Archive for category: Disease

Information and news about disease category

Rats Detecting Tuberculosis  

Rats are commonly thought to carry disease, but what if they diagnosed disease instead? In fact, they do. Contrary to popular belief, rats are highly intelligent creatures that can be trained to sniff out specific odors with incredible accuracy. They have already been used in warzones to sniff out landmines; now, a research center in Tanzania has rats detecting tuberculosis in patients’ saliva.

The giant rats being trained are especially successful at distinguishing an affected person’s saliva because they can smell “in stereo,” meaning that with one sniff they can differentiate two different odors. One out of every 100 rat genes is dedicated to their olfactory abilities – in humans, only one of every 1000 genes has to do with our capacity to smell. Rats’ superior noses allow them to diagnose a TB patient in only seven minutes. Diagnosis by human physicians can take all day.

Working to make TB diagnosis easier and more accurate is especially important for low- and middle-income countries, where 95 percent of all TB-related deaths occur. If caught early, TB can be treated with a course of antibiotics. Because TB is a bacterial disease, its symptoms may not present for long periods of time; the bacteria, which are spread through the air when affected individuals cough or sneeze, can lie dormant in the body before they begin to cause more severe symptoms. Because rats use the smell of the bacteria rather than a patient’s symptoms to diagnose TB, they can diagnose patients much earlier than doctors can.

Though the equipment and expertise necessary to train these rats can be somewhat expensive, this method has the potential to save over a million lives and prevent illness in nearly nine million more every year.  Foreign aid could be useful in providing trained rats to health centers in developing countries or assisting in the training of rats abroad.

Seeing rats as agents of health rather than disease is the first step to eliminating TB altogether. By bringing these intelligent animals into our health centers and our hearts, we can prevent the transmission of one of the world’s deadliest diseases.

– Elise L. Riley

Sources: World Health Organization, BBC
Photo: Flickr

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Controlling Malaria Outbreaks

Combating poverty drives innovation. In order to reduce the suffering from poverty, countries investigate cost effective methods of preventing poverty and reducing the negative effects of poverty, such as disease or malnutrition. Confronting public health concerns, like malaria, in developing countries inspires scientific innovations to end the problem in an efficient yet inexpensive way. In this way, controlling malaria outbreaks improves health care worldwide.

Malaria is preventable and treatable, yet the disease killed over 600,000 people in 2012. The Center for Disease Control reported that malaria outbreaks are the leading cause of death in many developing countries and disproportionately affects young children, pregnant women and travelers.

Malaria is both a symptom and cause of poverty. Impoverished people struggle to take preventative measures against malaria, and if individuals contract malaria, the cost of treatment and the inability to work burden them. Furthermore, countries must create and manage health facilities and treatments. The Center for Disease Control estimated the direct cost at $12 billion per year. This creates a cycle of poverty in which both people and nations are unable to escape.

Some of the solutions, though, destroy too many mosquitoes, which affects the environment. Many predators depend on mosquitoes as their primary food source, so the ecological effect of eliminating all mosquitoes would be significant.

Because of this, researchers are investigating effective preventive measures to target a specific type of mosquito. The Economist reports that Dr. Nikolai Windbichler and Dr. Andrea Crisanti found a method of killing only the mosquitoes of the Anopheles genus, or the ones that carry malaria. By ensuring that the mosquitoes no longer produce female mosquitoes, Dr. Windbichler and Dr. Crisanti ensure that the mosquitoes cannot reproduce or draw blood and spread the malaria parasite.

The researchers designed a protein called endonuclease, which erodes the X chromosome of the mosquitoes. Producing female offspring requires two X chromosomes, and the egg only holds X chromosomes. As a result, if the protein limits the production of X chromosomes in male mosquitoes, it will limit the amount of female mosquitoes produced. A male dominated species of mosquitoes would lower the population as a whole and limit the transmission of malaria.

However, the Economist notes that natural selection will eventually allow the mosquitoes to evolve past the protein, so this solution depends on the elimination of the parasite within the species.

Ecologist Phil Lounibos expresses some skepticism of this type of solution. He believes that eliminating or decreasing the population of one species will not affect the spread of the disease. In a study he led, multiple genus of mosquitoes would cross inseminate and spread the parasite to other types of mosquitoes.

Stalling the disease, though, could allow countries to divert funds from malaria treatment to increasing economic productivity and improving the lives of the country’s impoverished. Developing new methods of malaria control presents exciting possibilities for controlling and combating malaria.

Between 2000 and 2012, malaria interventions saved over 3 million lives, and scientific innovation could drastically increase this number.

– Tara Wilson

Sources: The Economist, Center for Disease Control, WHO, Nature
Photo: The Health Site

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Five of the Most Common Killer Diseases

The Global Post has drawn up a list of the world’s biggest killers by using information from the World Health Organization. Below are a list of some of our most common killer diseases per country.

5. Cirrhosis of the Liver

Caused by excessive drinking, the disease is unique to Mexico as the only place in the world where it is the primary cause of death. Yet the disease is nothing to roll your eyes at: caused by healthy liver tissue being replaced by scar tissue, the scar tissue blocks the flow of blood, nutrients and other important proteins through the liver. Cirrhosis of the liver is the 12th leading cause of death by disease in the world — except for in Mexico, where it’s number one.

4. Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis is often thought of as a disease of the past, but it is still affecting millions of people around the world. In fact, it’s on the rise — the World Health Organization reports around 500,000 new TB cases each year, and it is second only to AIDS as an infectious killer worldwide. A bacterial infection that can spread through the lymph nodes and blood stream to any other part of the body, TB is the leading cause of death in areas such as Pakistan and North and South Africa.

3. HIV/AIDS

Despite the enormous progress made at slowing down the spread of HIV/AIDS, it is still the leading cause of death throughout most of Africa. Just two years ago, around 25 million people — roughly 70 percent of the global total — were living with HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa, and an estimated 1.6 million new HIV infections and 1.2-million AIDS related deaths were reported that same year. In areas such as South Africa, Botswana and Swaziland, the percentage of HIV-prevalence is as high as 26.5 percent.

2. Cancer

It would be hard to find someone not somehow directly affected by cancer. As the second-leading cause of death in the world, cancer has certainly taken its toll — especially in areas such as France, the Iberian peninsula, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Denmark, where cancer (primarily lung and throat) is the leading cause of death. Classified as the rapid growth of cells, there are more than 100 types of cancer that we currently know about.

1. Heart Disease

It’s no surprise that heart disease tops the list as the world’s deadliest killer, but it is a little shocking to see the massive list of countries where heart disease outranks all other diseases. These countries include Canada, the United States, Russia, Australia, most of South America and part of Africa, to name a few. From first- to third-world countries, heart disease continues to remain the deadliest disease in the world.

– Nick Magnanti

Sources: International Business Times, WebMD 1, WebMD 2, The New York Times, Medical News Today, AVERT, CDC
Photo: Diseases-Causes-Cure blog

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Cholera in the Developing World

In the 1800s, cholera emerged from its place of origin in India and ravaged the world. Millions have died in the seven cholera pandemics that have occurred since the first appearance of the disease. While it has been eradicated in some regions, others continue to suffer from recurring epidemics.

Cholera is rarely seen in industrialized countries due to proper sanitation systems. Additionally, the World Health Organization (WHO) states that up to 80 percent of cholera cases can be “successfully treated with oral rehydration salts.” However, the bacteria that causes cholera can easily “continue to thrive” in areas with poor sanitation and overcrowded housing. While the developed world may not face the threat of cholera, in recent years, developing nations have seen deadly outbreaks.

Cholera is an “acute diarrheal disease,” which, in severe cases, can cause “profuse watery diarrhea,” vomiting, and muscle cramps. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that even more severe symptoms include “acute renal failure, severe electrolyte imbalances and coma.” The disease is potentially fatal just hours after developing symptoms.

The severity of cases often varies, says the WHO. Of those infected with the bacteria, 75 percent do not develop symptoms. While this may seem like a non-issue, the bacteria continue to exist in their fecal matter for up to two weeks. Without proper sewage sanitation, others may come in contact with the bacteria as well.

The remaining 25 percent of people infected do develop symptoms. However, 80 percent of those with symptoms only have mild or moderate ones. The other 20 percent of people experience serious, potentially deadly symptoms.

In 2008, the Vietnamese city of Hanoi experienced a cholera outbreak that produced upwards of 2,490 cases. The outbreak was attributed to sewage from septic tanks contaminating lakes where people sometimes wash food. Additionally, street food stalls and “dog meat” restaurants were closed down due to improper sanitation. Thirty lakes in Hanoi had to be sanitized due to the presence of cholera bacteria.

A cholera outbreak in Haiti, which began in 2010, has claimed 8,562 lives, according to the New York Times. Although relief efforts have reduced the number of cases, “clean drinking water and sanitation remain as scarce as when the epidemic began.” The number of cholera treatment centers has shrunk from 120 to 40, and the number of patients dying in treatment centers is rising. Doctors fear that the rainy season will cause the number of cases to skyrocket.

Medical News Today reports the ominous prediction that a cholera outbreak will strike Iraq. “Cholera is endemic in northern Iraq” already, says the report, and with the number of displaced people and refugees rising, the risk is even higher. Syrian refugee camps are overflowing with people, putting the water and sanitation standards at stake.

Two oral cholera vaccines exist, though the WHO has never recommended the vaccine “due to its low protective efficacy and the high occurrence of severe adverse reactions.” The best way to handle an outbreak, says the WHO, is to provide “prompt access to treatment, and to control the spread of the disease by providing safe water, proper sanitation and health education.”

These solutions, however, need to be applied in areas with the greatest need. The United Nations has come under fire for its response to the cholera outbreak in Haiti. The UN has failed to raise the amount of money necessary for vaccinations. While that would provide some immediate relief, Haiti also lacks the $2 billion necessary to construct safe water and sanitation services. Lasting relief is still in the distant future for the slowly recovering nation.

– Bridget Tobin

Sources: WHO 1, WHO 2, Medical News Today, IRIN, CDC, The New York Times
Photo: Medical News Today

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All About Dengue Fever

Dengue Fever
Though similar to malaria in its mode of transmission, dengue fever is its own monster. With up to 400 million people infected every year, dengue has been a leading cause of illness and death worldwide since the 1950s. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 2.5 billion people around the world are at risk of contracting dengue fever.

Dengue is spread through the bite of a female Aedes aegypti mosquito, a species that seeks out prey during the daytime. The mosquito has recently spread to areas in North America and Europe, though it typically resides in tropical areas. Its presence in tourist destinations like Puerto Rico have caused a global spread, and put more people at risk.

Upon contracting dengue, symptoms present in a manner similar to the flu with high fever, headache, aches and pains and vomiting. The secondary symptoms require immediate treatment to ensure that dengue runs its course without escalation.

However, in developing countries where adequate medical care is unavailable, dengue fever escalates to dengue hemorrhagic fever, which is characterized by more extreme symptoms including hemorrhaging. This can then lead to dengue shock syndrome, and in 50 percent of shock cases there is a fatality.

There is no vaccine or treatment for dengue fever, but there are many preventative measures that can be taken to minimize infection. Insecticide can prevent transmission of the virus, as can mosquito nets and clothing that covers exposed skin. Additionally, proper disposal of waste and trash can cut down on mosquitoes.

While in developed countries dengue fever is very survivable, usually lasting between two and seven days, this virus hits the developing world much harder. Not only is there a higher prevalence in many impoverished tropical areas, they are also least equipped to prevent and handle dengue fever when it occurs.

The presence of such a debilitating and sometimes fatal disease worsens the poverty conditions in a country, in which a community needs resources and money to better protect themselves from the disease. Before that can happen, they need to be able to establish a healthy community to begin the transition out of poverty. This vicious cycle is difficult to overcome, making organizations like the World Health Organization instrumental in keeping these countries afloat.

The WHO assists in minimizing the burden of dengue fever by supporting “countries in the confirmation of outbreaks through its collaborating network of laboratories,” providing “technical support and guidance to countries for the effective management of dengue outbreaks,” and a slew of other helpful measures.

Raising awareness about the causes of dengue fever, as well as how to prevent it in the first place, is the first and most important step toward minimizing outbreaks, especially in the developing world. With the assistance of humanitarian organizations and the training of medical professionals to better respond to the virus, dengue fever will become a more manageable virus with fewer fatalities.

— Maggie Wagner

Sources: CDC, WHO, MedicineNet.com, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease
Photo: NY Times

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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

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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