Archive for category: Disease

Information and news about disease category

, , ,

Sochi, Brazil and a Global Health Nightmare

Brazil_Sochi_Global_Health
The passing of four years signifies the completion of an important unit of time for the sporting world, a marker that brings the World Cup and the Olympic Games back, blissfully, to the forefront of the global stage with 2014 being no exception. This year, Brazil will host the FIFA World Cup and Sochi will host the Winter Olympics, to begin June 12 and February 6, respectively.

Headlines anticipate security concerns for both events, which include the threat of terror attacks, widespread protests and general mayhem.

In Sochi, officials have mobilized thousands of security cameras, instituted new security checks and passport screenings, deployed scores of military personnel and amped up surveillance to ensure that “everyone in the city… feel[s] at home and safe.”

Authorities in Brazil are making similar arrangements in hopes that extensive precautionary measures will entice tourists despite the nation’s — particularly, Rio de Janeiro — volatile and violent history. Furthermore, Colonel Alexandre Augusto Aragon, head of the Brazilian National Security Force, recently revealed that 10,000 hand-selected riot troops would police the 12 cities hosting soccer matches this summer.

These reports serve as reminders that mass gatherings, even of sportsmen, can spell danger for participants and fans alike. These events are, moreover, virtual breeding grounds for another invisible threat: pathogens.

The less-publicized public health risks inherent in occasions similar to the Olympic Games are familiar to virtually every global health organization. The World Health Organization (WHO) maintains a Global Alert and Response page dedicated to mitigating risks associated with mass gatherings, which top officials consider “a stress test for public health.”

Even nations with well-established health services and fully-briefed support staff can be overwhelmed by the burden associated with an unexpected outbreak in a mass gathering situation. Not only do gatherings draw visitors from a variety of geographic areas (read: different regions of germs) but they are also, by nature, densely packed and fraught with opportunities for transmission.

WHO officials employ the International Health Regulations to govern disease surveillance programs in the 196 countries that have agreed to certain legal rights and obligations described in the regulations in applicable circumstances. Should unexpected cases of influenza, polio or respiratory illness surface, Russia and Brazil will undertake highly targeted, pre-mediated actions to prevent a public health nightmare.

Unfortunately, very real risks to traveler and fan health go generally unmentioned by the press, whose stories generally touch on political and public interest stories associated with the Olympic Games and the World Cup. Any participant in 2014’s festivities should ensure that they are up-to-date with annual and seasonal vaccines, including the flu and measles.

Appropriate action and active awareness will spell gold for Russia and Brazil, nations hoping to leave a positive public health legacy on the landscape of sports history.

– Casey Ernstes

Sources: CBS News, The Huffington Post, The New York Time, The World Health Organization

Photo: The Age

, , ,

5 Most Common Neglected Tropical Diseases

5 Most Common Neglected Tropical Diseases
Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) affect 1 billion people, or one out of every six individuals, every year. Half a million people die from NTD related effects, the majority of whom are impoverished children, women and persons with disability. Although methods of prevention and treatment are available, these diseases remain extremely common in parts of Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.

The following list of NTDs represents approximately 90% of the global NTD burden, along with methods of treatment and prevention.

1. Onchocerciasis

Also known as “river blindness,” this disease is transmitted via black flies carrying the onchocerca volvulus parasite. The parasite causes debilitating itching and upon reaching the eyes, visual impairment and eventually blindness. It is the second leading cause of infection-induced blindness, behind Trachoma, with 37 million people infected with the disease.

A single, annual dose of Mectizan controls the disease and relieves symptoms. Some countries in Latin America successfully eliminated disease transmission after administering the drug for twenty years which lends hope to its possible elimination in the African continent.

2. Trachoma

One of the oldest infectious diseases known to mankind and the leading source of global blindness, is caused by the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis. Eye-seeking flies transmit the disease from an infected person’s eye discharge to uninfected hosts.

Repeated infections result in a scarred interior eyelid thereby forcing eyelashes to turn inward thus scratching the cornea, all of which is followed by blindness. It affects about 21.4 million people, of whom 1.2 million are blind.

It is hyperendemic in remote poor rural areas of Africa, Central and South America, Australia and the Middle East.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends the SAFE strategy (Surgery, Antibiotic treatment, Face washing and Environmental changes) to limit its spread.

3. Schistosomiasis

Or, snail fever, is a parasitic disease transmitted by freshwater snails to bathing or swimming humans. Urniary schistosomiasis progressively damages the bladder, ureters and kidneys. Intestinal schistosomiasis enlarges the liver and spleen, damages the intestines and creates hypertension of the abdominal blood vessels. It affects 200 million people, and in children can impair growth and cognitive development.

A single dose of praziquantel with repeated community distribution treats and controls the disease.

4. Soil-transmitted helminthes

Affects more than 880 million children around the world. The intestinal worms may result in diarrhea, abdominal pain, anemia, general malaise and severe infection can impair growth and cognitive development.

Improved sanitation, health education and the periodic administration of anthelminthics to at-risk groups limits the rate of transmission.

5. Lymphatic filariasis (LF)

Also known as elephantiasis, is a mosquito-borne disease which results in painful swelling of the limbs and genitals. Over 120 million people are currently infected and nearly 1.4 billion people are at risk in 73 countries.

The WHO recommends yearly large-scale Mectizan and albendazole doses for four to six years to interrupt transmission.

This information was compiled from the Neglected Tropical Disease NGDO Network, World Health Organization and the Center for Disease Control.

– Emily Bajet

Sources: Neglected Tropical Diseases (NGDO) Network, WHO, WHO Programmes, Center for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC)
Photo: Bullion Street

, , , ,

Sanitation and Poverty

Sanitation and Poverty
Two and a half billion people – over a third of the entire world’s population – have no access to adequate sanitation facilities, which leads to the rapid spread of disease and heightened child mortality rates. Most commonly, poor sanitation practices lead to diarrhea: little more than an annoying byproduct of bad hygiene practices for first-world residents, it is often fatal in developing countries. In fact, it is estimated that 5,000 children die daily from complications related to the ailment. Consequently, one person dies every minute due to the lack of basic sanitation.

Why is the lack of well-formulated means of sanitation such a large problem in modern times, when technology has reached such an advanced stage? One reason is the negative stigma associated with it: the discussion of toilets simply feels dirty or inappropriate and is not as popular nor does it appear at first glance as urgent as, for example, the issue of access to drinking water. However, the two are related and equally pressing; disease control is an impossible goal without proper sanitation adjustments. In many places around the third world, toilet stalls are completely nonexistent. Essentially, this means that people are forced to defecate in public, populated areas, leaving waste behind which will remain on the ground spreading disease. Just a gram of human feces may contain as much as ten million viruses and a hundred parasite eggs.

Besides the obvious health benefits, according to the World Health Organization (WHO,) improved sanitation in developing countries would provide $9 economic benefit per $1 spent. The year of 2008 was dubbed by WHO as the International Year of Sanitation. Through various conferences and seminars, five key principles of sanitation were determined: 1. Sanitation is vital for human health. 2. It generates economic benefits. 3. It contributes to dignity and social development. 4. It helps the environment, and most importantly. 5. It IS achievable. South-East Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa are two regions most affected by poor sanitation practices. Coincidentally, they are also the two areas with the highest death rates from various diseases. It is especially prevalent in rural areas, where open defecation is six times more likely and use of unimproved sanitation is four times higher than in urban areas. Being one of the 2015 Millennium Goals, improved sanitation should not be taken for granted. To heighten the quality of sanitation is to improve the quality of life as well as economic efficiency for millions of individuals worldwide. In this day and age, no one should have to defecate publicly; not only for reasons of dignity and civility, but also due to personal awareness and dedication towards reducing of the spread of deadly disease.

– Natalia Isaeva

 

Sources: The Global Poverty Project, World Health Organization: International Year of Sanitation, UNICEF: Progress on Drinking Water and Sanitation

, , , , , , ,

Rwanda Redefines HIV Care

HIV_Care_in_Rwanda
In a country where just 20 years ago, genocide claimed nearly one million lives, the Rwandan government has revamped HIV treatment for the poor by reforming the standards of successful care.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, there are now over 7.5 million people receiving antiretroviral therapy, 150 times as many as a decade ago. Medications have become easier to manage and overall, more effective, forcing some patients to take no more than one pill each day. Also, HIV testing has become much more widely available and the virus is being detected at an earlier stage before the circumstances are too dire.

In Rwanda, many HIV patients are taking their medications as directed, medication which suppresses the virus in their bodies to the point where it is essentially non-detectable. Success here is achieved when the HIV positive individual can earn a living, support their family and care for their community no differently than uninfected individuals. Furthermore, patients who would have previously been hospitalized with severe complications of HIV are now receiving regular preventive care.

The steps forward being taken in this small country are undeniable. Compared with 54 percent of medical patients worldwide, 91 percent of Rwandan patients who require HIV medications have access to life-saving treatment. Even more encouraging, 98 percent of women undergo HIV testing during their prenatal visits. In a country with only one doctor for every 17,000 people, nurses and community health workers have been trained to provide HIV services that were before, only available from physicians. Aggressive media campaigns by the government and other international organizations remind and encourage the public to “Know Your Status” while targeted outreach programs concurrently focus on the high-risk groups.

Rwanda is one of the first sub-Saharan countries to nearly eradicate the transmission of HIV from mothers to their newborns. Due to this, the number of new HIV cases has been cut in half during the last decade, and perhaps soon, it will fulfill the dream of accomplishing an “AIDS free generation.”

– Sonia Aviv

Sources: The Atlantic, The World Bank, BWH Global Health
Photo: AIDS Health

, ,

WHO Reports Spike in Cancer Cases

Cancer Cases
The World Health Organization (WHO,) guardian of international health statistics, released new numbers last week indicating a major upturn in the number of cancer cases worldwide.

In 2012, 14.1 million people received cancer diagnoses in 184 countries across the globe, a nearly 10 percent increase from 2008. Unfortunately, this rise translates across the board to mortality rates as well, which saw a similar 9.3 percent increase over the same period.

Lung cancer, breast cancer and colorectal cancer round out the three most common forms of the disease, comprising 13 percent, 11.9 percent and 9.7 percent, respectively, of the aggregate number of diagnoses.

Breast cancer has seen the most rapid acceleration of any other manifestation of cancer and continues to be the leading cause of cancer deaths among women. In 2012, over 6.3 million women were living with cancer diagnoses from the previous five years alone. Incidence increased 20 percent from the beginning to the end of that five-year period (2008-2012); 1.7 million women received initial diagnoses in 2012.

Unfortunately, the mortality rate for this common cancer has not slowed down, increasing by 14 percent in the study period.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) forecasts the upward trend of aggregate cancer incidence will likely continue through and beyond the year 2025. By that time, over 19.3 million new cancer cases will lob on to the current cancer burden each year.

The increase is not inherently problematic for global health: these statistics reflect an aging global population and the planet’s sustained population growth. As more adults celebrate birthdays in their 70’s and 80’s, it follows that more are alive to receive diagnoses of cancer, a disease largely believed to arise from the effects of aging on the error-prone process of cellular reproduction.

Similarly, advances in technology have increased the accuracy and applicability of diagnostic techniques. Early detection of cancer raises incidence rates but ultimately benefits cancer patients by improving outcomes.

Unfortunately, inequalities in global death distribution fall unfavorably on developed nations. The WHO estimates over 55 percent of all cancers and nearly 65 percent of all cancer deaths in 2012 occurred in lesser-developed regions of the world. The IARC expects that this trend will continue (and likely deteriorate) as 2025 approaches.

Dr. David Foreman, Head of the IARC Section of Cancer Information, urges the global community to “develop effective and affordable approaches to the early detection, diagnosis, and treatment” of cancers in the developing world. Funds allocated toward research and development in these areas will likely generate significant returns on investment; each year, cancer-related deaths and disability cost the global economy $1 trillion in economic losses.

If properly managed, the recent rise in cancer cases will inspire focused improvements in cancer control strategies that will bridge the gap between morbidity and mortality, improve outcomes for the developed world and turn the trend on its head.

– Casey Ernstes

Sources: The American Cancer Society, Voice of America, International Agency for Research on Cancer
Photo: News at Jama

,

Vaccine Logistics: Typhoon Haiyan

vaccine_typhoon_haiyan
Mere weeks after the confirmation of the first ten cases of poliomyelitis in Syria, Mother Nature dealt the global health community another powerful blow in the form of Typhoon Haiyan.

Some areas of the Philippines are nearly 95 percent destroyed; Doctors Without Borders staff has described the aftermath as reminiscent of the Haitian earthquake of 2010. Hospitals have been ruined, so aid workers have set up temporary health centers to treat wounds and provide much-needed vaccines to locals and returning residents who chose to flee the oncoming storm.

The World Health Organization and the Philippine Department of Health have spearheaded a campaign to vaccinate children under five against measles or polio outbreaks and provide Vitamin A drops to boost immune system strength. All children under 15 years will then receive care if resources allow.  Hard-hit areas are the campaign’s priority. Immediate needs include the set-up of immunization stations, volunteer deployment and acquisition of all necessary vaccines.

Philippine Secretary of Health Enrique Ona guarantees that since “system is shaken but not broken,” a re-launch of widespread vaccinations should not prove impossible.

Nonetheless, in some regions such as Guiuan (to the east of Samar island,) the “cold chain” required for vaccine delivery and preservation has not yet been implemented. This mechanism involves gas and generator powered refrigerators, cold boxes, ice packs and vaccine-cases for areas without power. In the words of Dr. Johan von Schreeb of Doctors Without Borders, the devastated islands “do not have time to wait.”

This refrigeration conundrum arises with each civil conflict or natural disaster that leaves affected regions without power. Though the cold chain concept is effective and familiar to health care providers, current supply and logistics systems were designed thirty years ago, prior to the development of cold chain equipment. Project Optimize (a task force of the WHO and PATH) and UNICEF’s Cold Chain and Logistics Task Force have identified innovative funding for cold chain equipment as a key opportunity for improvement upon today’s vaccine systems.

In order to achieve the Project’s 2020 goals, cold chain equipment, efficiency and monitoring must improve. Health care managers must be able to access performance figures to make informed purchasing and allocation decisions given the limited time span and resources available in health care emergencies; in other words, the current Philippine situation. If local or national health departments allot too many or too few resources to any single immunization station, lives will be lost (due either to a vaccine shortage or to spoliation of vaccines that should have been administered in other areas). Striking this delicate balance requires widespread cooperation between the public and private sector.

Similarly, manufacturers of equipment must be kept abreast of product performance in the field. The implementation of a feedback loop between manufacturer and user would improve product packaging and design. The Project’s 2013 Action Plan suggests beginning with a redesign of cold boxes to maximize the “refrigerant-to-vaccine” ratio to hold more vaccines and insulate them more efficiently.

Improvements to vaccine logistics that reflect needs expressed explicitly by those on the front lines of vaccine campaigns will ensure that doctors such as von Schreeb have the tools to work their magic when disaster strikes.

– Casey Ernstes

Sources: Doctors Without Borders, PATH, The World Health Organization, The World Health Organization
Photo: BBC

, ,

Malaria: The Enemy

malaria_net
What is Malaria?

Malaria is a life-threatening blood disease caused by a parasite known as plasmodium. This parasite is transmitted to human by the anopheles mosquito. An infected person of this disease shows signs of dizziness, loss of appetite, anemic, high fevers, dehydration and loss of body weight.

The History of Malaria: The word malaria comes from the 18th century Italian “mala” meaning “bad” and “aria” meaning “air”. Most likely the term was first used by Dr. Francisco Torti in Italy, where people thought the disease was caused by foul air in marshy areas. It was not until the 1880’s that scientists discovered that malaria was a parasitic disease.

The Socioeconomic Effect of Malaria: Malaria kills a child somewhere in the world every minute; it infects approximately 219 million people each year with an estimated 660,000 deaths mostly being children in Africa. Ninety percent of malaria death occurs in Africa. It is one of the most dreadful diseases reducing the populace on the large scale. The sickness also contributed greatly to anemia among children-a major cause of poor growth and development.

Malaria also has some serious economic impact in Africa, slowing economic growth and development and perpetuating the vicious cycle of poverty. Malaria is truly a disease of poverty afflicting primarily the poor who tend to live in malaria-prone rural areas. Nevertheless, the rich cannot be left out with the infection of this sickness.

Prevention and Control: Malaria, many say, is no respecter of person. Irrespective of one’s social status, malaria can indeed infect many people.  It is in this light that people must take precautionary measures to protect themselves, family and friends from this dreadful sickness. Those living in malaria prone regions like Ghana should make sure they follow certain precautions, some of which are as follows:

  • The use of effective mosquito repellent cream.
  • Cover legs and wear long sleeves at night.
  • Ensure windows and doors are screened to avoid mosquitos from entering rooms.
  • The use of treated mosquito bed nets whiles sleeping.
  • Spraying homes and surrounding with insecticides.
  • Clear shrubs, stagnant waters and weed surroundings of areas that help the breeding of mosquito.

Get Involved in the Fight Against Malaria: It is high time all stakeholders globally, be it governments agencies, health institutions, policy makers, developmental agencies and individuals, get involved in the fight against Malaria. Government and other developmental agencies should formulate realistic policies, carry them out, monitor the progress of these implementations and evaluate their final outcomes.

These programs, in effect, when implemented, will help the fight against malaria and help improve the living conditions of the rural poor. Just as the adage goes, “brighten the corner where you are” the individual cannot be left out in the fight as well. Gutters or drains and the environment need to be free from the breeding of mosquitoes and as such, the onus also lies on us as individuals to practice personal and community hygiene. People should not wait for government agencies and other non-governmental organizations to help clean their environments; they must take responsibility of their actions and outcomes and ensure they genuinely support the fight against poverty through the prevention and control of malaria.

– William Annang

Sources: UNICEF, Medical News Today
Photo: The Guardian

, ,

Cancer Cases at All Time High

Cancer cases
According to the World Health Organization, Cancer cases are soaring each year. Data indicates an upward trend from 12.7 million cases in 2008 to 14 million in 2012. Cancer related deaths have also increased from 7.6 million to 8.3 million since 2008. With these growing rates, there is a desperate need for advances in diagnosis and detection of cancer.

An IARC report has shown a connection between increased smoking, obesity and cancer rates. This report also predicts a rise in cancer cases to 19.3 million by 2025. Several types of cancer kill every year but the most common cancer affecting thousands of women worldwide and is a leading cause of deaths in developing countries is attributed to breast cancer.

Developed countries do not have the clinical advances required to stop the disease at an early stage. Several people living below the poverty level don’t even know they have breast cancer since clinics are scarce. The Word Health Organization has also claimed this urgency for treatment of breast cancer in developing countries as thousands die from late detection. In 2012, around 522,000 women from around the globe died of this disease. Lung cancer is also among the top most common cancers worldwide, about 13% of total cancer cases. The large amount of lung cancer rates has been linked to both increased smoking from adults and young adults alike. Longer lifespans also contributes to these spiking rates according to the BBC.

Several health leaders from IARC believe that these growing cancer rates can be changed through preemptive action seen before with cervical cancer and access to the HPV vaccination. They hope that national programs for screening can produce similar excellent results and by giving easy access to treatment or detection centers, several will be able to beat other forms of cancer.

– Maybelline Martez

Sources: BBC, NY Daily News, Global Post
Photo: Giphy.com

,

Bubonic Plague Hits Madagascar

It is amazing that in the year 2013, the Bubonic Plague still exists on this planet. The disease that is known as the Black Death that caused at least 25 million deaths in the 14th century has this week been linked the death of at least 20 people in Madagascar, and may still infect more in the weeks to come.

This announcement is one of the worst outbreaks of the disease in years, and there is concern that it could spread to more towns and cities in the region. The Bubonic Plague is a disease that is transmitted through animals, usually through rats that hold infected flees which then infect humans, which has a high mortality rate if not immediately treated. This disease has mainly been eradicated from most areas of the world, but has been known to appear in developing nations such as Madagascar, where there are low hygiene levels, high levels of population and low resources to prevent the disease.

There was warning from the International Committee of the Red Cross in October that the nation of the East Coast of Mainland Africa was at high risk of an epidemic, but the warnings went mostly unheeded by the locals in the region. It is not that the locals were negligent in preventing the spread of this disease, but there are higher systemic problems that are harder to overcome for the locals.

Madagascar harbored this plague for many reasons. Locals in the region have low literacy rates, which makes it hard to share live saving information that prevents exposure to diseases. The country of Madagascar does not support a strong democratic government with a low corruption rate. When corruption is prevalent through all levels of government, funds that can be applied towards improving the nation often end up in the pockets of the few that are in power, adding to the national poverty.

The nation is one that is often prone to civil unrest, which many violent outbreaks has increase the use of military force on the people. The frequency of civil unrest has suppressed desire for foreign tourism which has decreased revenue for the national economy.

Madagascar is just an example of how poverty in a region can encourage the spread of life threatening diseases. Nations that have low standards of living, high levels of populations, weak central governments and low levels of hygiene are danger zones for disease. It is discouraging for a disease that has largely been eradicated from the face of the world to still exist in this poor region of the world.

– Travis Whinery

Sources: Time, Daily Mail, BBC, Reuters UK
Photo: Wikimedia

Nodding Syndrome Disease

Nodding_Syndrome_in_Sudan_infants
Nodding Syndrome first appeared in the 1960’s in South Sudan. It attacks healthy children between the ages of 5 – 15. The disease gained its name from its most notable symptoms.  Children tend to “nod off,” or temporarily lose consciousness or fall asleep although they do not report feeling tired. The nodding is often triggered by cold temperatures or eating and is accompanied by cognitive impairment. The incidence of the disease has increased over the past 10 years in Uganda, South Sudan and Tanzania. The CDC published a report on Nodding Syndrome in September 2013.  It explains that the nodding episodes are actually atonic seizures of unknown origin, “Nodding Syndrome is an unexplained endemic epilepsy.”

The symptoms worsen over time and children begin to experience worsening seizures; they stop eating and eventually lose their physical and mental capacity. The disease is not fatal but children often die by falling into cooking fires, drowning during a seizure, or succumbing to malnutrition related illnesses. Parents also lose patience caring for their disabled children and often abandon them.

Other parents resort to extreme measures in order to keep their children from falling and hurting or killing themselves while nodding. Other bizarre symptoms include the disorientation and confusion; children often wander off and get lost in the woods. Global Health Front Line News spoke with one woman who has tied her 15-year-old son to the house for years in order to keep him safe. The boy is confused, angry and frustrated.

It is unclear why the disease only strikes children. Many experience severely stunted growth due to malnutrition and some do not survive to adulthood. Epilepsy drugs have been used to treat the syndrome and while they sometimes help with symptoms they do not cure the child completely. Recent studies have confirmed that Nodding Syndrome is a disease of the brain. Children have abnormal EEGs and their MRIs show atrophy.

A possible theory is that the disease develops from onchocerciasis, a parasitic condition that can cause blindness. Dr. Tenywa from the World Health Organization reports that all children he has studied with Nodding Syndrome also have this condition. However onchocerciasis occurs all over Africa and Nodding Syndrome is isolated to Uganda, Sudan and Tanzania.

In Pander, a rural community in Northern Uganda, more than 3,000 children have been stuck with the debilitating disease. It has devastated the community; almost every family has at least one child affected. In Pander there has been a makeshift ward created for the children. However, it is really just a place where parents dump their children when they can no longer care for them. The Ministry of Health developed five of these wards in Northern Uganda over the past few years.

The World Health Organization and the CDC are still looking for answers to what is causing this disease but they will continue conducting research until more concrete information on the cause of this peculiar disease and ultimately a treatment or cure can be found.

– Lisa Toole

Sources: Global Health Front Line, CDC, CNN, NPR
Photo: Gizmodo