Human Diseases

Acute Respiratory Infection ( ARI ) is infections of respiratory tract, from nose to alveoli. It is one of the major killer disease of children worldwide. Generally, leading cause of morbidity and mortality of this disease is on under 5 children.

ARI is caused by a variety of agents. They are :

Bacteria : ( most of lower ARIs ) Bordetella pertusis, Corynebacteruim diptheriae, Hemophilus influenza, Kleibsella pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pneumoniae.

Virus (most of upper ARIs) : Influenza virus, parainfluenza virus, measles virus, rhinovirus, respiratory syncytial virus.

Others : Mycoplasma pneumoniae, Chlamydia

The disease is mainly transmitted through droplet infection, or also through the droplet nuclei. Once the healthy person is invaded by the infection, patient shows different clinical features like difficulty in breathing , fast breathing which reaches more than 50/min slowly till 5 years. Not only this, one also suffer from ear problems followed by time to time.

Based on the guidelines of integrated management of childhood illness ( IMCI, by WHO ) , ARI is classified into several types. They are :

1.No pneumonia : There is no chest indrawing as well as no fast breathing. For this sort of ARI , there is several symptomatic treatment.

2.Pneumonia : If pneumonia is resulted from ARI, in this case also , there is no chest indrawing, however, fast breathing is resulted.

3.Severe pneumonia : In case of ARI followed by severe pneumonia, there is chest indrawing as well as fast breathing. Treatment for this is use of antibiotics like co-trimoxazole, amoxicillin, chloramphenicol, etc.

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Meningitis is the inflammation of the meninges. Its agent can be of different kind of organisms.
.Bacteria : Neisseria meningitis, E.coli, Proteus, Hemophilus, influenza, Streptococcus, pneumonia, Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Virus : Echovirus, Polio virus, Epstein barr virus, Influenza virus.

Fungi : Cryptococcus neoformans

Protozoa : Toxoplasma

Meningitis is transmitted mainly by the droplet infection. Its incubation period varies according to the causative agent. For Neisseria meningitis, it varies from 2-10 days. It causes meningococcal meningitis, which is most dangerous form of meningitis.

Clinical features show intense headache, vomiting, high fever, neck stiffness, unconsciousness and coma. The meningococcal meningitis has a very rapid course and these symptoms can develop very rapidly within few hours. Penicillin is used in its treatment.

Meningitis can be diagnosed through different methods. The study of the CSF cytology, total number of cells, sugar and protein content. Depending on the causative agent there are different findings of these parameter. In case of bacterial meningitis there is increased level of cells, low sugar and more protein. In case of the tuberculosis meningitis, Fibrin coagulum is seen on standing the CSF.

Meningitis is a dreadful disease and if its timely cure isn't done, it can create a worse situation. Some of its complications are residual neurological deficit and death. The case fatality rate of the meningococcal antibiotics availability and proper management the mortality has declined.

Its treatment is based on the type of cause. In case of the bacterial meningitis, it is treated with antibiotics like Penicillin, Chloramphenicol, Cefotaxamine, gentamycin. For the fungus antifugal drugs are used. Viral meningitis is managed by symptomatic and supportive treatment.

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Pertussis is an acute respiratory infection caused by Bordetella pertussis. Pertussis is also called ' hundred day cough ' by Chinese. The main victims are preschool children , although highest mortality is seen in below 6 months age group.

People usually are careless in manner of pertussis , however it can result worst situation. Isolation of cases should be done within the 4 weeks. Penicillin and erythromycin can be effective. Several contacts like prophylactic erythromyocin or penicillins should be adopted. The main prevention is done by no exposure to the patients. The infected ones should also adopt a lot care while sneezing, coughing to prevent droplet transmission. Prevention includes vaccination with pertussis vaccine either single or combined DPT.

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Hydrophobia, is a set of symptoms at a stage of infection from rabies. Rabies is disease which directly affects the central nervous system of our body. It is transmitted from infected mammals and is deadly from the start of symptoms. Hydrophobia is also termed as aquaphobia, since in this stage, people get scared of water.

There is generally a misconception in people that hydrophobia generally means people getting scared of a bucket of water, which is totally a wrong idea. Hydrophobia usually means fear of getting drowned in deep water conditions. Once hydrophobia is resulted, victims experience fear when they are exposed near the any water resources, may be a pond, river, ocean, or even a bathtub.

Patient of hydrophobia experience show some unusual behavior when they are exposed to any water reservoir. They say that they develop fear of getting drowned in water and can't withstand the water reservoir at their sight. Some patients even have the nightmare of getting drowned in water resources.Sufferer get several sorts of symptoms. His pulse rate gets higher when he stands near water sources. Dry mouth, shortness of breath, physical and mental imbalance, state of dilemma in every sorts of work are some other symptoms of hydrophobia.

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These are caused by fungi. Examples : Ringworm, athlete's foot, etc.

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Bird flu, also termed as ' avian influenza ' has become concerning disease in these recent years. As the name clears, this flu attacks different species of birds , especially includes chickens, ducks and geese.In total , there are about 16 types of bird flu virus , however, one that is concerning is deadly H5N1 strain. At present, worldwide, about 9,000 deaths has been resulted due to the bird flu, and the deaths of chickens has no limit at all.

Primarily, prevention should be adopted by the one who works in poultry. One should must use masks and gloves for his protection while working in poultry.Bird flu should be controlled starting from farm. Farm animals should be kept well fenced and we should control their link with wild animals as well as other farms. If any sorts of symptoms of flu is found in any bird, then it should be isolated from the group and should be kept separate for investigation. Careful dealing with different nasal and faeceal discharges while working in poultry should be done.

If we have any bird as pet, then we should be careful in this case. It should be kept caged, and control its way out to outdoor. AVMC ( The American Veterinarian Medical Association ) suggests not to allow our cat to escape here and there outside, for prevention from bird flu and other diseases as well.

Prevention while eating poultry items is a must for preventing bird flu. Several preventive measures should be taken in considerations while handling and eating poultry items. Separate dishes and knives should be used for poultry and vegetables and should be well washed after they are used. Cooking temperature should must exceed 70°C. Eggs also carry bird flu. So, eggs should be well washed before they are cooked. Buying cracked eggs should be strictly avoided. Several of people take frozen meat who should well know that freezing the meat does not kill the virus at all.

Different vaccines are available for bird flu. Tamiflu prevents virus from escaping its host cell. However , these medication are not well effective and treatment can't be assured. So, if we can , prevention is far better than searching its cure.

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Hepatitis is defined as the infection of liver by virus ( expecially A, B, C , D, E virus ). It is self-limiting disease.

Some facts about different viral Hepatitis
> Among the Hepatitis A, B, C, D, E : Hepatitis B is DNA virus , rest are RNA virus.
> Vaccine and Immunoglobulin are present for Hepatitis B and C.
> Treatment: drugs are present for Hepatitis B and C.
> Fecal - oral transmission is present in Hepatitis A and E.
> Vertical transmission ( Mother to foetus ) is present in Hepatitis B and D.
> Hepatitis A and E are also known as infective hepatitis.
> Chronic hepatitis if infected for >6 months.
> Hepatitis B and C may cause liver abscess, liver cirrhosis, and liver cancer.
> Hepatitis C is silent killer, more chronic carrier stage.

Hepatitis A / traveller's Hepatitis
Its agent is hepatitis a virus and reservoir in humans is Asymptomatic or symptomatic. It is transmitted by fecal oral route and sexually in homosexual men by oral - anal contact.Incubation period for this Hepatitis is 15 - 45 days. Control measure for this Hepatitis includes boiling water, flocculation, filtration, and adequate chlorination, hand washing, proper sanitation.

Hepatitis E
This Hepatitis causes self-limiting viral illness with mortality ( 0.5 - 4% ) especially in pregnant women ( liver failure ). Pregnancy and Hepatitis E results abortions, IUD , high perinatal morbidity and mortality.

Hepatitis B

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Disease Control
Disease control mainly focuses on primary and secondary prevention activities. In this , the "agent" is permitted to persist in the community at a level shere it ceases to be public health problem according to the tolerance of the local population.e.g. Malaria control

Disease elimination
It is used to describe the interruption of transmission of disease or reduction of case transmission to a predetermined very low level. e.g.WHO (1991) - TB elimination to 1 case / million population.

Disease eradication
It is often termed as complete " tear out by roots ". It means termination of all transmission of infection by extermination of the infectious agent. It is an absolute process, e.g. small pox eradication.

Monitoring
The performance and analysis of routine movements aimed at detecting changes in the environment or health status of population.

Surveillance

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It considers all the predisposing factors of any type and their complex interrelationship with each other. It is usually suited for chronic disease where disease agent is not known, but is the outcome of interaction of multiple factors e.g. Myocardial infarction.

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If there is any sorts of anxiety inside us that we have caught hiv aids, due to any means of transmission like unsafe sex with partner who have HIV, or use of infected syringe, genetic transfer, or use of infected blood, then its time for one to visit the family doctor, or a expert on gynecology. Doctors there take different tests of our body, which may include a blood test or any other sorts of test. After performing such tests , it may take a few hours for the result whether there is a presence of HIV in our blood or not.

For performing such sorts of tests, we can walk away to any hospital or clinic around us. One thing we should get relaxed for our test is that the medical personnel keep it confidential about our tests. After performing the tests, result comes out to be either positive or negative. If we can't get the right hospital or clinic around us, then we should contact any hotlines.

Upto present, there is no exactly found cure for HIV AIDS. HIV weakens the immune system of our body which can be slowed down by the use of some drugs or by some clinical treatments. Along with HIV AIDS , there are many HIV assosiated illnesses which can be prevented or cured by some sorts of treatments. Medical personnels and health conscious researchers are on long run to find the exact curing and preventive measures for HIV AIDS, but still all in vain. These all clearly indicates that the success in the discovery of the exact curative measures of HIV AIDS likely is years away.

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Typhoid is a disease caused by a bacillus. It is transmitted by food and water contaminated by the excreta of infected persons. Sometimes flies also act as vectors by carrying the germs from excreta to food.

Typhoid bacillus is Bacterium typhosum or Solmonella typhosa. It lives and grows in human beings and escapes from body in faeces i.e.,solid wastes . Flies spread the germs to food and drink. Some people who were infected with the diseases themselves carry the germs and can infect others.They are called carriers.

Symptoms of disease develops from one to two weeks after infection. Person becomes feverish and has headache and pain in his back, arms and legs. Nausea develops and patient looses appetite. Sometimes red spots appear on his body, usually on abdomen. Sometimes , typhoid germs get into the blood stream and complications follow . Bone marrow becomes infected or membrane covering spinal cord may be attacked causing meningitis.

Moving on to the treatment, it includes cold sponge bath to control the fever, use of paracetamol every 6 hourly to reduce the body temperature, use of antibiotic drugs like Chloromycetin.

Typhoid as mentioned can be dreadful and needs good prevention. Firstly good personal hygiene and public sanitation should be maintained. Vaccination with injections of TAB vaccine given with an interval of not less than 7-10 days. Similarly, purification of water supply , hygienic methods of sewage disposal, cleanliness while handling food and fly control are other preventive measures of typhoid. For the prevention of epidemics , an intensive search for source of infection should be searched. Man is the reservoir of infections for germs of typhoid i.e. germs depend on the human body for survival. Therefore, source of infection may be an infected person or a carrier or contaminated food or water. The source of infection is to be treated as well as contacts with it to prevent or halt an epidemics.

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Cancer is a non-communicable disease. It is a disease in which cells devide uncontrolled way. Cancer is not a single disease but rather a group of diseases. Cancer is characterized by uncontrolled cell proliferation. the cells which divide uncontrolled way are known as cancerous cells or malignant neoplasm. the cancerous cells keep dividing and give rise to mass of cells called tumour. These tumours incerase rapidly in size and disrupt the normal cells ultimately killing them.

Tumours are of two kinds. Benign or non-malignant tumours which cause mild cancer that are enclosed tn the connective tissue . And another is Malignant tumours which cause deadly cancer that are carried to whole parts of the body by the blood and lymph.

Cancer is neither a contagious disease nor genetically ingerited. It is believed that all cells carry certain cancer producing oncogenes. Under certain conditions these genes are triggered to multiply rapidly the malignant nepoplasm. The agents that induce cancer are calle carcinogens. Some of the carcinogens are over exposure to harmful rays , heavy smoking , using carinogens,environmental pollutants,physical abrasions of skin and to on and to forth.

Moving to diagnosis of cancer , The early infection does not show significant symptom. The infection shows some danger symptoms of cancer. Possible symptoms of cancer are persistent couygh, persistent change in digestive and bowel habits , rapid change in form and appearance of a mole or wart , swelling or sore throat and unexpected loss of weight.

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Aids is considered to be one of the most dreaded diseases ever faced by humanity.AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome where ‘Acquired' is for you can get infected by it and also can get it from someone while ‘Immune Deficiency' means a particular form of weakness in the human body system which has the function to fight diseases. ‘Syndrome' stands for a particular group of health related problems that constitute the disease.

HIV is the acronym for the human immunodeficiency virus. HIV is virus that causes the incurable acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Over time, HIV destroys the helper T cells of the body's immune system, resulting in a critical deterioration of the immune system and the ability of the body to fight infection.

The first recognised cases of AIDS occurred in the USA in the early 1980s . A number of gay men in New York and California suddenly began to develop rare opportunistic infections and cancers that seemed stubbornly resistant to any treatment. At this time, AIDS did not yet have a name, but it quickly became obvious that all the men were suffering from a common syndrome.The present globally accepted name was given by WHO in 1986.

Aids is transmitted by sexual contacts, parenteral causes , mother to foetus, through infected syringe, too.Population at risk are people involved in unprotected sex, young migrants, IV drug users, baby of infected mothers, and people who need repeated blood transfusion, health professional who are involved in handling blood products and sharp instruments.

ELISA is best method that detects antibody and western blot test - tests protein. The confirmatory test for AIDS is western blot. There isno curative treatment It is managed by HAART(Highly active antiretroviral drugs)

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From a long long time ago, interdisciplinary historians have studied how groups and individuals in the past advanced despite of food scarcities, nutritional deficiencies, exposure to virulent disease pathogens, dangerous forms of sanitation and several other public health problems, menacing urban streets, infectious sea voyages, and many other morbid and mortal hazards.

The oldest evidence of the human disease has been found in bones, due to the fact that bones are the only remnants of our ancestors . The Egyptian mummies show lesions typical to osteoarthritis (chronic rheumatism or Degenerative Arthritis). There are also in those mummies trace of other diseases such as gout in the joints, stones of the urinary tract, and signs of bone infections. All those discoveries help scientists to understand that the former Egyptians suffered from a large variety of diseases basically infections and chronic rheumatism.

Further evidence of disease and healing which we can use is an old portrait of a shaman-healer found on the walls of the cavern of "Trois-Frères" in the Pyrenees (a range of mountains in southwest Europe that form a natural border between France and Spain). On this portrait, researchers can see a painting representing a man dressed by an animal skin. His arms and legs are covered with stripes; he carried, attached to his head, a deer horn. The artist, lived in Aurignac, has given us a portrait of a shaman-healer of his time wearing a costume of his time. Therefore, the fresco of the Trois-Frères provides us with an excellent starting point.

From these brief pre-historical references, let’s take a look at the historical period and study the medicine of early ages. Opinions is not enough to set the time or place of the origin of disease. However, the following types of medicine in the medical history of mankind can help us Biblical story tells us that in the beginning man lived in peace without any harm. However, today, there are more diseases that a regular medical dictionary can contain. So, what is the origin of disease? If it is almost impossible to clearly answer this question, we can resort to the history of medicine to have an idea.

Moving to Nowdays , The World Health Organization estimates that each year 300-500 million cases of malaria occur and more than 1 million people die of malaria.Similary, . Almost 5500 people die every day due to AIDS in which about half of all new adult HIV infections occur among 15-24 year olds.Approximately 7.6 million people die from cancer each year. In addition to this,rising influenzas are killing millions of people.Human diseases emerged from a long long way far and seems growing violent with the passage of time.

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