Information and news about disease category

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How to Stop Malaria

Malaria seems to be a disease out of sight for most of us, affecting far away people. Malaria used to be present in the United States, but it was wiped out in the 1950s. The mosquitoes, carrying the malaria parasite, are making people very sick and taking lives in the countries where this dangerous disease still exists, but in order to stop malaria, certain precautions and steps must be taken.

What is the current situation?

In 2012, there were about 207 million people diagnosed with malaria, and an estimated 627,000 malaria deaths. About 3.4 billion people — half of the world’s population — are at risk of contracting malaria. Most cases incur in Sub-Saharan Africa, greatly affecting children under age five.

How to prevent and stop malaria

Prevention of malaria includes preventing people from acquiring mosquito bites and giving people the appropriate medicine. Wearing protective clothing, staying inside when it is dark outside, using mosquito spray indoors if possible and avoiding going to region with a high number of cases of malaria if vulnerable (pregnant, under age five, etc…) are also effective in malaria prevention. Using long-lasting mosquito nets is one of the most effective methods to prevent mosquito bites. If traveling to regions where malaria is present, taking preventative medicine is strongly recommend. Most people who are infected do not take the proper medicine or follow the right schedule.

What we need to do

We have already achieved huge success. Fewer people are getting sick, thanks to the effects of the U.N., local government and nonprofit organizations. We need to keep up the fight against malaria. Most cases occur in Sub-Saharan Africa, where people lack certain preventive materials such as bed nets and insect spray. We need to make sure people sleep under bed nets and have access to basic malaria diagnosis and treatment.

There are no certain vaccines that can prevent people from getting malaria. Scientists still continue with their research to develop effective vaccines. We also need to find innovative ways and methods to stop malaria.

– Jing Xu

Sources: ImpatientOptimists, WHO, WebMD
Photo: AAAAI

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The Dangers of Chlorine in Tap Water

While the upcoming years will likely see more and more impoverished people in possession of clean water, a new worry that already affects those inhabiting developed countries may arise: the effects of water filtration upon massive new quantities of people. Raw water from rivers, lakes and groundwater contains microorganisms. Some microorganisms, though not all, can be harmful to human health.

One such treatment to cleanse raw water of microorganisms is to implement chlorination, a disinfecting process that allows water to be publicly consumable, through the addition of chlorine to potential drinking water. Chlorine, therefore, is a water purifier. Though used in World War I and in the Iraq War as a chemical weapon, it is a common ingredient found in bleach and disinfectants. It is also an oxidant. While chlorination can help to destroy bacteria and viruses, it cannot eliminate all microbes from raw water. It is, however, one of the most popular and cost-effective measures among various water disinfection methods.

Yet, even minimal levels of chlorine found in drinking water can have adverse effects upon consumers. Unlike the more immediate and pronounced effects of malaria, typhoid, cholera, dysentery and other water-related diseases, water filtration can produce more subtle ailments. Bacteria contributing to Legionnaires’ disease, Pontiac fever, nontuberculous mycobacteria and other organisms can survive chlorination. In fact, mycobacteria can harm the lungs of those with compromised immune systems. The oxidant can also pose health risks by interacting with natural materials in water to form potentially dangerous byproducts. Evidence suggests that an increased risk of bladder cancer may be associated with an active consumption of chlorinated tap water. Though not as immediate as many of the diseases that plague developing countries, filtration imposes concern, due to its documented long-term health effects. Unlike common water-related diseases, chlorine-related health problems are harder to detect.

According to a UN estimate, nearly 40 billion hours are wasted each year in Sub-Saharan Africa collecting water. Such is a number equivalent to a year’s work of France’s entire workforce. Today, developing countries continue to see nearly 80 percent of illnesses related to inadequate water and sanitation. The World Health Organization, one of the leaders in educating and providing aid to water-impoverished nations, states that one of its primary beliefs is that “all people, whatever their stage of development and their social and economic conditions, have the right to have access to an adequate supply of safe drinking water.” Nevertheless, as global efforts continue to eradicate the water problem in developing countries, scientists, humanitarians and the public may have to face the prospect of third-world countries encountering a first-world problem.

– Ethan Safran

Sources: AllAfrica, EPA, WHO, New York Times, Safewater, The Water Project
Photo: Red Orbit

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Biosecurity and Global Health

The spread of infectious diseases is not only a threat to global health, but also to global security.

In recent years, diseases such as mad cow disease, avian flu, antibiotic-resistance tuberculosis and  antibiotic-resistant malaria have spread around the world. In a global age, the spread of disease becomes very easy. Eradicating infectious diseases and establishing effective ways to combat their spread is becoming important to national security.

In February of this year, the President Obama began the Global Health Security Agenda. Led by the United States, this agenda is a collaboration of 30 countries that is seeking to establish a world that is not threatened by the spread of infectious diseases.

In order to reach the goal, the Agenda  seeks to implement better systems of prevention, detection and response for infectious diseases around the world.

As part of prevention, the Agenda is creating laboratories around the world that are able to identify antimicrobial-resistant organisms, enhance biosecurity and biosafety, encourage the elimination of diseases spreading from animals to humans and improve access to vaccinations.

The Agenda is improving detection through improved biosurveilance and diagnostic tests and is also funding the placement of epidemiologists around the world.

In addition, the Agenda is working to set in place a coordinated response to any threats of infectious disease outbreaks.
Most of the efforts that organizations, such as the World Health Organization, are involved with laboratory practices. By providing safe and secure laboratories, much of the spread of infectious diseases is reduced. In addition, through increased training and education, many of the threats can be reduced.

Although biosecurity is often not a focus of national security, diseases can eradicate the human population as effectively as man-made weapons. By working to improve the resources available as well as improve worldwide practices of prevention, detection and response, much of the biosecurity risk can be eliminated.

– Lily Tyson

Sources: World Health Organization 1, World Health Organization 2
Photo: Science Media Centre

Flooding in Central African Republic

June marked the beginning of the Central African Republic’s extremely rainy season. During this annual season, CAR experiences daily thunderous rainstorms that leave dire destruction in their wake. The heavy downpours destroy homes and tents, and the ubiquitous water pools into stagnant bodies of dirty and diseased water. The flooding in Central African Republic has caused contractions of cholera and infections, especially amongst those with wounds inflicted by local crime and violence.

The CAR is already plagued by chronic poverty and deadly crime. Additionally, there are an estimated 220,000 displaced people inhabiting Bangui alone in temporary “homes” that resemble eclectic forts rather than crucial shelter.

The flooding in Central African Republic is destroying the makeshift shelters the locals have made from any materials available, such as tarps, wood, and cloth. It penetrates their temporary roofs and douses them in the night, keeping them from meaningful sleep. UNICEF has rightfully referred to their situation as a ‘watery purgatory.’ The resultant stagnant water is also responsible for cultivating other deadly diseases such as malaria and typhoid, especially among young children who can be less weary of the dangers of playing near diseased, festering water pools. The situation also has people trekking through thick, deep mud.

Jacques Terrenoire, the Country Director for the Central African Republic at Mercy Corps. describes the dire circumstances: “Now that it has rained, people are just walking in the mud… There are often between five and ten people living under a shoddy shelter, and if there is a strong wind it could be torn away.”

Thankfully, Mercy Corps and UNICEF are both intervening in CAR and providing priceless, much needed aid through several means. UNICEF has, in conjunction with other groups, created a precautionary Cholera Treatment Center at the airport in Bangui. Thus, in the event of a cholera outbreak, officials will be prepared to treat the local population.

UNICEF is also distributing soap and water to those present, and they are building latrines throughout the country as well. Mercy Corps is practicing heavy relief in the CAR as well; the organization maintains teams throughout the country to teach displaced peoples about cleanliness and hygiene in addition to distributing clean water and clean hygiene materials such as soap and containers for water.

— Arielle Swett

Sources: MercyCorps, UNICEF Connect
Photo: Save the Children

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3 Most Infectious Diseases Among Children

infectious diseases among children
Every year, more than six million children die before they reach their fifth birthday due to preventable infectious diseases according to the U.N. In a recent report, USAID revealed that the following three diseases are the greatest contributors to that statistic:

3 Most Infectious Diseases Among Children

  1. Pneumonia is the cause of approximately 17 percent of deaths in children under the age of five. Especially among infants, pneumonia is a serious lung infection. Pneumonia causes more deaths in children than AIDS, malaria, and measles combined according to UNICEF.
  2. Diarrhea is the second most deadly condition for children under five, causing nine percent of deaths. Compared to adults, children are particularly susceptible to diarrhea because a greater proportion of their body weight is made up of water. Even though it is such a dangerous condition for children, only 44 percent of children in developing countries suffering from diarrhea receive treatment according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
  3. Malaria closely follows diarrhea, causing about seven percent of all child deaths. Even though malaria is easily spread through a mosquito bite, this disease can be just as easily prevented through insecticide-treated mosquito nets and effective antibiotics. Although 1.1 million deaths caused by malaria have been averted since the start of the U.N.’s Millennium Development Goals in 2000, malaria is still a major health issue in developing countries.

Pneumonia, diarrhea and malaria together account for about a third of all child deaths globally. The symptoms and effects of these diseases can become severe if the infected person is malnourished or does not receive the proper necessary treatment. As a result, these three diseases are all the more rampant in developing countries.

Similarly to the U.N.’s goal to reduce the child mortality rate by two-thirds, WHO and UNICEF staff members worked together to create the Global Action Plan for Pneumonia and Diarrhea (GAPPD). This integrated plan seeks to end child deaths caused by these two preventable diseases by 2025. The GAPPD will also combine the practices for treating both pneumonia and diarrhea since the causes and treatment for these two diseases are interrelated.

Global poverty is directly related to the spread of infectious diseases in developing countries. This is why The Borgen Project along with so many other organizations work to decrease the multi-layered issue of poverty across the globe.

– Meghan Orner

Sources: Daily Times, WebMD, World Health Organization, World Health Organization
Photo: UNICEF

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Arsenic Poisoning in Rural Asian Waters

Arsenic
Reawakening the global health problem of unclean, polluted drinking water, rural Asian villages have been plagued with arsenic-ridden water. Most of these rural villages are near mines which leak and pollute local water sources with the carcinogen arsenic. In the past decade, the Heshan village in China has seen nearly 20 percent of the population get cancer from the polluted water.

The arsenic has been traced back to runoff and residue from a local mine that was closed in 2011. The 190 living cancer patients have petitioned the local governments for monetary compensation and aid, but the $1,600 reimbursement is insufficient for even one round of chemotherapy or radiation. For many of these poor rural villagers, the cancer diagnosis from arsenic poisoning is nothing less than a death sentence because of the unaffordable cost of treatment.

Tests of the ground water have resulted in arsenic amounts 15 times the safe amount of arsenic. The water is so toxic that many of the agricultural staples are not viable in the region, stripping these people of their livelihood and reinforcing the cycle of poverty in the area.

Similar cases have been reported throughout China and India. With water security being of the utmost importance, cancer patterns have sprung up around villages with arsenic in the water. Local medical professionals have denied the correlation between the high arsenic levels and the cancer hotspots, despite the fact that arsenic has been recognized by many health institutions as a known carcinogen.

The lack of transparency between health officials and the villagers coupled with insufficient cleaning methods has resorted in the outbreaks of cancer caused by arsenic. The toxicity of the element, both for humans and agriculture, has stunted the regional economies and has restricted the employment pool. A needless tragedy, the arsenic-laden drinking waters have destroyed families and the economies of the rural villages afflicted by the toxic water.

– Kristin Ronzi

Sources: American Cancer Society, Reuters, Times of India
Photo: Trip Advisor

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The World’s First Hookworm Vaccine

One-third of children and women living below the World Bank’s poverty line are infected with hookworm today, which often causes moderate to severe anemia. Hookworm and other Neglected Tropical Diseases, or NTDs, disproportionately affect the poorer Islamic countries such as Indonesia, Bangladesh, Mali, Nigeria and others in North Africa and the Middle East.

Children and pregnant women are by far the most drastically affected by this disease. Children with long-standing blood loss from hookworm often experience sufficient mental and motor development delays. They can actually lose IQ points as well. These detrimental effects undoubtedly follow them into adulthood, making productivity more difficult.

The blood loss caused by hookworm may affect women in labor, making their chance of death much higher. Additionally, the baby is more likely to be born prematurely or with low birth weight. This makes those babies less likely to survive, contributing to the child mortality rate.

Additionally, the link between hookworms and anemia is a large concern because of its relation to disabilities. Anemia accounted for 8.8 percent of the total disability of the world in 2010. Today, children under 5 years old and women of all ages still hold the heaviest burden.

Fortunately, the Sabin Vaccine Institute’s Product Development Partnership is developing the world’s first hookworm vaccine for human use. The Sabin Institute was established in 2000 with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and is the only Product Development Partnership in the world working to develop a vaccine for human hookworm infections.

The institute is receiving support from the European Commission FP7 program and uniting professionals from around the world to build research. This global consortium has been coined HOOKVAC and includes members from the Netherlands, the United States, Belgium, England, Germany and Gabon. This project aims not only to perfect the manufacturing process of the vaccine, but also to increase and share research on NTDs.

The first clinical testing of the vaccine will take place in Sub-Saharan Africa once it is ready. Gabon’s Lamberene Research Centre will lead clinical testing in adults and children in Gabon, a region plagued with hookworm.

The vaccine is being called the “anti-poverty” vaccine due to its vast potential to lower child mortality rates, save mothers in labor and improve health conditions for agricultural workers, who are the backbone of many poorer economies.

The vaccine, as of now, is intended only for use in the poorest regions of the world, where hookworm thrives. This means that the product will likely not be sold commercially by pharmaceutical companies, but will remain in the nonprofit sector with HOOKVAC.

The project will hopefully conduct trials in the coming years and bring health relief to millions, while contributing to the united fight against global poverty.

– Cambria Arvizo

Sources: Huffington Post, Sabin Vaccine Institute, American Society of Hematology
Photo: The Guardian

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Chickungunya Virus Spreading Fast

Chickungunya

North Carolina’s first case of the Chickungunya virus was confirmed on June 12. Seven days later Georgia confirmed its first case. Two days after that Tennessee confirmed its second. With over 30 cases already confirmed in Florida, this mosquito-borne virus is quickly spreading.

Until 2007, Chickungunya was only found in Africa, Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Then it appeared in Italy and slowly made its way throughout Europe. In December of this past year the first case of Chickungunya was reported in the Caribbean. Now, barely six months later, the Pan American Health Organization has confirmed 5,000 cases of the virus and suspects another 160,000 cases in the region.

There is currently no vaccine for the virus or treatment for the symptoms. Those symptoms include fever, rash, nausea, chronic joint pain, swelling and headache. They usually first appear within three to seven days after infection with most symptoms abating after about a week’s time. However, the joint pain often lasts for months.

There are now 20 afflicted states and islands in the Caribbean, with Cuba being the most recent. The Center for Disease Control has reported approximately 60 total cases in the continental United States thus far. All such cases have included patients who have made recent trips to the Caribbean. The virus has been linked to the Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes, both of which are fairly common in the U.S. The CDC has recommended that people who are traveling to the Caribbean use bug spray and dress in long sleeves and pants to avoid being bitten by either kind.

Despite rising concerns about possible contraction of the Chickungunya virus, trips to the Caribbean remain popular among American tourists. With cruise season currently in full swing, the number of cases in the U.S. is sure to rise.

— Taylor Dow

Sources: LA Times, Island Gazette, CNN, AJC, Medpage Today
Photo: Wageningen Ur

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END7 Diseases by 2020

END7
END7, an international advocacy campaign, aims to end seven neglected tropical diseases (NTDS) by 2020. It is currently raising awareness of the seven most common NTDs, and the easy and cheap resources available to eliminate them.

Cheap is not an understatement — it takes only 50 cents to treat and protect one person against all seven NTDS.

While 2020 may seem like an overly optimistic date to have eliminated seven diseases, treatments for all NTDs exist — it’s just a matter of getting them to those in need. The seven diseases include Hookworm, Roundworm, Whipworm, Elephantiasis, Trachoma, River Blindness and Snail Fever.

Nearly one in six people worldwide, including over half a billion children, have these diseases living and breeding inside their bodies. The effects of these diseases can be devastating, causing blindness, massive swelling in limbs, severe malnutrition, pregnancy complications and anemia.

Apart from the horrific effects of NTDs, these diseases makes it increasingly difficult for affected families to lift themselves out of poverty. They prevent children from going to school.

In order to spread the word about their cause and the work being done to help victims of NTDs, END7 utilizes social media outlets, hoping to target young activists who will then share the word with others. The goal is to get the general public involved, not just doctors and health care professionals.

The campaign asks the community to donate to NTD prevention and treatment programs. These programs deliver the medications to schools and poor communities all over the globe.

How can it be so cheap? Drugs to treat NTDS are donated by pharmaceutical companies, allowing for the remaining cost to come only in distributing the drugs to those in need.

Bill Nighy, who provides a voice for many of the END7 videos, describes his astonishment in the opportunity at hand, stating, “I’m shocked by how much devastation these diseases cause. But what shocks me more is how simple the solution is.”

If pocket change can provide a cure for seven diseases, it seems that a cure in 2020 may not seem so far out of reach after all.

 — Caroline Logan

Sources: END7, TwitChange
Photo: Northeastern

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10 Facts About Malaria

It is well known that mosquitoes carry diseases. Even in developed nations like the U.S., there are yearly warnings of West Nile Virus and Eastern Equine Encephalitis, but no disease carried by mosquitoes is as widespread as malaria. The following 10 facts about malaria shed some light on the global malaria epidemic, what is being done about it and what the future holds.

 

Top 10 Facts About Malaria

 

1. The word “malaria” means “bad air.” In the 18th century people thought that malaria was caused from breathing in bad air in marshy areas. In 1880 scientists discovered that this was not true, but the name stuck.

2. Malaria is spread by parasites. Five different parasites can cause malaria in humans, but the Plasmodium falciparum parasite is the most deadly. The parasites enter the human bloodstream through the bite of an infected mosquito.

3. Malaria is most commonly found in Africa and parts of Southeast Asia. Mosquitoes thrive in tropical and subtropical climates, so countries that are near the equator are more at risk. Additionally, many African and Southeast Asian countries have high poverty rates and people do not have access to malaria prevention and treatment, or are not educated on the disease.

4. Malaria can pass from human to human. You cannot “catch” malaria like you can a cold, but people can pass it on by sharing needles, blood transfusions and through pregnancy.

5. When infected with malaria, symptoms can range from none to severe. It can take anywhere from 9-40 days for symptoms to appear. Early symptoms can include fever, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, chills, headache, muscle aches, cough and sweating. If not treated within 24 hours the disease can worsen, leading to seizures, impairment of brain and spinal cord function, loss of consciousness and death.

6. Malaria infects an average of 200 million people each year. Up to 1 million of these 200 million will die every year. Of malaria deaths, 90 percent occur in Africa. In Africa one child dies from malaria every minute.

7. There is a cure for malaria. There are different drug treatments available depending on the strain of malaria an individual is infected with. The drugs cure malaria by killing all of the parasites within a person’s bloodstream. However, new waves of drug-resistant malaria are threatening the lives of millions.

8. The best cure for malaria is prevention. There are two major ways that malaria is prevented. Insecticide-treated mosquito netting placed around beds is a good way to keep people safe while they sleep, and spraying a household with residual insecticide will effectively eliminate mosquitos in the house for three to six months.

9. Mortality rates are falling. Since 2000, malaria mortality rates have fallen by 42 percent globally. This is largely due to increased prevention and faster testing and treatment to those who are thought to have malaria. By 2015, 52 countries are expected to have reduced their number of malaria cases by 75 percent. In the past four years the countries of Morocco, United Arab Emirates, Turkmenistan and Armenia have been certified by the World Health Organization as having eliminated malaria.

10. There is a promising vaccine currently being tested. While there is currently no vaccine on the market to prevent against malaria, there is one being tested via clinical trial in seven African countries with positive results. Scientists feel very encouraged by this new treatment and the vaccine could be ready for full-time use as early as 2015.

These 10 facts on malaria depict the fact that although malaria is a curable and preventable illness, millions of people still contract it every year. Those who contract it mainly reside in poor countries where access to quality health care and education is more difficult to come by. If these people receive the proper education on malaria, as well as access to medications, then there would be no reason for anyone to be dying from this disease.

— Taylor Lovett

Sources: CDC, Medical News Today, WHO
Photo: Flickr