Chronic headache may be caused simply by a constitutional disposition or be the result of a brain tumor or a brain aneurysm.

Finally, symptomatic treatment is not exempt of adverse effects, and may be a cause of iatrogenic consequences (i.e., ill effects caused by the treatment itself), such as allergic reactions, stomach bleeding, central nervous system effects (nausea, dizziness, etc.). See Fever for the Kylie Minogue album; Fever is also a song by Otis Blackwell. ... Bacteremia (Bacteræmia in British English) is the presence of bacteria in the blood. ... Species S. aureus S. caprae S. epidermidis S. haemolyticus S. hominis S. lugdunensis S. saprophyticus S. warneri S. xylosus Staphylococcus (in Greek staphyle means bunch of grapes and coccos means granule) is a genus of gram-positive bacteria. ... An antibiotic is a drug that kills or slows the growth of bacteria. ... Rheumatic fever is an inflammatory disease which may develop after a Group A streptococcal infection (such as strep throat or scarlet fever) and can involve the heart, joints, skin, and brain. ... Nephritis is inflammation of the kidney. ... Endocarditis is an inflammation of the inner layer of the heart, the endocardium. ... A headache (medically known as cephalgia) is a condition of mild to severe pain in the head; sometimes upper back or neck pain may also be interpreted as a headache. ... A brain tumor is any intracranial mass created by an abnormal and uncontrolled growth of cells either normally found in the brain itself: neurons, glial cells (astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, ependymal cells), lymphatic tissue, blood vessels), in the cranial nerves (myelin producing Schwann cells), in the brain envelopes (meninges), skull, pituitary and... A cerebral or brain aneurysm is a cerebrovascular disorder in which weakness in the wall of a cerebral artery or vein causes a localized dilation or ballooning of the blood vessel. ... Adverse effect, in medicine, is an abnormal, harmful, undesired and/or unintended side-effect, although not necessarily unexpected, which is obtained as the result of a therapy or other medical intervention, such as drug/chemotherapy, physical therapy, surgery, medical procedure, use of a medical device, etc. ... An iatrogenic (pronounced , IPA) condition is a state of ill health or adverse effect caused by medical treatment, usually due to mistakes made in treatment. ... Pancreatitus can be caused by an Allergic Reaction to a food. ... Bleeding is the loss of blood from the body. ... A diagram showing the CNS: 1. ... Nausea (Greek Ναυτεία) is the sensation of unease and discomfort in the stomach with an urge to vomit. ... Dizziness (Latin: Vertigo) is the sensation of instability. ...

See also

• Palliative care
• Iatrogenesis