Swine flu
Swine flu (H1N1) is a disease caused by strains of flu virus and characterized by epidemic spread of the disease in swine populations. It is widely spread over everywhere among pigs with the exception of Australia, greater part of Africa and naturally Antarctica. Swine flu is “well known” in North and South America, Europe, continental China, Taiwan, Japan and other countries in Asia and some regions in Africa. The virus circulates among pigs as well as among other mammals, birds and people. The virus tends to mutate with time. Swine flu is rarely transmitted from animal to human.
Swine flu outbreak in 2009
In 2009 an outbreak of a new strain of the H1N1 virus occurred, which was at once called “swine flu”. It was caused by H1N1 subtype virus which genetically resembles swine flu virus most. The viruses of this type are transmitted from human to human and cause symptoms similar to those of seasonal flu. However, this disease, which caused panic in so many people all over the world, has nothing to do with true swine flu: not a single pig caught this disease in the period when Mass Media started “swine flu” hysteria. It is believed that those were newsmen who gave the disease the name of “swine flu”. Now “new flu” is a more frequently used name for H1N1.
Geography of H1N1
The 2009 outbreak is believed to start on March 18 when the first cases of the disease were fixed in Mexico City. Then the flue has spread in Mexico (now more than 17 450 infected) and to south-west of the US. Now the number of the infected prevail in the US (43 800 patients) and Australia (29 000patients). The H1N1 virus has been detected in almost all European counties, but among the European countries the situation is most serious in Great Britain (12 500 patients) and Germany (11 100 patients).
The symptoms of H1N1
The symptoms of “swine flu” are the same as of regular flu. They include dizziness, high temperature, fever, general weakness, cough, angina, runny nose, pain in muscles, joint ache, nausea and upset stomach.
What medicines are used to treat swine flu?
World Health Organization recommends the following antiviral medicines intended for the treatment and prevention of “swine flu”: Oseltamivir and Zanamivir. They claim that H1N1strain is less sensitive to other antiviral drugs. Oseltamivir also comes under the name of Tamiflu.
However, statements that the right medicines for treating “swine flu” are Tamiflu, Triazoverin and Interferon spread by mass media are more like of marketing fad. And as an ad it works great: after mass media announced about the effectiveness of Tamiflu against swine flu, the medicine was literally snapped up despite its expensiveness. However, the effectiveness of this medicine against H1N1 has not been confirmed. In due time, this medicine was also believed to be panacea for avian flu, which occurred in 2004. However, 70% of patients who died of this disease used Tamiflu.
How to protect yourself against swine flu?
You can avoid this infection by observing regular measures taken during flu or acute respiratory disease outbreaks. Avoid busy places; do not make trips to regions where “swine flu” outbreaks have been reported. However World Health Organization considers it ineffective and inappropriate to organize quarantines or restrict people`s right to travel.
Vaccine against H1N1
World Health Organization and medics in the whole world are still trying to create a vaccine against H1N1 virus.
Is H1N1 virus that dangerous?
Both “regular “and the “new” flue pandemia could be dangerous. Every year about 10 million people in the world have flu; half a million of them die. Many doctors think that the panic about the disease is often more scary than the disease itself. Meanwhile, the statements made by mass media about “swine flu” could be described in no other way than panicky. Fresh are the memories of the audience, so frequently “intimidated” by newsmen, about the recent outbreaks of bird flu and Siberian plague which also were alleged to be dangerous for humanity. However, there were no serious consequences for humanity in planetary scale, and all the “terror” happened just on the pages of newspapers, web-sites and TV screens.
Alzheimer’s disease
Alzheimer`s disease is a degenerative brain disease characterized by progressing loss of intellect. The disease first described in1907 by German psychiatrist and neuropathologist Alois Alzheimer is one of the most common forms of acquired dementia. Only in the USA more than 1,5 million people suffer from Alzheimer`s disease. 30 % out of total number of 1,3 million aged in the US nursing homes make up Alzheimer`s patients.
This disease affects people independently of their nationality or socio-economic status. The youngest Alzheimer`s patent known was 28 years old, though the disease usually affects people above 40. Though very often Alzheimer`s diseases goes unrecognized, it is the fourth leading cause of death: in the US more than 100 thousand people die of Alzheimer`s disease every year.
Alzheimer’s disease was first described in patients under 65 years old; that is why earlier it was called presenile dementia. It was also wrongly considered as manifestation of aging or brain vessel sclerosis. In truth the disease is associated with degeneration of nerve cells (neurons) rather than with the affection of blood vessels.
The symptoms of Alzheimer`s disease may vary from person to person and from stage to stage. Alzheimer’s symptoms include: memory and attention impairment, thought disorder, cognition disintegration, disorientation in time and space, speech impairment, communication disorder, personality disintegration. The symptoms of dementia gradually progress leading to full inability of the patient of self-service. The process of disintegration of the psyche may last several years causing a lot of sufferings to the patient and his family.
Diagnosing Alzheimer`s.
There is no such a test which could help diagnose Alzheimer`s disease accurately. That is why the doctor should exclude other diseases causing dementia symptoms too, especially those ones which are curable, i.e. benign tumors, injuries, infections, metabolism disorders, medicine overdose and mental disorders such as depression or anxiety syndrome. Even after exclusion of other diseases the diagnose of Alzheimer’s disease is still considered hypothetical. It could only be confirmed after post-mortem microscopic examination of brain tissue. Rarely this type of examination is applied to live people. For this purpose biopsy is done (a small sample of brain tissue is removed for examination).
Changes in brain confirming the diagnose of Alzheimer`s disease are usually found in outer layer of the brain (cortex) and hippocampus, which lays deep in the hemispheres and plays an important role in the memory processes. Microscopic examination reveals neurofibrillar tangles and neuritic plaques in these region of brain of Alzheimer`s patients. The tangles consist of pathologically changed neurons containing anomalous proteins. Plaques represent are extracellular deposits of amyloid (protein and carbohydrate complexes) in the gray matter of the brain. The greater the number of tangles and plaques in the brain the more evident the intellectual disorders are.
Biochemical researches show that Alzheimer`s disease cause considerable reduction in acetyltransferase rate in brain – a ferment necessary for acetylcholine synthesis. The latter is a neurotransmitter, i.e. a substance transmitting stimulation from one cell to another and participating in memory processes.
The treatment of Alzheimer`s disease.
The disease is incurable. Tacrine is a medicine that can only suspend or decelerate the progression of the disease. That is why the treatment generally carries symptomatic nature. The patients and their families are usually helped to adjust themselves to the disease. It is important to make the patient lead an active life. In case of delirium, excitation or other behavioral changes medical therapy is recommended.
The cause of Alzheimer`s disease is yet unknown. Presently many researches are carried out in order to determine the role of viral infections, heredity, pathological immune responses, environmental factors and toxic agents in the development of the disease.