Archive for December, 2007

The symptoms and effects of all hepatitis viruses are similar on the lungs; however, it is constricted in different ways.

The severity and duration of hepatitis infection depends on the organism by which the disease is caused.

There are different forms of hepatitis, but this disease is caused by one of several hepatitis viruses (A, B, C, D or E). This disease varies from acute to chronic.

Hepatitis A virus is transmitted primarily by fecal contamination of food and water or through person-to-person contact.

This infection is less dangerous when compared to other viruses. In rare cases, this virus leads to damage of the liver.

The person who has this infection may not have symptoms and the inflammation lasts only for a few weeks.

Once if a person acquires this infection, that person has immunity to this virus and will never expose to this infection again. People should protect themselves from hepatitis A vaccine.

Hepatitis B virus is transmitted from person-to-person through the blood at the time of sex, during birth, or by contaminated needles and syringes. Most of the people in United States get infected with this virus because of unprotected sex. This is considered to be the more dangerous infection as it can lead to cirrhosis of the liver, liver failure, or liver cancer causing severe illness or even death.

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Almost all individuals at some point might have suffered from the pink eye or conjunctivitis in their lifetime.

Pink eye (inflammation of the conjunctiva) is classified as infectious or noninfectious.

About 70% of the people will get affect with infectious pink eye, which is caused either by bacteria (45%) like staphylococcus, streptococcus, and pneumococcus or a virus (25%).

Infectious conjunctivitis is a contagious disease. Remaining 30% accounts for noninfectious pink eye, which is caused by allergens, chemicals, or underlying diseases. Conjunctivitis may also be caused by trauma.

The common type of pink eye is viral conjunctivitis. The symptoms include watery discharge, burning sensation, and irritation with glossy redness. When infected with virus, the infection usually starts in one eye and then spreads to the second one. The eyelids probably will be swollen and are very sensitive to light.

The symptoms of viral pink eye can be relieved with artificial tears or cool compresses. Topical steroids can also reduce the inflammation and discomfort.

Another type of pink eye is bacterial conjunctivitis. The symptoms include heavy purulent discharge with sticking of eyelids overnight, soreness and sensitivity, lots of redness, tearing, pain, irritation, and swelling of conjunctiva. In this type of conjunctivitis also, the infection starts in one eye and spread to another one.

Ear infection can lead to temporary hearing problems associated with transitory speech and language problems.

If the infection is not treated properly or proper care has not been taken, these problems may develop into more serious issues.

The untreated infection of the ear will cause permanent hearing loss.

The common symptoms of ear infection include fever, sharp pain, redness in the ear, tugging of the ears, and irritability.

In case of severe ear infection, drainage of yellow to red color may occur. It is the sign that the eardrum has ruptured.

If the child does not respond to the spoken words or if the child has difficulty speaking or paying attention to the directions, then the child might have hearing loss due to ear infection. As the children have immature immune system, it is difficult to prevent the ear infection in children.

Following ear infection, usually children will have slight hearing loss because of the accumulation of the fluid behind the eardrum. Commonly, the fluid goes away by itself, but in some cases the fluid will persist.

As chicken pox is a benign disease that usually occurs in children below 15 years of age, the aim of treatment is treating the symptoms.

Usually, treatment of chicken pox takes place at home until the symptoms are worse.

Since the chicken pox is a contagious disease, the patient should stay at home until the new blisters have stopped coming and all the old sores have healed well.

Fever, headache, muscle aches, and fatigue will be seen in patients, who suffer from chicken pox.

Acetaminophen is a drug that helps the patients to reduce those symptoms.

Depending on weight, dose of acetaminophen will be given.

Never give a child, who suffers from chicken pox, aspirin or the drug that contains aspirin as this will lead to a dangerous condition called Reyes Syndrome.

Getting relief from chicken pox:

Numerous baths helps in improving itching. Lukewarm bath for every few hours is helpful to reduce itching. One cup of baking soda to bath water is also useful for itching. Adding oatmeal to the bath water reduces the skin irritation.

Do not rub the skin with towel after bathing. Put the patient in cool environment as the heat and sweat will make itching worse.

There is no cure for cystic fibrosis, except to control the symptoms.

Oral, intravenous, or inhaled antibiotics will be given to treat this infection, either chronic or acute.

Other cystic fibrosis treatments involve treatment with enzyme replacement for pancreatic disease, insulin for diabetes [diabetes causes], and advanced reproductive methods for infertility.

If pneumonia is suspected in cystic fibrosis patients or if there is decline in lung function then antibiotics are used to treat the condition based on prior infections.

Since many bacteria in CF are resistant to numerous antibiotics, treatment for weeks with intravenous antibiotics such as vancomycin, tobramycin, and ciprofloxacin are required.

Inhalation therapy with antibiotics like tobramycin for months will be given to improve the lung function by inhibiting the growth of bacteria. Oral antibiotics like ciprofloxacin and azithromycin are also used to prevent and control the infection.

Other methods of treatment in cystic fibrosis include percussive therapy such as ThAIRapy Vest and Intrapulmonary Percussive Ventilation and Biphasic Cuirass Ventilation.

When lung function and exercise tolerance decreases significantly in individuals with cystic fibrosis, lung transplantation is necessary. In patients with cystic fibrosis, both lungs need to be transplanted since if one lung is replaced, the other lung that contains bacteria will infect this replaced lung.

The secret to losing weight is to eat and drink until you are full and satisfied, choosing foods that burn more calories than you consume.

Here is the list of fat burning foods which will help you make the right choices to burn off more fat than you ingest by eating them.

No need to become a vegetarian to lose weight. Simply increase the intake of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, seeds, legumes, and nuts.

They will help your body burn up the excessive stored fat. But a single food alone can never help in losing weight.

Make some dietary changes in your daily diet intake and follow them regularly as it can significantly produce best weight loss results. Watch carefully for fat and calories while eating for reduction in body mass.

Take essential nutrients and vitamins as these are the vital components of all living cells in our body. The best way to begin weight loss is by making healthy substitutions to your normal diet.

Here is the list of fat burning foods, which require more number of calories to burn than they actually contain:

1. Apricot – Boosts your metabolic rate

Canker sores are usually seen on inside of the lips, inside of the cheeks, under the tongue, on the palate, and base of gums.

These sores are usually white or yellow in color surrounded by red color.

Canker sores are painful, open, small, and shallow sore in the mouth.

It is also known as aphthous stomatitis or mouth ulcer. These sores are caused by breakage of the mucous membranes.

One in five people are suffering from these canker sores. These small mouth ulcers will make life intolerable while eating, drinking, swallowing, speaking, etc.

According to the researches, the things that make the person liable for canker sores are:

• Sodium lauryl sulfate that can be find in toothpastes and mouthwashes
• Trauma from hard brushing
• Food products and preservative allergies
• Lip biting
• Stress
• Trauma when eating rough and hard foods
• B12 Vitamin, folic acid, and iron deficiencies

Usually, use of commercial toothpastes and some mouthwashes that contain sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), a foaming agent, can cause canker sores. This foam has no benefits to the toothpaste, but it does trick the people in order to think that foaming is related to cleansing action.

Shingles is caused by the reactivation of varicella zoster virus in the spinal cord causing severe pain and rash.

People usually develop chicken pox during childhood or even when they grow older.

Varicella zoster is a herpes-type virus that causes chicken pox.

After appropriate treatment of chicken pox, the varicella zoster virus moves from the skin along the nerves and settles in the area of dorsal root ganglia (ganglion of the posterior root of spinal segmental nerve).

The virus will remain there for many years in an inactivate state until the immune system works well. When the immune system weakens or lowered (such as AIDS, cancer, etc that lowers the immune system), the varicella zoster virus will be activated again.

The virus that is activated starts to multiply within the dorsal root ganglia causing swelling and damage to the nerves of dorsal root ganglia. This damage causes severe pain, swelling, and rash on the skin of shingles.

The main symptom of shingles is over sensitivity and burning sensation. First, you will see red spots or reddened skin in the affected areas. These red spots will then turn into small blisters, which after a few days dry up leaving small pockmarks on the area.

An infection or inflammation of one or both the kidneys is kidney infection.

Pyelonephritis and glomerulonephritis are the two major kidney disorders caused due to kidney infection.

The infection usually starts in the bladder. From there the infection travels through the tubes to the kidneys.

Kidney infection can lead to kidney failure

Cystitis is a common bladder disease, which can cause kidney infection if untreated or not diagnosed immediately.

Considering the anatomy of the urinary tract, the kidneys are located on each side of the abdomen, partially covered by lower ribs. Kidneys make urine and flows through the tubes (ureters) down into the bladder.

The bladder is typically the size of a large grapefruit. Bladder holds the urine until it gets fill. The sphincter muscles when relaxed allow the urine pass out of the body emptying the bladder.

In this process, in males the urine passes from the urethra through the prostate gland and then through the penis. When considering the distance, in males it takes long time to travel the urine to pass out of the body when compared to women.

Leukemia is a condition in which the bone marrow produces abnormal white blood cells and these cells are called leukemia cells.

Normally, blood cells will form in the bone marrow, a soft material in the center of bones.

The blood cells will get matured in the bone marrow from immature blood cells called blasts or stem cells forming different types of blood cells and each type has its own function.

They include red blood cells, which carries oxygen to the tissues, white blood cells, which helps to fight infections, and platelets, which forms clotting of the blood to prevent blood loss. These matured blood cells will move into the blood vessels.

Leukemia is classified into two forms, acute and chronic. Further, these diseases are classified into lymphocytic and myelogenous. Combining this, there are four major different forms of leukemia. They include acute lymphocytic leukemia, acute myelogenous leukemia, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and chronic myelogenous leukemia.

Depending on the size of the tumor and spreading of the cancer to different organs of the body such as liver, spleen, etc, there are different stages given to the cancer (stage I, II, III, and IV). Also, there are different staging systems for different types of chronic leukemia and for some types there is no staging system at all.