Intestinal Worms: Caused, Treatment, and Prevention

Intestinal Worms - Infection by intestinal parasitic worms (geohelminths) is widespread throughout the world, affecting millions of people.  Children are particularly susceptible and typically have the largest number of worms, which cause a number of health problems; making them unwell, affecting their physical and mental development, and affecting their attendance and performance at school.

WHAT PROBLEMS DO THEY CAUSE?

As numbers of worms build up over time, many of the health problems caused by these worms are chronic and can be long lasting.  The worms can cause malnutrition, as they rob the body of food through loss of appetite so the children eat less, or through stopping the food being absorbed properly once it has been eaten.  Children with chronic worm infections and large numbers of worms may be stunted and underweight.  Heavy infections with roundworm can also cause bowel obstruction. 

Intestinal worms can also contribute to anaemia, especially hookworm, which causes bleeding in the intestines and loss of blood.  The larger the number of worms, the more likely they are to make the children ill, which can also lead to the children  missing school, and doing less well when they are at school.  Chronic infections can lead to long term retardation of mental and physical development, and in very severe infections, even death.

HOW DO PEOPLE BECOME INFECTED WITH WORMS?

Conjunctivitis Treatment, Caused and Symptoms

Conjunctivitis Treatment - Allergic means that there is an allergic reaction. Conjunctivitis is the top layer that covers the white part of your eyes. Conjunctivitis is an infection of the eyes commonly known as "pink eye". It is most often caused by a virus but can also be caused by bacteria. Allergic conjunctivitis means that there is an allergic reaction on the surface of the eyes.

 

Symptoms of the eye include:

• Redness, irritation, itchiness; may produce lots of tears
• Clear or yellow discharge that may make the eyelids stick together, especially in the morning
• Swelling of eyelids

How does it happen?

What is Trachoma: Causes, Prevention, and Treatment

Trachoma is an infectious eye disease that can eventually cause blindness if left untreated. Infection of the eyes with the bacteria Chlamydia trachomatis usually occurs in childhood, but infected people generally do not develop severe sight problems until adulthood. It is therefore essential that you are able to identify the early signs of the disease and treat patients appropriately in order to avoid severe complications developing later in life.

First, we will describe the infectious agents that cause trachoma, their modes of transmission and the clinical manifestations of the disease. This knowledge will enable you to identify people with symptoms, grade the signs according to a classification of severity, and decide whether you should treat patients yourself or refer them to a health centre or hospital. Then you will learn how to give health education about trachoma and its prevention in your community.

What causes trachoma?

Celiac Disease Symptoms, Diagnosed, and Treatment

Celiac Disease Symptoms - Celiac Disease is an inherited autoimmune disorder that results in inflammation and/or damage of the absorptive surfaces of the small intestine. The response occurs with the ingestion of a protein called Gluten, typically found in wheat, rye, and barley.  The response can be activated by stress, viral infection, pregnancy, illness or surgery.

• Celiac Disease is also known as gluten sensitive enteropathy, sprue or celiac sprue.  The prevalence is 1 out of 133 people in the United States according to the Center for Celiac Research at the University of Maryland.  This equates to 1.5 million Americans, with only 15,000 diagnosed or 1% of population.  

• Occurrence in people with a first-degree relative (parent, child) is 1 in 22.  It occurs in 70% of identical twin pairs, but both twins may not get the disease. 

• 97% of people with celiac disease have the genetic markers Human Leucocyte antigen (HLA) DQ2 and / or DQ8.  30% of the U.S. population has DQ2 or DQ8 alleles.

• Type 1 diabetes and celiac disease are found on the same region of a specific HLA gene.  This is also a location for many other autoimmune diseases.

Symptoms of Celiac Disease:

What is Cholera: Causes, Diagnosed and Prevention

What Is Cholera

Cholera is an acute infectious disease, characterised by profuse watery diarrhoea. It is caused by a Gram-negative bacterium: Vibrio cholerae O1 (the characters O1 indicate the serogroup). It is a very small, motile, curved bacterium (vibrio is the Greek word for comma). There is a single polar flagellum. Various subtypes exist, with classification according to biological and biochemical behaviour (biotypes) and serological characteristics (serotypes). 

Analysis of rRNA-genes (ribotyping), electrophoretic typing of multiple enzymes (zymovars) and bacteriophage typing are used in epidemiological research. Until 1992 it was thought that bacteria causing cholera must belong to V. cholerae, serogroup O1 and that they must be toxicogenic (must possess and express the genes for toxins). 

Insomnia Symptoms, Treatment, and Prevention

What is insomnia? 
Having insomnia means you often have trouble falling or staying asleep or going back to sleep if you awaken. Insomnia can be either a short-term or a long-term problem. Insomnia affects 1 in 3 adults every year in the US.

Insomnia symptoms
Symptoms include:

• trouble falling asleep (taking longer than 45 minutes)
• awakening often in the night
• waking up early in the morning and being unable to go back to sleep
• not feeling rested in the morning or feeling tired during the day
• restlessness or anxiety as bedtime approaches.

Anemia Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment

Anemia is a blood disorder that is defined as:

• a level of red blood cells (RBCs) that is below normal, or
• a level of hemoglobin that is below normal (hemoglobin is the oxygen-carrying protein in red blood cells).

There are several forms of anemia, such as:

• iron deficiency anemia
• hemolytic anemia (destruction of RBCs)
• vitamin B-12 deficiency anemia
• folic acid deficiency anemia
• anemias caused by inherited abnormalities of RBCs (for example, sickle cell anemia and thalassemia)
• anemia caused by chronic (ongoing) disease, such as rheumatoid arthritis.

Goiter Symptoms, Signs, and Treatment

What is Goiter

Goiter is Enlargement of the thyroid gland causing a swelling in the front part of the neck

Etiology:

1. is a non-specific indication of thyroid pathology

2. there are many causes for thyroid enlargement:

a.     Grave’s disease (hyperthyroidism)

b.     Plummer’s disease (toxic multinodular goiter)

c.      toxic adenoma

d.     silent thyroiditis

e.     hypothyroidism

f.      congenital goiter (this can occur with or without hypothyroidism and is classified into tyypes based upon the causative defect: Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, subacute thyroiditis (aka. DeQuervain’s thyroiditis), euthryoid goiter (aka. Non-toxic nodular goiter, simple/endemic/non-toxic diffuse goiter)

Sore Throat Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment

Sore throats can be caused by many things. Viruses (such as those that cause colds and mononucleosis) can lead to a sore throat. Bacteria (such as those that cause strep throat) can also cause a sore throat, as can smoking, breathing polluted air and allergies to pet dander, pollens and molds.

What is tonsillitis? 

Tonsillitis is when the tonsils (at the back of your mouth on each side of your throat) become infected by bacteria or a virus. It causes the tonsils to swell and can cause a sore throat and other symptoms. Signs of strep throat and tonsillitis are often alike (see the box below).

Cough Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment

Cough is the commonest respiratory symptom, indeed it is probably the commonest of all symptoms which results in a consultation.  The ten yearly morbidity Statistics in General Practice Survey reveal that consultation for cough and upper respiratory tract infection outweighs any other presenting condition by an order of magnitude.  

In the UK the market for cough remedies, most of which are at best poorly effective, is ten million pounds, whereas in the USA the cough/cold market is a staggering thousand million dollars.  This massive health care burden is poorly understood in terms of etiological mechanisms and is very poorly treated, even with those drugs currently available.  Because of a lack of knowledge of the pharmacology of these agents many patients are under treated. 

Gluten Allergy: Causes, Diagnosed and Symptoms

Celiac disease is a gluten allergy, it is only one form of gluten allergy. Many people can react to gluten & can have elevated serum antigliadin antibodies, but have no damage to the small intestine. (These people have a negative biopsy of the small intestine, as well as antiendomysial antibody & tissue transglutaminase 

What is gluten? 

Gluten is a protein which is found in wheat, rye, barley & oats, (& is responsible for the springiness or stretchiness of bread). Some people may be sensitive to gluten, or have complete intolerance in the digestive tract which can be controlled by diet.

Lupus Symptoms, Causes, and Diagnosed

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) or lupus is a condition of chronic inflammation caused by an autoimmune disease. Autoimmune diseases are illnesses that occur when the body's tissues are attacked by its own immune system. One of the mechanisms that the immune system uses to fight infections is the production of antibodies. 

Patients with lupus produce abnormal antibodies in their blood that target tissues within their own body rather than foreign infectious agents. Because the antibodies and accompanying cells of inflammation can involve tissues anywhere in the body, lupus has the potential to affect a variety of areas of the body. Sometimes lupus can cause disease of the skin, heart, lungs, kidneys, joints, and/or nervous system. When only the skin is involved, the condition is called discoid lupus. When internal organs are involved, the condition is called systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

Its cause:

Diarrhea Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment

Diarrhea is the sudden increase in the frequency and looseness of bowel movements (BMs). Mild diarrhea is the passage of a few loose or mushy BMs. Severe diarrhea is the passage of many watery BMs. The best indicator of the severity of the diarrhea is its frequency.

The main complication of diarrhea is dehydration from the loss of too much body fluid. Symptoms of dehydration are a dry mouth, the absence of tears, infrequent urination (for example, none in 12 hours), and a darker, concentrated urine. The main goal of diarrhea treatment is to prevent dehydration.

What is the cause? 

Malaria Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment

Malaria is a serious, sometimes fatal, disease caused by a parasite that is transmitted from one person to another through the bite of the Anopheline mosquito (a female Anopheles mosquito). 

(A parasite is an organism that grows, feeds, and is sheltered on or in a different organism while contributing nothing to the survival of its host.) Malaria parasites are so small that they can only be seen under a microscope. They feed on the blood cells, multiply inside them and destroy them.

The parasite that causes malaria is a protozoan (one-celled organism) called plasmodium (plaz-MO-dee-um).  Four types of the plasmodium parasite can infect humans:

• P. falciparum (fal-SIP-a-rum)
• P. vivax (VI-vacks)
• P. ovale (o-VOL-ley)
• P. malariae (ma-LER-ee-aa)

How common is malaria?

Wisdom Teeth Removal: Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment

Wisdom Teeth Removal - Wisdom teeth because they emerge later in life, the upper and lower third molars generally cause problems because there is not enough room in the mouth for them to erupt, or break through the gum, into a normal position. As a result, the molars are impacted in the gum or bone.

Wisdom teeth may need to be removed for a number of reasons. The most common reason,

• When only a small portion of the tooth breaks through the gum, making cleaning difficult. Bacteria can get under the gum and cause inflammation and infection.

• When wisdom teeth are in malposition, or come in crooked, they can cause bone loss, tooth decay or loss of the teeth in front of them. Upper wisdom teeth that point outwards can also cause the patient to frequently bite their cheeks, possibly resulting in an ulceration of the cheek tissue.

  Reasons to have your wisdom teeth Removed

Lactose Intolerance Symtoms, Diagnosed, and Treatment

Lactose Intolerance Symtoms - Lactose is the sugar found in the milk of animals. Lactose intolerance is the inability to digest the lactose in milk and milk products. Lactase intolerance is the most common food intolerance in the world. 

What are the symptoms of lactose intolerance?

Symptoms differ from patient to patient. The most common symptoms are gas, diarrhea, abdominal distension, cramping, and generalized abdominal pain. 

How is lactose intolerance diagnosed?

The two common methods of diagnosing lactose intolerance are the lactose tolerance test and the hydrogen breath test.

For the lactose tolerance test, you drink a large amount of a sweet drink containing lactose. If the lactose is not completely absorbed, your blood glucose level will not rise as it would in people with normal lactose tolerance. A low increase in blood glucose is indicative of lactose intolerance.

Long Term Effects of Alcohol: Livers and etc

Liver and alcohol - Our livers make a special substance that breaks down alcohol and burns it as fuel.  However, alcohol exhausts the livers ability to do this and too much too often can damage the liver permanently. The liver carries out many important functions and it is impossible to live without this organ.  It stores glycogen, breaking it down into glucose that is then released inot the bloodstream providing energy.

It also processes fats and proteins from digested food, produces essential clotting substances, removes poisons and toxins from the body and produces bile that passes into the gut and helps with the digestion of fats.

Stomach Ulcer (Gastric Ulcer): Symptoms, Diagnosed, and Treatment

A stomach ulcer, also called a gastric ulcer, is a raw area or open sore in the lining of the stomach.

How does it occur? 

The stomach's lining has a protective layer of cells that produce mucus. The mucus prevents the stomach from being injured by stomach acids and digestive juices. When this protective layer is damaged, an ulcer may occur.

Stomach ulcers may develop from:

• the presence of bacteria called Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), the most common cause of stomach ulcers
• decreased resistance of the lining of the stomach to stomach acid
• increased production of stomach acid.

Stomach ulcers are more likely to occur in people who:

Migraine Headache: Symptoms, Diagnosed, and Treatment

A migraine headache is a special kind of headache that can last for hours to days. It can cause intense pain as well as other symptoms, such as feeling sick to your stomach or having changes in your vision.

How does it occur? 

For years migraine headaches were thought to be caused when blood vessels in the head contract and then swell, producing pain. Recent research suggests that certain substances or events trigger an imbalance of brain chemicals (neurotransmitters).

Common migraine triggers include:

• stress
• tiredness
• changes in the weather
• certain foods, such as wine, cheese, or chocolate
• MSG or food preservatives, such as nitrates
• red wine
• bright lights.

Influenza Symptoms, Causes, and Prevention

Influenza Symptoms, Causes, and Prevention - Influenza is a highly infectious respiratory illness caused by a virus, which affects the nose, throat, and lungs. It is transmitted by person-to-person contact or through the air by coughing or sneezing. Influenza symptoms primarily include a sudden onset of fever of 100 to 103° F, exhaustion, headaches and muscle aches that are often severe, and coughing. A person will have tiredness and/or weakness through the duration of the illness for up to two weeks. Other symptoms may include sneezing, sore throat and runny nose.

The most common symptoms of influenza are an abrupt onset of fever, shivering, headache, muscle ache and dry cough. Most people confuse influenza with a heavy cold, however influenza is usually a more severe illness than the common cold, which is caused by other respiratory viruses such as rhinovirus.