Tuberculosis

Introduction
In an age when we believe that we have the tools to conquer most diseases, the ancient scourge of tuberculosis (TB) still causes 2 million deaths a year worldwide—more than any other single infectious organism—reminding us that we still have a long way to go. Even equipped with drugs to treat TB effectively, we haven't managed to eradicate this deadly infection.

What is the history of tuberculosis? And how has it managed to survive for so long? This section will answer these questions, plus describe the symptoms and treatment options available for TB.

An Ancient Scourge That Still Kills Today
Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacteria that causes tuberculosis, has been around for centuries. Recently, fragments of the spinal columns from Egyptian mummies from 2400 B.C.E. were found to have definite signs of the ravages of this terrible disease. Also called consumption, TB was identified as the most widespread disease in ancient Greece, where it was almost always fatal. But it wasn't until centuries later that the first descriptions of the disease began to appear. Starting in the late seventeenth century, physicians began to identify changes in the lungs common in all consumptive, or TB, patients. At the same time, the earliest references to the fact that the disease was infectious began to appear.

In 1720, the English doctor Benjamin Marten was the first to state that TB could be caused by “wonderfully minute living creatures.” He went further to say that it was likely that ongoing contact with a consumptive patient could cause a healthy person to get sick. Although Marten's findings didn't help to cure TB, they did help people to better understand the disease.

The sanitorium, which was introduced in the mid-nineteenth century, was the first positive step to contain TB. Hermann Brehmer, a Silesian botany student who had TB, was told by his doctor to find a healthy climate. He moved to the Himalayas and continued his studies. He survived his bout with the illness, and after he received his doctorate, built an institution in Gorbersdorf, where TB patients could come to recuperate. They received good nutrition and were outside in fresh air most of the day. This became the model for the development of sanitoria around the world.

In 1865, French military doctor Jean-Antoine Villemin demonstrated that TB could be passed from people to cattle and from cattle to rabbits. In 1882, Robert Koch discovered a staining technique that allowed him to see the bacteria that cause TB under a microscope.

Until the introduction of surgical techniques to remove infected tissue and the development of x-rays to monitor the disease, doctors didn't have great tools to treat TB. TB patients could be isolated, which helped reduce the spread of the disease, but treating it remained a challenge.

Disease Diction

Tuberculosis was first formally described by Greek physician Hippocrates around 460 B.C.E. He called it phthsis which is the Greek word for consumption, because it described the way the disease consumed its victims. Consumption was the most widespread disease of the time, and most of its victims died. The word consumption was used to describe the disease until 1882, when the tuberculosis bacteria was identified as the cause of the disease.

Antigen Alert

Tuberculosis is spread through the air, so everyone is at some risk.

Genital Herpes

Herpes simplex virus (HSV), better known as genital herpes, is a contagious viral infection estimated to infect 45 million Americans, with as many as 500,000 new cases occurring each year. Infections frequently go unrecognized by patients and/or clinicians. Two types of virus, HSV1 and HSV2, cause genital herpes. Both types produce sores in and around the vagina, penis, anal opening, and on the buttocks or thighs. Sores may also appear on other areas whenever broken skin comes into contact with HSV.

The virus invades nerves cells and can reside there for life, causing periodic symptoms. Genital herpes infection is acquired by sexual contact with a partner having an outbreak of herpes sores in the genital area. Oral herpes can be transmitted to the genital area of a partner during oral sex. Some herpes infections may make people more likely to get an HIV infection if exposed to the virus. Reliable tests for HSV antibodies are now readily available. In addition, PCR tests can be used to detect herpes infection.
Potent Fact

Genital herpes is not readily spread by contact with a toilet seat or in a hot tub.

There is no cure for herpes. However, there are a number of drugs that are effective in treating the herpes virus. Acyclovir, an antiviral drug, is the “gold standard” of therapy. These drugs reduce symptoms and help to speed healing. They also lessen the chances of outbreaks. There is no vaccine for genital herpes, although recent trials of vaccines reduced the risk of infection by 75 percent. The vaccine was not effective in men, however, making it the first time a vaccine worked in one sex and not in the other. Unfortunately, herpes can be spread even if the infection is inactive.

Terrifying Tetanus

Tetanus, also called lockjaw, is very rare in the United States because most children are vaccinated against it. Tetanus is caused by a bacterium that is common in the soil, but dies quickly when it is exposed to oxygen. People who haven't been vaccinated for tetanus can get the disease by stepping on a dirty nail or getting cut by a dirty tool. The bacterium produces a toxin, or poison, that spreads in the bloodstream and can result in severe muscle spasms, paralysis, and death.

Tetanus is difficult to treat, but proper vaccination prevents it. Children get a tetanus shot in combination with pertussis and diphtheria vaccines. Adults need a booster shot every ten years to make sure they are protected.

Pertussis, or Whooping Cough

Pertussis, or whooping cough, was a major cause of illness and death among infants and children in the United States before vaccines were introduced in the 1940s. Following the introduction and widespread use of the combined pertussis, diphtheria, and tetanus vaccine (DTP) among infants and children in the late 1940s, the incidence of reported pertussis declined to a historic low of 1,010 cases in 1976.

Whooping cough is a very contagious and dangerous respiratory infection caused by the Bordetella pertussis bacterium. Symptoms of whooping cough generally include runny nose and a cough that gets worse and worse. Violent coughing spells can end with vomiting. Once the whooping stage begins, antibiotics don't work.
Disease Diction

Whooping cough got its name from the whooping sound children make when they try to breathe after a coughing spell.

Whooping cough is spread through the air, making it particularly infectious.

SICKLE CELL DISEASE

Sickle-cell disease or sickle-cell anaemia (or anemia) is a blood disorder characterized by red blood cells that assume an abnormal, rigid, sickle shape. Sickling decreases the cells' flexibility and results in their restricted movement through blood vessels, depriving downstream tissues of oxygen. The disease is chronic and lifelong: individuals are most often well, but their lives are punctuated by periodic painful attacks and a risk of various other complications. Life expectancy is shortened, with older studies reporting an average life expectancy of 42 and 48 years for males and females, respectively.

Sickle-cell disease occurs more commonly in people (or their descendants) from parts of the world such as sub-Saharan Africa, where malaria is or was common, but it also occurs in people of other ethnicities. This is because those with one or two alleles of the sickle-cell disease are resistant to malaria since the sickle red blood cells are not conducive to the parasites - in areas where malaria is common there is a survival value in carrying the sickle-cell genes.

Hepatitis

Hepatitis
(plural hepatitides) implies injury to liver characterized by presence of inflammatory cells in the liver tissue. Etymologically from ancient Greek hepar (ηπαρ) or hepato- (ηπατο-), meaning 'liver,' and suffix -itis, denoting 'inflammation' (c. 1727). The condition can be self limiting, healing on its own, or can progress to scarring of the liver. Hepatitis is acute when it lasts less than 6 months and chronic when it persists longer. A group of viruses known as the hepatitis viruses cause most cases of liver damage worldwide. Hepatitis can also be due to toxins (notably alcohol), other infections or from autoimmune process. It may run a subclinical course when the affected person may not feel ill. The patient becomes unwell and symptomatic when the disease impairs liver functions that include, among other things, screening of harmful substances, regulation of blood composition, and production of bile to help digestion.

Causes

Acute hepatitis
* Viral Hepatitis: Hepatitis A to E (more than 95% of viral cause), Herpes simplex, Cytomegalovirus, Epstein-Barr, yellow fever virus, adenoviruses.
* Non viral infection: toxoplasma, Leptospira, Q fever,[2] rocky mountain spotted fever[3]
* Alcohol
* Toxins: Amanita toxin in mushrooms, carbon tetrachloride, asafetida
* Drugs: Paracetamol, amoxycillin, antituberculosis medicines, minocycline and many others (see longer list below).
* Ischemic hepatitis (circulatory insufficiency)
* Pregnancy
* Auto immune conditions, e.g. Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE)
* Metabolic diseases, e.g. Wilson's disease

Chronic hepatitis
* Viral hepatitis: Hepatitis B with or without hepatitis D, hepatitis C (Hepatitis A and E do not lead to chronic disease)
* Autoimmune: Autoimmune hepatitis
* Alcohol
* Drugs: methyl-dopa, nitrofurantoin, isoniazide, ketoconazole
* Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis
* Heredity: Wilson's disease, alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency
* Primary biliary cirrhosis and primary sclerosing cholangitis occasionally mimic chronic hepatitis