In medicine

Medicine

Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....

, a course of medication

Medication

A pharmaceutical drug, also referred to as medicine, medication or medicament, can be loosely defined as any chemical substance intended for use in the medical diagnosis, cure, treatment, or prevention of disease.- Classification :...

is a period of continuous treatment with a drug, sometimes with variable dosage. Treatment with some drugs should not end abruptly. Instead, their course should end with a tapering dosage.

• Antibiotics: Taking the full course of antibiotics is important to prevent reinfection and/or development of drug-resistant bacteria.

• Steroids: For both short-term and long-term steroid treatment, when stopping treatment, the dosage is tapered rather than abruptly ended. This permits the adrenal gland
  Adrenal gland
  In mammals, the adrenal glands are endocrine glands that sit atop the kidneys; in humans, the right suprarenal gland is triangular shaped, while the left suprarenal gland is semilunar shaped...
  
  s to resume the body's natural production of cortisol
  Cortisol
  Cortisol is a steroid hormone, more specifically a glucocorticoid, produced by the adrenal gland. It is released in response to stress and a low level of blood glucocorticoids. Its primary functions are to increase blood sugar through gluconeogenesis; suppress the immune system; and aid in fat,...
  
  . Abrupt discontinuation can result in adrenal insufficiency
  Adrenal insufficiency
  Adrenal insufficiency is a condition in which the adrenal glands, located above the kidneys, do not produce adequate amounts of steroid hormones , primarily cortisol, but may also include impaired aldosterone production which regulates sodium, potassium and water retention...
  
  ; and/or steroid withdrawal syndrome (a rebound effect
  Rebound effect
  The rebound effect, or rebound phenomenon, is the tendency of some medications, when discontinued suddenly, to cause a return of the symptoms it relieved, and that, to a degree stronger than they were before treatment first began...
  
   in which exaggerated symptoms return).

Another meaning in medicine is the course of a disease, or its natural history

Natural history of disease

The natural history of disease refers to a description of the uninterrupted progression of a disease in an individual from the moment of exposure to causal agents until recovery or death. Knowledge of the natural history of disease ranks alongside causal understanding in importance for disease...

, which is a description of the speed of evolution of the disease

Disease

A disease is an abnormal condition affecting the body of an organism. It is often construed to be a medical condition associated with specific symptoms and signs. It may be caused by external factors, such as infectious disease, or it may be caused by internal dysfunctions, such as autoimmune...

. Diseases can have an acute, a subacute, a chronic

Chronic (medicine)

A chronic disease is a disease or other human health condition that is persistent or long-lasting in nature. The term chronic is usually applied when the course of the disease lasts for more than three months. Common chronic diseases include asthma, cancer, diabetes and HIV/AIDS.In medicine, the...

 or a recurrent course. A fulminant

Fulminant

Fulminant is any event or process that occurs suddenly and quickly, and is intense and severe to the point of lethality, i.e., it has an explosive character. The word comes from Latin fulmināre, to strike with lightning...

course is a particularly severe and rapid acute course. A patient can be at the beginning, the middle or the end of the disease's course.