Cardiovascular disease:

INTRODUCTION:
Heart disease or cardiovascular disease are the class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels (arteries and veins).While the term technically refers to any disease that affects the cardiovascular systemit is usually used to refer to those related to atherosclerosis (arterial disease). These conditions usually have similar causes, mechanisms, and treatments.
RISKS,PREVENTION:

1. Heart attacks and strokes are major–but preventable–killers worldwide.
2. Over 80% of cardiovascular disease deaths take place in low-and middle-income countries and occur almost equally in men and women. Cardiovascular risk of women is particularly high after menopause.
3. Tobacco use, an unhealthy diet, and physical inactivity increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
4. Cessation of tobacco use reduces the chance of a heart attack or stroke.
5. Engaging in physical activity for at least 30 minutes every day of the week will help to prevent heart attacks and strokes.
6. Eating at least five servings of fruit and vegetables a day, and limiting your salt intake to less than one teaspoon a day, also helps to prevent heart attacks and strokes.
7. High blood pressure has no symptoms, but can cause a sudden stroke or heart attack. Have your blood pressure checked regularly.
8. Diabetes increases the risk of heart attacks and stroke. If you have diabetes control your blood pressure and blood sugar to minimize your risk.
9. Being overweight increases the risk of heart attacks and strokes. To maintain an ideal body weight, take regular physical activity and eat a healthy diet.
10. Heart attacks and strokes can strike suddenly and can be fatal if assistance is not sought immediately.

GOD LOVES U.
TAKE CARE OF URSELF.
DO EXERCISE DAILY

Rheumatoid arthritis:

INTRODUCTION:
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a long-term disease that leads to inflammation of the joints and surrounding tissues. It can also affect other organs.
CAUSES AND RISK FACTORS:
The cause of RA is unknown. It is considered an autoimmune disease. The body's immune system normally fights off foreign substances, like viruses. But in an autoimmune disease, the immune system confuses healthy tissue for foreign substances. As a result, the body attacks itself.
RA can occur at any age. Women are affected more often than men.
RA usually affects joints on both sides of the body equally. Wrists, fingers, knees, feet, and ankles are the most commonly affected. The course and the severity of the illness can vary considerably. Infection, genes, and hormones may contribute to the disease.
SYMPTOMS:
While rheumatoid arthritis primarily affects joints, problems involving other organs of the body are known to occur. Extra-articular ("outside the joints") manifestations other than anemia (which is very common) are clinically evident in about 15–25% of individuals with rheumatoid arthritis.It can be difficult to determine whether disease manifestations are directly caused by the rheumatoid process itself, or from side effects of the medications commonly used to treat it – for example, lung fibrosis from methotrexate or osteoporosis from corticosteroids.
TREATMENT:
There is no known cure for rheumatoid arthritis, but many different types of treatment can alleviate symptoms and/or modify the disease process. Recommendations of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR), published in 2008, followed a trend in supporting earlier, more aggressive treatment of RA, and reflected heightened expectations of treatment effectiveness, including remission or substantial alleviation of symptoms for a rising percentage of patients.

The goal of treatment is twofold: alleviating the current symptoms, and preventing the future destruction of the joints with the resulting handicap if the disease is left unchecked. These two goals may not always coincide: while pain relievers may achieve the first goal, they do not have any impact on the long-term consequences. For these reasons, the ACR recommends that RA should generally be treated with at least one specific anti-rheumatic medication, also named DMARD (see below), to which other medications may be added depending on how long a person has had RA, how active the disease is, and prognostic factors (such as X-ray evidence of bone erosion; elevation of blood factors such as Rheumatoid factor, anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide, C-reactive protein, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate; age and gender; physical functioning; and smoking, for example).
Cortisone therapy has offered relief in the past, but its long-term effects have been deemed undesirable.However, cortisone injections can be valuable adjuncts to a long-term treatment plan, and using low dosages of daily cortisone (e.g., prednisone or prednisolone, 5–7.5 mg daily) can also have an important benefit if added to a proper specific anti-rheumatic treatment.

HEALTH IS WEALTH
TAKE CARE OF YOUSELF
YOU ARE PRECIOUS

Scleritis

INTRODUCTION:
Scleritis is an inflammation of the sclera (the white outer wall of the eye).
The disease is often contracted through association with other diseases of the body.
CAUSES,RISK FACTORS:
Inflammation of the sclera is usually associated with autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus. Sometimes the cause is unknown.

Scleritis occurs most often in people between the ages of 30 and 60 and is rare in children.
Symptoms:

1. Blurred vision
2. Eye pain and tenderness - severe
3. Red patches on the normally white part of the eye
4. Sensitivity to light - very painful
5. Tearing of the eye

A rare form of this disease causes no eye pain or redness.
Signs And Tests:

1. Eye examination
2. Physical examination and blood tests to look for or rule out underlying
   

Treatment:
Corticosteroid eye drops help reduce the inflammation. Sometimes corticosteroids pills are taken by mouth. Newer, nonsteroid anti-inflammatory (NSAID) drugs may be used in some cases.
If scleritis is caused by an underlying disease, treatment of that disease may be necessary.
There is no preventive treatment for most cases.
Prevention:
Patients with autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis may need careful monitoring by an ophthalmologist with experience treating ocular inflammatory diseases.

Anthrax

INTRODUCTION:
Anthrax is an infectious disease caused by bacteria called Bacillus anthracis. Infection in humans most often involves the skin, the gastrointestinal tract, or the lungs.
CAUSES,RISK FACTORS:

Anthrax commonly affects hoofed animals such as sheep and goats, but humans who come into contact with the infected animals can get sick from anthrax, too. In the past, the people who were most at risk for anthrax included farm workers, veterinarians, and tannery and wool workers.

There are three main routes of anthrax infection:

1. Cutaneous anthrax occurs when anthrax touches a cut or scrape on the skin.

2. Inhalation anthrax develops when anthrax spores enter the lungs through the respiratory tract.

3. Gastrointestinal anthrax occurs when someone eats anthrax-tainted meat.

Anthrax may be used as a biological weapon or for bioterrorism. In 2001, anthrax sent through the U.S. Postal Service infected 22 people; 7 survivors had confirmed cutaneous anthrax disease.

While at least 17 nations are believed to have a biological weapons program, it is unknown how many nations or groups are working with anthrax. Most bioterrorism experts have concluded that it is difficult to use anthrax effectively as a weapon on a large scale.

Symptoms:

Symptoms of anthrax differ depending on the type of anthrax.

Symptoms of cutaneous anthrax:

• Blister or ulcer that later forms a black scab

• Blister or ulcer is usually surrounded by a lot of swelling

Symptoms of inhalation anthrax:

• Begins with fever, headache, cough, shortness of breath, and chest pain

• Shock may occur later

Symptoms of gastrointestinal anthrax usually develop within one week and can affect the mouth, esophagus, intestines, and colon. Symptoms may include:

• Nausea and vomiting (the vomit may include blood)

• Bloody diarrhea

TREATMENT:

Most people with anthrax are treated with antibiotics. Several antibiotics are effective, including penicillin, doxycyclin, and ciprofloxcin.

When treating inhalational anthrax, a combination of antibiotics should be used. Doctors often start treatment ciprofloxcin plus another drug, given through a vein (intravenously).

Cutaneous anthrax is treated with antibiotics taken by mouth, usually for 7 to 10 days.

The length of treatment for inhalation anthrax is currently about 60 days, since it may take anthrax spores that long to grow.

In the event of a bioterrorist attack, the National Pharmaceutical Stockpile is available to help provide antibiotics should a shortage occur.

AIDS

Symptoms:

People with AIDS have had their immune system damaged by HIV and are very susceptible to these opportunistic infections. Common symptoms are:

1. Chills
2. Fevers
3. Sweats (particularly at night)
4. Swollen lymph glands
5. Weakness
6. Weight loss

Initial infection with HIV may produce no symptoms. Some people, however, do experience flu-like symptoms with fever, rash, sore throat, and swollen lymph nodes, usually 2 - 4 weeks after contracting the virus. Some people with HIV infection stay symptom-free for years between the time they are exposed to the virus and when they develop AIDS.

TREATMENT:

There is no cure for AIDS at this time. However, a variety of treatments are available that can help keep symptoms at bay and improve the quality of life for those who have already developed symptoms.

Antiretroviral therapy suppresses the replication of the HIV virus in the body. A combination of several antiretroviral drugs, called highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), has been very effective in reducing the number of HIV particles in the bloodstream. This is measured by the viral load (how much virus is found in the blood). Preventing the virus from replicating can improve T-cell counts and help the immune system recover from the HIV infection.

HAART is not a cure for HIV, but it has been very effective for the past 12 years. People on HAART with suppressed levels of HIV can still transmit the virus to others through sex or by sharing needles. There is good evidence that if the levels of HIV remain suppressed and the CD4 count remains high (above 200 cells/mm³), life can be significantly prolonged and improved.

However, HIV may become resistant to HAART, especially in patients who do not take their medications on schedule every day.

Tuberculosis

Introduction:
It is a common and in some cases deadly infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis in humans.uberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body. It is spread through the air when people who have active MTB infection cough, sneeze, or spit.
Causes:
The cause of TB, Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB), is a small aerobic non-motile bacillus. High lipid content of this pathogen accounts for many of its unique clinical characteristics.
Symptoms:
Symptoms include chest pain, coughing up blood, and a productive, prolonged cough for more than three weeks. Systemic symptoms include fever, chills, night sweats, appetite loss, weight loss, pallor, and fatigue.
Tuberculosis also has a specific odour attached to it, this has led to trained animals being used to vet samples as a method of early detection.
In the other 25% of active cases, the infection moves from the lungs, causing other kinds of TB, collectively denoted extrapulmonary tuberculosis.
Treatment:
Treatment for TB uses antibiotics to kill the bacteria. Effective TB treatment is difficult, due to the unusual structure and chemical composition of the mycobacterial cell wall, which makes many antibiotics ineffective and hinders the entry of drugs.The two antibiotics most commonly used are isoniazid and rifampicin. However, instead of the short course of antibiotics typically used to cure other bacterial infections, TB requires much longer periods of treatment (around 6 to 24 months) to entirely eliminate mycobacteria from the body.Latent TB treatment usually uses a single antibiotic, while active TB disease is best treated with combinations of several antibiotics, to reduce the risk of the bacteria developing antibiotic resistance

Vaccines:

Many countries use Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine as part of their TB control programmes, especially for infants. According to the WHO, this is the most often used vaccine worldwide, with 85% of infants in 172 countries immunized in 1993.[ One country that notably does not widely administer BCG is the United States, where TB is rather uncommon. BCG was the first vaccine for TB. From 1905, Albert Calmette and Camille Guérin worked at the Institut Pasteur de Lille and the Pasteur Institute in France developing BCG, administering the first human trials in 1921. However, deaths due to flawed manufacturing processes created public resistance to BCG, delaying mass vaccinations until after World War II. The protective efficacy of BCG for preventing serious forms of TB (e.g. meningitis) in children is greater than 80%; its protective efficacy for preventing pulmonary TB in adolescents and adults is variable, ranging from 0 to 80%.

Leukemia

Introduction:

Leukemia is cancer that starts in the tissue that forms blood. To understand cancer, it helps to know how normal blood cells form.

In 2000, approximately 256,000 children and adults around the world developed some form of leukemia, and 209,000 died from it.

Causes:

No single known cause for all of the different types of leukemia exists. The known causes, which are not generally factors within the control of the average person, account for relatively few cases.Leukemia, like other cancers, results from somatic mutations in the DNA.Among adults, the known causes are natural and artificial ionization, a few viruses such as HTV, and some chemicals, notably Benzene and alkylating chemotherapy agents for previous malignancies.

Treatment:

Most forms of leukemia are treated with pharmaceutical medication, typically combined into a multi-drug chemotherapy regimen. Some are also treated with radiation thearapy. In some cases, a bone marrow transplant is useful.

Dengue Fever

Introduction:

It is also known as breakbone fever, is an infectious tropical disease caused by the dengue virus.

Causes:

Dengue is usually transmitted by the mosquito Aedes aegypti. The virus exists in four different types, and an infection with one type usually gives lifelong imuunity to that type, but only short-term immunity to the others. There is currently no available vaccine, but measures to reduce the habitat and the number of mosquitoes, and limiting exposure to bites, are used to decrease the incidence of dengue.

Symptoms:

Dengue fever begins with a sudden high fever, often as high as 104 - 105 degrees Fahrenheit.

A flat, red rash may appear over most of the body 2 - 5 days after the fever starts. A second rash, which looks like the measles, appears later in the disease. Infected people may have increased skin sensitivity and are very uncomfortable.

Other symptoms include:

• Headache (especially behind the eyes)

• Fatigue
• joint aches

• muscle aches

• Nausea

• Swollen lymph nodes

• vomiting

Prevention:

There are currently no approved vaccines for the dengue virus.Prevention thus depends on control of and protection from the bites of the mosquito that transmits it.The primary method of controlling A. aegypti is by eliminating its habitats.his may be done by emptying containers of water or by adding insecticides or biological control agents to these areas.

Small Pox

Small Pox:

Introduction:
Smallpox is a serious and contagious disease that causes a rash on the skin.Small pox was present in earlier times. It mainly affected children and young adults. Family members can be infected from each other. There are two types of smallpox: Variola major is a serious type which usually leads to death if a person is not vaccinated Variola minor is a type in which victim has a rear chance of death.
  Causes:

Smallpox is caused by infection with variola virus. It usually takes 12 - 14 days for symptoms to appear.

Symptoms:

1. Backache
2. Diarrhea
3. Excessive bleeding
4. Fatigue
5. High fever
6. Raised pink rash -- turns into sores that become crusty on day 8 or 9
7. Severe headache
8. Vomiting

Signs and tests:

Tests include: Complete blood test Special laboratory tests can be used to identify the virus.

Treatment:


If the smallpox vaccine is given within 1-4 days after a person is exposed to the disease, it may prevent illness or make the illness less severe. Once symptoms have started, treatment is limited.There is no drug specifically for treating smallpox. Sometimes antibiotics are given for infections that may occur in people who have smallpox. Taking antibodies against a disease similar to smallpox (vaccinia immune globulin) may help shorten the duration of the disease.

Preventions:

Many people were vaccinated against smallpox in the past. The vaccine is no longer given to the general public because the virus is no longer present. If the vaccine needs to be given to control a spread of disease, it can have a small risk of complications. Some complications are mild, such as rashes. Others are more serious.