This may include a medication, a surgical operation, a lifestyle change, or even a philosophical shift that alleviates a person's ; or achieves a state of healing.
Conversely, a person who effectively manages a disease like diabetes mellitus to prevent undesirable symptoms without permanently eliminating it is not considered cured.
In complex diseases like cancer, researchers use statistical comparisons of disease-free survival (DFS) between patients and matched, healthy control groups.
Once all non-cured individuals have died or experienced disease recurrence, only the permanently cured population members remain, and the DFS curve becomes flat.
The earliest point at which the curve flattens indicates when all remaining disease-free survivors are considered permanently cured.
[7] Generally, survival curves are adjusted for the effects of normal aging on mortality, especially in studies of diseases affecting older populations.
[6] It may take years to gather enough data to determine when the DFS curve flattens (indicating no further relapses are expected).
Some diseases may be technically incurable but require infrequent treatment, making them practically equivalent to a cure.
Other diseases may have multiple plateaus, leading to unexpected late relapses after what was initially considered a "cure."
[10] Emil Adolf von Behring and colleagues produced antitoxins for diphtheria and tetanus toxins from 1890.
[18][19] Signs and symptomsSyndromeDisease Medical diagnosisDifferential diagnosisPrognosis AcuteChronicCure Eponymous diseaseAcronym or abbreviationRemission