Tapeworm

 What are tapeworms?

Tapeworms are flat, segmented and long parasite worms that cannot live freely without a host. They usually live in their hosts' intestines, and can be dangerous in circumstances, because they can block organs or small ducts from sending out bodily fluids, which can cause blockages or infections. They attach to stomach walls and survive from the body supplies. Other than that, they can travel to other places, like liver, eyes, heart... and can cause damage to them. However, don't be worried, only 1000 people in the U.S. gets it every year, and in a 13 year study, only 221 people died from tapeworms. These deaths are called Neurocysticercosis, and are caused by highly invasive pork tapeworms. Other than that, most hosts don't have symptoms from it.

Symptoms:

- Sudden weight loss

- Sudden loss of appetite

- Diarrhea

- Nausea

- Abdomen pain

- Dizziness

- Fatigue

Transmission:

Tapeworms are usually transmitted through contaminated water, food or fleas. Usually, the worms lay eggs in there. The worm will then grow in the intestines. Well how do they overcome the stomach acid? The stomach acid actually breaks down the shell of the larvae, freeing the worms from their shells. These worms also have special mechanisms to protect themselves from stomach enzymes and acids.

Treatments:

Tapeworms are usually treated with medicine which paralyzes them and lets you poop it out. It works on most patients.

Prevention:

- Cook and wash your food thoroughly

- Avoid eating raw meat or fish

- Wash your hands before and after cooking and eating

Whooping Cough

What is Whooping Cough?

Pertussis, commonly known as whooping cough, is a both a very highly contagious and transmittable disease, especially in children. Before the vaccine was created, which will be mentioned below, it is extremely dangerous for children and possibly fatal for babies because the coughing can mess up the breathing pattern of children. Statistics aren't clear, but it is estimated that 10000-50000 people catch whooping cough every and 20 babies die from it every year. 

Symptoms:

- Fever

- Runny Nose

- Nasal Congestion

- Red eyes

- Cough

- Vomiting

- Red-ish Face

- Blue-ish Face

- Fatigueness

- "Whoop" at the end of breath

Transmission:

Whooping cough is spread airborne, and is very contagious. If someone's bodily fluids like saliva gets into an individual's nose, mouth or eyes, it can be spread. Symptoms usually worsen 2 weeks after of contracting the disease, and it is contagious even 2 weeks after symptoms start.

Treatment:

Antibiotics are usually the treatment because Pertussis is a bacteria.

Prevention:

Taking the vaccine will lower your chance of catching Whooping Cough by a lot. However, nothing is 100% effective, and you still have to be careful around sick people.

Flu

 What is Flu?

The influenza, commonly known as the flu, is caused by the influenza virus. It is a highly infectious disease, and every year, an estimated billion people gets the flu, and effects can be very mild or very severe. An estimated 4 million people are severely affected, and 400000 die. However, unlike other viruses, flu have small mutation fairly quickly and very easily, making them change every year and hard to control. On the bright side, in recent years, due to technological advancements, scientists have been able to estimate changes in the virus and create vaccines accordingly to keep up and slowdown the virus. Other than that, there are 4 strains of Influenza, which scientists also have to estimate in their researches.

Types of Influenza:

- Type A - Most common type and can cause pandemic/epidemic

- Type B - Less severe than Type A and cannot cause pandemic/epidemic but can still be severe

- Type C - Extremely mild influenza that rarely affects people

- Type D - Do not affect humans

Symptoms:

- Sneezing 

- Coughing

- Sore Throat

- Runny Nose

- Fever

- Fatigue

- Gastrointestinal symptoms

Transmission:

Flu is highly transmissible because it can be transmitted through air. If a droplet from a sneeze or cough enters your mouth, nose or eyes, you can be easily infected. It can also be transmitted through direct contact, even though it is a little less common. Other than that, there are flu seasons, which is around October to February, because of the temperature.

Past Flu Epidemics/Pandemics:

- Asiatic/Russian Flu 1889-1890

- Spanish Flu 1918 (H1N1)

- Asian Flu 1957 (H2N2)

- Hong Kong Flu 1968 (H3N2)

- Swine Flu 2009 (H1N1)

Prevention:

TAKE THE FLU SHOT!!!

Treatment:

Resting and taking care of yourself is usually the "treatment" for flu, but if you have a serious case, go see a doctor and they may give you antiviral drugs.

Smallpox

 What is Smallpox?

Smallpox, caused by the Variola virus, is an extremely dangerous and easily transmittable disease that had been eradicated in 1980, with the last known case to be in October 1977. The diseases can be caused by two variants by Variola - Variola Major and Variola minor. Rashes and blisters filled with fluids form on mainly the limbs and the face, and it falls off after, leaving scars all over the patient's face. The death rate was also 30%, which was fairly high, and because of its easy transmission, it was feared over 3000 years, since the ancient Egyptians. But as said above, the virus was eradicated in 1980 by the smallpox vaccine, which was first introduced in 1796.

Symptoms:

First Symptoms:

- High Fever

- Fatigue/Tiredness

- Vomiting

- Diarrhea

- Severe Back Pain

Later Symptoms:

- Rashes on Face, Hands, Legs and Body

- Skin Lesions

- Bumps with clear liquid and pus

Transmission:

Smallpox is an airborne virus. Coughing, sneezing or direct contact with the fluids from the bumps can easily transmit the virus, which is why so many people got it.

Treatment:

Recently in 2018, scientists have found a drug - tecovirimat - which can stop variola growth, but before it was eradicated, the virus could only be treated with intensive care and it still left scars on the victims' faces.

Prevention:

The smallpox vaccine successfully stopped and eradicated the virus. Freeze dried calf lymph vaccine administered with a bifurcated needle is the oldest smallpox vaccine and had been used in the U.S. until 2008, where it was replaced by other new smallpox vaccines such as ACAM2000.

Ebola

What is Ebola?

Remember Ebola? Yes, Ebola, I bet you haven't heard about it for sometime now. It was the virus that shook West Africa from 2013-2016, causing deaths, social and economical problems. It shook the rest of the world slightly as the virus popped up all over headlines, but was thankfully stopped from spreading into a pandemic. 

The (commonly known) Ebola, or Zaire Ebolavirus, is a type of virus from the Ebolavirus (EBOV) family. There are 5 other kinds of Ebolaviruses in the family, such as the Sudan virus, Tai forest virus, Bundibugyo virus, Reston virus and the Bombali Virus. Only the first 4 has been known affect humans. The virus has been first discovered in 1976 in the Ebola river of the DRC, hence the name, and it is thought to be animal-borne, or transmitted from animals to humans. The virus has caused multiple outbreaks over the years, such as the West African Ebola Outbreak mentioned above, and is an extremely serious disease which can easily cause death quickly without proper treatment.

Symptoms:

There are a few stages of Ebola symptoms from mild to severe within about 2 weeks.

First symptoms (7-9 days after infected):

- Fever

- Headache

- Fatigue

- Joint aches

- Muscle soreness

- Muscle pain

More severe (Day 10):

- High Fever

- Blood vomiting

Extremely severe (Day 11):

- Bleeding from different parts of body (eyes, mouth, nose...)

- Unexplained bruising

- High fever

- Brain damage

Most severe (Day 12+):

- Seizures

- Organ failures

- Continued internal bleeding and bleeding from parts of body

- Death

Why does the bleeding happen?

The Ebola virus can infect a macrophage, and when they do so, they can cause blood clots to form in blood vessels which blocks some blood supply to organs causing them to fail. The virus can also trigger the body to inflame blood vessel lining, causing damages and leaking, which is why bleeding occurs in severe cases of ebola.

Transmission:

Ebola can be transmitted from the direct contact of body fluids, like blood, vomit, urine and sweat.

Treatment:

There are no antiviral drugs for Ebola currently. The treatment would be to intravenously feed your body with fluids and electrolytes, giving oxygen and to use medication to suppress symptoms caused by the virus.

Prevention:

Stay away from areas of high risk, avoid contact with infected people or wild animals and take a vaccine if you must.

Chickenpox and Shingles

 What is chickenpox?

Chickenpox is a disease caused by the varicella-zoster virus, and it is a type of herpes virus. It is very rarely fatal, however, is highly contagious among unimmunized people. Before 1995, chickenpox was extremely common due to its easy-spreading nature, however, ever since the chickenpox vaccine was licensed for used in March 1995 in the US, chickenpox had been a much less significant issue. According to CDC, before the vaccine, every year about 4 million people had chickenpox, 10500-13000 were hospitalized and 100-150 died. Now, that number is cut off by 80%. How about in Canada? Between 1986 and 2018, 1987 had reported 72343 cases, making it the year with most cases. The numbers decreased until 1993 when it spiked to 49779 again. There was a steep drop from 2003 to 2004, dropping from 17572 cases to 1734 cases. In 2018, there were 339 cases. 

What is shingles?

Shingles, although caused by the same virus of chickenpox, is a much more severe disease than chickenpox. When the varicella-zoster virus reactivates, chickenpox doesn't reactivate. Instead, shingles takes its place. So if you've never had chickenpox or the chickenpox vaccine, you could never get shingles. Shingles is rarely fatal as well, but it could bring severe pain and itch to the patient.

Symptoms of Chickenpox:

- Rash that turns into blisters and scabs

- Fever and Headache

- Tiredness

- Loss of appetite

These symptoms usually come between 10-21 days of contracting the virus.

Symptoms of Shingles:

- Symptoms of Chickenpox

- Tingling, Prickling and Burning Pain

Transmission:

Chickenpox can be spread by airborne droplets or by touching the fresh blisters of an infected person. However, dry blisters cannot transmit chickenpox. Furthermore, chickenpox can live in the air for 2-3 hours.

Treatment: 

There's no specific treatment for Chickenpox. You just have to rest a lot, take care of your body, and if you feel any discomforts, take medicines to treat the symptoms.

Prevention: 

The vaccine, same as polio, is the most important part of chickenpox prevention. The chickenpox vaccine decreased cases by 90%, and the effectiveness of the vaccine in the body for more than 20 years with only 2 shots. In addition, with 2 shots, it is 100% effective against severe cases of chickenpox.

Polio

What is Polio?

Polio, full name Poliomyelitis, is a disease that can be highly severe and deadly and has been eradicated by most of the world in 2020. In 1988, an american polio eradicating goal was created to eradicate all cases of polio by the 2000, however, they did it in 1994. The last case of a wild poliovirus case reported in August 1991 in Peru, and on Nov 20, 1994, polio eradication has been certified. Other countries in Europe and Asia followed on, and in 1998, the last polio case of Europe took place in Turkey, and on June 21, 2002, the WHO declared that Europe eradicated polio. In 2017-2020, only 2 countries in the world, Pakistan and Afghanistan, had wild Polio cases, with other African countries only having the very rare Vaccine Derived Polio (cVDPV). There are 3 types of wild poliovirus - Type 1, 2 and 3. The last type 2 polio case was in October 24, 1999, and it has been certified globally eradicated on September 20, 2015. The last type 3 polio case was on November 10, 2012 in Nigeria, and has also been certified globally eradicated on October 24, 2019. Scientists are now working hard to eradicate Type 1 polio as well. Other than that, polio can also be abortive, nonparalytic or paralytic. Abortive polio and nonparalytic polio can still be found in the US, however it is extremely rare, and happens mostly to children with common and minor flu symptoms or at most, meningitis, that lasts for short periods of time, however, 1% of polio victims can develop paralytic polio and suffer from paralysis and long term to permanent damage after treated. 

Symptoms:

Non paralytic/Abortive:

- Fever and headache

- Sore Throat

- Vomiting

- Meningitis

Paralytic:

- Paralysis

- Severe spasms and pain

How is polio transmitted?

- Fecal-oral transmission

    Polio is transmitted when someone ingests an infected person's faeces. This can happen when an infected person serves food after taking a dump and not washing hands.

-Oral-oral transmission

    Oral-oral transmission via saliva is also possible but very rare.

Treatment:

- Rest

- Antibiotics

- Physical Therapy (Paralysis)

- Ventilators

- Painkillers

Prevention:

The polio vaccine is the most effective cure of polio. The polio vaccine has dropped 99% of polio cases, so remember to take all your polio shots!

Malaria

 What is Malaria?

Malaria, is a very serious parasitic disease that is transmitted by mosquitoes, and has been eradicated in North America since 1951. In July 1947, the US launched a National Malaria Eradication Program, which with state and local participation, succeeded in eradicating Malaria. Even though Malaria has been eradicated and there are only about 2000 cases in the US per year, it is still a severe problem in third world or developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. In 2018, there were approximately 228 million cases worldwide, causing 408 thousand deaths. According to the WHO, Africa has the most malaria cases, with 93% cases and 94% deaths. Children under 5 were also most vulnerable, accounting for 67% of the 408 thousand deaths. 

Cause of Malaria:

Malaria is caused by parasites. There are 5 more common types of malaria: P. Falciparum, Malarie, Vivax, Ovale and Knowlesi. P stands for Plasmodium, a genus of unicellular parasites. According to counts, 99.7% and 50% of cases in Africa and South-East Asia are caused by the most deadly P. Falciparum. in 2018. In just 24 short hours, P. Falciparum can progress severely, causing deaths if not treated. Since Malaria is caused by parasites, it cannot be transmitted via air, and is only transmitted by mosquito bites. When the mosquito bites, the parasites are inserted into the blood streams of the victim. Female Anopheles Mosquitoes are usually the ones which transmit Malaria. Because they need to feed their eggs with blood, they bite humans, and the parasites take advantage of this to get into humans.

Symptoms:

- High Fever over 38 degree celsius

- Chills

- Sweating

- Bad Headaches

- Vomiting

- Diarrhea

- Abdomen and Muscle Pain

- Fatigue and Weakness

- Anemia

 Severe Symptoms:

- Coma

- Convulsions

Treatment:

- Artemisinin-based combination therapy

- Chloroquine Phosphate

- Antimalarial drugs

Prevention:

If you're going for a trip to developing African or South Asian countries, remember to have closed shelter where mosquitoes can't get in, try to get a bed net to avoid insects from getting in your sleeping areas, wear long sleeved shirts, wear sunscreen then insect repellent or sunscreen with repellent, and if necessary, take an antimalarial every day during the trip and for 4 weeks after the trip. But if somewhere is too dangerous, just don't go.

Epilepsy and seizures

 What is Epilepsy?

Epilepsy, seizure... You always see these words being thrown around, from TV shows to books to jokes. A lot of people know what the simplified meaning of what an epilepsy is, but not a lot knows it in depth or even the true meaning of it. The meaning of having an epilepsy is to have two or more unprovoked seizures. Well, what does unprovoked mean then? An unprovoked seizure is a seizure which its cause is unknown. Seizures caused by allergic reactions, low blood sugar, infections... are provoked seizures, because there is a direct cause for it. Moving onto stats, did you also know that epilepsy is the fourth most common neurological disorder? Unfortunately, it is. As of 2019, a staggering 1.2% of people have active epilepsy, which is about 3.4 million people in the US alone! Other than that, over 1 in 26 will experience an epilepsy in their lifetime. That is scary to think of! That's about 4% of people! And the worse thing is that it doesn't only happen to adults, it happens to children too. Out of the 3.4 million cases in the US, 470000 of them are children. 

What are seizures?

Seizures are sudden surges of electrical activities in a person's brain. This can be an imbalance of activity caused by lack of or too much activity. It can affect the patient in many way, such as the common violent shaking. Over 10% of people will experience a seizure in their lifetime!

Types of Seizures:

- Generalized Seizures: affects the whole brain

    -Petit Mal Seizures:

        - Absence seizure -- Blank out for a few seconds and recover

    -Grand Mal Seizures:

        - Tonic seizure -- Muscle stiffens

        - Clonic seizure -- Recurrent shaking, jerking and twitching for parts of body

        - Myoclonic seizure -- Irregular singular short jerking of parts of body (short clonic seizure)

        - Atonic seizure (Drop attacks) -- Sudden loss of muscle strength

- Focal Seizures: affects a specific part of the brain

    - Simple Focal seizure -- sudden twitch or change in sensation

    - Complex Focal seizure -- causes confusion

    - Secondary Generalized seizure -- causes focal seizure first, then causes generalized seizure

Causes of seizures:

- Alcohol Withdrawal (when you suddenly stop consuming alcohol after a long time of drinking it)4

- Alcohol Overdose

- Brain Infection

- Brain/Head Injury

- Brain Defect

- Brain Tumor/Cancer

- Choking

- COVID-19 (severe cases)

- Drug Withdrawal

- Drug Overdose

- Electric Shock

- High Blood Pressure (Too high)

- High Fever

- Kidney Failure

- Liver Failure

- Low Glucose Levels (Too low)

- Sleep Deprived

- Strobe lights/sounds (Photosensitive seizure)

- Stroke

Treatment:

- Anti-Seizure medication

- Surgery

- Vagus Nerve Stimulation

- Neurostimulation 

- Deep Brain Stimulation

Prevention:

- Get enough sleep

- Take less alcohol

- Don't take drugs without prescription

- Don't play video games for too long

- Try to relieve stress

Gangrene

 What is Gangrene?

Gangrene is an extremely dangerous medical condition. Gangrene is the term used to describe body tissue death, which usually only happens with severe blood loss or bacterial infection. Even though it usually only affects limbs, fingers, toes... it can also affect muscle tissues, organ tissues and even genitals in cases of Fournier's Gangrene.

Types of Gangrene: 

- Dry Gangrene

- Wet Gangrene

- Gas Gangrene (wet)

- Internal Gangrene (wet)

- Fournier's Gangrene (wet)

- Meleney's Gangrene (wet)

What is Dry gangrene?

Dry gangrene is a type of gangrene that is not caused by infection. Dry gangrene is only caused by loss of blood, which causes the tissue to turn black, dry up and fall off. However, a dry gangrene can become an infection, causing a wet gangrene.

What is Wet gangrene?

Wet gangrene is usually always because of a bacterial infection. As the name suggests, wet gangrene causes blisters to build up, causing it to be wet from the pus. The blisters swells and can quickly cut off blood circulation and also easily spread to other parts of the body.

What is Internal gangrene?

Internal gangrene is a type of wet gangrene. It refers to gangrene of internal organ tissues, and it can affect organs like the colon, intestines and more. This can be extremely fatal if left untreated. 

What is Fournier's gangrene?

Fournier's gangrene is a rare type of gangrene, usually caused by Necrotizing Fasciitis, and it specifically attacks the male genitals. 1 in 62500 men have Fournier's Gangrene every year, making them 10 times more affected than women, but this doesn't mean women won't be affected. Older males between the ages of 50 and 60 are also more vulnerable to it. On the opposite end of the spectrum, children almost never get Fournier's Gangrene.

What is Meleney's gangrene?

Meleney's gangrene, or Progressive Bacterial Synergistic Gangrene is another rare type of gangrene. It is very dangerous because it can spread at a phenomenal speed. It usually only happens after surgeries with an unclean wound, however, the mortality rate can be up to 40%, and for diabetic people, the mortality rate can shoot up to 90%. It is also hard to diagnose it because symptoms aren't obvious.

Causes:

- Trauma

- Burns

- Deep wounds

- Blocked off blood supply

- Bacterial infection

Symptoms:

- Blisters/Swelling with pus and blood coming out

- Foul-smelling wound

- Discoloured skin

- Pale and cold skin

- Severe pain

- Numbness

- Septic Shock

Treatment: 

- Antibiotics (kill bacteria)

- Skin Debridement (Surgery)

- Maggot Debridement

- Hyperbaric Oxygen Chamber (for Gas Gangrene)

- Vascular Surgery

Prevention:

- Wash your wounds 

- Lose weight

- Eat less cholesterol so it wouldn't block your arteries

- Care for Diabetes

- Prevent severe frostbites

Necrotizing Fasciitis (NF)

 What is Necrotizing Fasciitis?

Necrotizing Fasciitis (NF) is an extremely rare but lethal flesh-eating disease. Most NF cases are caused by bacteria, even though there is a slim chance where it could be fungal-caused. There are 4 types of NF, Type I, II, III and IV/Other. This will be elaborated below. Only 0.0004% or 4 out of 1,000,000 people in the US and 0.001% or 1 per 100,000 in Europe fall victim to this, however, according to the CDC, the death rate can be 20-40%, especially with STSS (Streptococcal Toxic Shock Syndrome). STSS was introduced in the last article, so go check it out after reading this. CDC Data shows that 9000-11500 cases of NF are diagnosed every year, with 1000-1800 deaths every year.

Types of NF:

- Type I: Type I NF describes NF that is caused polymicrobially. Poly means many, and microbial means microorganism, so polymicrobial-caused NF means that there are more than one bacteria involved in the infection. An example of a Type I infection would be Staphylococcus Aureus and Haemophilus.

- Type II: Type II NF describes monomicrobial NF. Mono means one/single, and microbial as said above means microorganism, so monomicrobial-caused NF means single bacteria caused NF. This is mostly caused by a Group A Strep infection or MRSA infection, and is the most common among the four.

- Type III: Type III NF is caused by Clostridia. This is usually caused by Clostridia Perfringens, but it could also be caused by Clostridia Septicum. Clostridia is a disease that causes gas gangrene to develop. 

- Type IV / Other: Type IV NF is caused by other organisms and fungi. The most common Type IV NF is caused by marine organisms, mostly with them getting into cuts and open wounds.

How is NF transmitted?

NF isn't contagious, nor is it communicable. It is only transmitted when there is a wound, and usually it has to be a deep one. It is also very rare, so there is a low chance of transmission from human to human. However, this doesn't mean it isn't possible. If you have a small wound that is not cared for properly or someone that has NF touches your open wound, there is a chance the disease could develop there.

Symptoms:

- Extreme pain at the wound

- Redness, warmness and swelling at wound

- Fever

- (Pus)

- (Blisters/ulcers)

- (Fatigue and dizzy)

- (Diarrhea)

Consequences:

If left untreated, the situation and infection would get worse, and eventually cause shock, sepsis, organ failure and death. 

Treatment:

The treatment of necrotizing fasciitis is surgery and antibiotics. Usually in a serious case of NF, removal of the infected tissue or amputations have to happen to remove the bacteria from the body. In some cases, people have their whole limbs chopped off just to stop the spread.

Prevention:

The best prevention for NF is to clean your wounds thoroughly so bacteria don't get into your wound. Avoid going out to the sea if you have a wound, especially a deep one. Avoid touching your wound before washing your hands, or else bacteria can sneak in. 

Strep A

 What is Strep?

Streptococcus, also known as strep is a bacteria that is most commonly found in the mouth and throat. There are 4 main types of strep - A, B, C and G, which Strep A is the most common of all. Streptococcus Group A is rarely life-threatening. In most cases, it is healed in a one or two days with the help of antibiotics, but on rare occasions, they can get very dangerous. It can cause high fevers and muscle aches. In more severe cases, it even causes pneumonia, multi organ failures, heart problems, amputations, Necrotizing Fasciitis, STSS and death in a few hours. Approximately 12000 people get Strep A every year, and it kills up to 1600 patients per year.

What is Necrotizing Fasciitis?

Necrotizing Fasciitis (NF), commonly known as the flesh-eating disease is a severe infection that causes a rapid death of soft tissue. Usual symptoms are purple coloured dead skin and severe pain with fever. There are 4 types of NF. Type I is polymicrobial, Type II is monomicrobial, Type III is Marine Vibrio and Type IV is fungal. Type II is where Strep caused and MRSA caused NF lies.

What is STSS?

Streptococcal Toxic Shock Syndrome, or STSS is a rare complication of Strep with serious effects. STSS has to be treated with antibiotics in a hospital by a doctor, or else a patient can get shock and organ failure from STSS and die shortly after. Some may even need surgery and 30% to 70% of patients die after contracting STSS. However, even though anyone can get STSS, elders 65 and above or people with wounds are more likely to contract STSS with serious complications.

How do you catch strep?

Strep is very contagious. It is spread by airborne droplets, such as someone sneezing or coughing at another person, or someone touching an infected surface and then touching their face. 

Symptoms:

- Sore and Painful Throat

- Fever

- Swelling in Tonsils with redness, white patches and pus

- Swollen Lymph Nodes

- Red spots on roof of mouth

Consequences if left untreated:

If Strep is left untreated, it can cause lots of other problems, such as kidney inflammation, joint inflammations, rashes or even heart valve problems even though it can go away on its own in about a week.

Treatment:

Antibiotics are very useful during strep. Most doctors will prescribe it to decrease the time of healing.

Prevention:

- Sneeze or cough into a tissue or elbow

- Stay home if you're sick

- Wash or disinfect your hands

Sepsis

 What is Sepsis?

Sepsis is a rare but extremely fatal condition. It is your bodies' most extreme reaction to a bacterial infection. Sepsis usually starts mildly when an infection isn't treated properly or a few infections happen at once. As it is ignores, the case worsens, blood flow weakens and blood clots form, it can cause multiple organ failure and tissue death. Without treatment in time, it can worsen in no time and kill quickly. Even though most people recover from mild sepsis after being treated, if sepsis isn't treated, it will kill within 36 hours. The average mortality rate for sepsis is 40% and causes 270000 deaths per year, which is an even bigger killer than opiods, breast cancer and prostate cancer combined. Even if you survive a severe sepsis episode, you may be more vulnerable to future infections.

How do you catch Sepsis?

Sepsis happens when you don't treat your bacterial infection properly and it enters your bloodstream. After it enters your bloodstream, white blood cells and bacteria fight all around the body because the blood carries it to different organs, causing clots and leaky blood vessels. This causes inflammation all around the body and organs, which can cause tissue death and organ failure. The most common causes are from lung infections and urine tract infections.

Stages:

- Mild Sepsis: still recoverable, but has to be treat in time

- Severe Sepsis: organ damage, tissue dysfunction

- Septic Shock: organ damage and failure, tissue death (gangrene), hypotension

Symptoms:

Shivering, chills (above 38 degrees celcius or below 36 degrees celcius)

Extreme pain/discomfort (abnormal organ functions)

Pale

Sleepy, confused, disoriented

I feel like death

Short of breath

- No urination

- Rapid Pulse

- Low blood pressure and oxygen

Prevention:

Remember to treat your infections properly, and if you feel more than 2 warning signs of sepsis, go to a doctor immediately or call EMS. The earlier you get help, the faster and better you'll recover.

MRSA

 What is MRSA?

MRSA, or Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus Superbug is a disease you've probably heard before, but never really knew what it is. MRSA is a staph(staphylococcaceae) bacterium superbug. Superbugs is an informal name for antibiotic resistant bacteria, and some examples of superbugs are MRSA or Drug-Resistant TB from the last blog post. Resistance is usually formed during evolution by the overuse of antibiotics. Because of its drug-resistance, MRSA is much harder to treat than other staph. A study shows that of 273 patients admitted for USA300 strain MRSA, 66 patients (24%) passed away. Out of the patients, 17.7% of the deaths occured within 30 days. In 2017 alone, it ended over 20000 lives and caused over 120000 bloodstream infections. 

What is Staph?

Staph, or staphylococcaceae is not to be confused with strep (streptococcus), which is a mouth or throat infection while staph is a skin infection. There are more than 30 types of staph, with MRSA being one of them.  

How do you catch MRSA?

MRSA usually spreads by skin-to-skin contact. This can be direct or indirect. If someone infected touches someone else, they can infect the other person with it, which is quite obvious, but another way it can transmit is by touching contaminated items. For instance, if someone infected uses gym equipment, and you use it, you have a chance to be infected.

Symptoms:

• Red swollen pusful bump/lumps (usually painful and warm to the touch)
• Fever
• Chills
• Cough
• Chest Pain
• Aches
• Organ Problems (Lungs, Joints, Heart, Bones...)

Consequences and if left untreated:

• Sepsis
• Impaired Lymphatic Functions
• Death

Risks:

• Hospitals (HA-MRSA Healthcare associated-MRSA)
• Hospitals-infections take up a great amount of MRSA cases
• Invasive devices put into you making wounds
• Community (CA-MRSA Community associated-MRSA)
• Exposed wounds
• Intravenous drugs 
• Unsanitary

Prevention:

• Hand washing
• Cover and clean wounds
• Don't use other people's personal items especially for skin
• Shower and clean
• Don't inject intravenous drugs unless medically necessary

Tuberculosis

What is Tuberculosis?

Tuberculosis (TB) is a Mycobacterium Tuberculosis bacterial infection that affects the lungs. It can be dangerous in various different ways, and some types of tuberculosis are expensive and risky to treat. Tuberculosis is the most deadly bacteria in the world, claiming over 4000 lives a day, and just in 2017 alone, 1.6 million people died from it. The Tuberculosis bacteria destroys lung tissues, causing lung damage and making them cough and spread the bacteria. TB is an opportunistic infection as well. It often targets people with HIV more because their immune systems are weakened by it.

What are opportunistic infections (OI)?

Opportunistic infections are infections that take the opportunity to attack people who have HIV. OIs can be very dangerous for people who have HIV because their immune systems are weakened and isn't able to fight another disease. Hepatitis B and C are examples of OIs.

How do you catch it?

TB bacteria is caught when you breathe it in. So if someone with TB coughs, sneezes or speaks into your face or close to you , you may contract it.

Types:

- Active TB

    - Non-drug resistant TB: Can be treated with antibiotics

    - Mono resistant TB: Only resistant to one front line drug

    - Poly resistant TB: Resistant to 2 or more front line drug but not to isoniazid or rifampicin

    - Rifampicin resistant TB: Resistant to rifampicin and/or other drugs

    - Multi resistant TB (MDR TB): Resistant to both isoniazid and rifampicin

    - Extensive resistant TB (XDR TB): Resistant to more than only the first-line drugs (including            isoniazid and rifampicin)

- Miliary TB: Affects all organs because the bacteria flowed into the bloodstreams, causing a fatal situation

- Latent TB: No symptoms, only diagnosed by tuberculin test, but can turn into active

What is Rifampicin and Isoniazid?

They're a strong pair of drugs against TB, usually used together, however more strains of TB bacterias have grown immunity to either one or both of them. (MDR/RR TB)

Symptoms:

    - cough that lasted longer than 3 weeks

    - chest pain

    - coughing up blood/sputum

    - weakness

    - fatigue

    - weight loss

    - loss of appetite

    - chills

    - fever

    - night sweating

Risks:

    - HIV patients

    - TB patients before

    - Babies

    - Young children

    - Drug addicts

    - Sick people

    - Elderly

Diagnosis needed:

    - Tuberculin skin test (TST)

    - TB Blood Test

    - Lab Test to detect for resistance patterns

Treatment:

    - Non-drug resistant TB: common antibiotics/rifampicin and isoniazid

    - Mono: use the non-resistant drug

    - Poly: use the non-resistant drug

    - MDR: Pyrazinamide/ Fluoroquinolone/ Ethionamide/ Prothionamide/Cycloserine/ PAS(para-aminosalicylic acid)

    - XDR: Depends, read this website to understand more: XDR

Preventions:

TB is most common in developing countries which are crowded, where TB can be easily transmitted. If you want to stay safe from TB, wash your hands often, cover your mouth and nose while you cough and sneeze and take your medications if you need to.

Insomnia

What is insomnia?

Insomnia is where a person is not able to sleep at night. Insomnia can happen to everyone, and is not a big issue, but long term insomnia can cause a loss of concentration during the day and weaken the immune system due to lack of sleep. Most people suffer from the minor form of acute insomnia, and it usually only occurs once or twice under stress or travelling, but some people suffer from more severe cases like chronic, comorbid, onset and maintenance insomnia. These kinds of insomnia can be caused by plenty of reasons and can be quite harmful.

5 types of insomnia:

- Acute

    - Caused by stress, time zones or sudden events

- Chronic

    - Long-term insomnia, usually if a person can't sleep more than 3 days in a week consecutively for 3 months.

- Comorbid

   - A symptom of psychological problems such as depression. Can be paired with arrthritis and back pain making it very uncomfortable

- Onset

    - Can't sleep at the beginning of the night

- Maintenance

    - oftenly waking up or just can't fall asleep

Symptoms:

- Back pain

- Tiredness

- Loss of concentration

- Not able to sleep

Treatment:

- Relaxation

- Light therapy

- Electronic restrictions

- Sleep time adjustments

- Meds

Asthma

What is Asthma?

Asthma is a medical condition narrows and swells your airways. It can produce extra mucus, causing the patient to have a shortness of breath because the airways are blocked. Asthma can vary in severity. It can be very dangerous and kill a person in an asthma attack, which it did to my grandfather; but it can also be very minor, maybe just a small cough and skipping a breath. Asthma is not a condition that can be cured, but over time, you can control it and prevent anything serious from happening. If not controlled, it can go out of hand and cause deadly asthma attacks.

What are Airways?

Airways are pipes or tubes that bring the air to the lungs. Asthmatic airways are usually the bronchioles which are connected to the bronchus and brings air to alveolar sacs, exchanging carbon dioxide for oxygen.

4 Categories/Levels of Asthma:

- Mild intermittent

- Mild persistent

- Moderate persistent

- Severe persistent

Causes:

- Allergens (allergic reaction to something)

- Respiratory illnesses (cold/flu)

- Cold

- Irritants (substances in the air that irritate your airways e.g. dust/sawdust/chemicals)

- Medications

- Stress

- Preservatives

- Possibly inherited

Symptoms:

- Coughing

- Difficulty Breathing

- Shortness of Breath

- Wheezing

- Chest Tightness

- Chest Pain

Diagnosis:

- Physical scans (checking how much air is flowing through)

- X-Rays

- Allergy Tests

- Methacholine Tests

Treatment:

- Inhaler

- Oral Medication

- Allergy Medication

Prevention:

- Clean house (prevent dust or mold spores to get into your airways)

- Cover nose and mouth if cold or air quality is bad outside

- Avoid animals that shed a lot of fur

- Use A/C so outside pollen and dirt won't get in

Frostbite

What is frostbite?

Frostbite is an injury in the cold weather. It happens when your skin freezes in the cold and in severe cases, ice crystals gets into your skin cells and they start to die. Frostbite is usually classified into 3 categories, from best case scenario to worst. First, a frostnip is the most common and is a mild form of frostbite. If you live in a place or have been to a place with snow and you get some ice or snow into your glove, you'd probably experience frostnip. The damage of frostnip isn't permanent, although after you go inside and you get warm and cozy, your fingertips will probably heat up, inflame and itch a lot. Then, there's superficial frostbite. This frostbite starts to feel warm and when you get indoors and reheat it, you may get some blisters. Then, the last stage, deep frostbite comes. This is rare if you're just playing in the snow, but can happen for someone trapped in the snow. The skin will now start turning greyish, with probable muscle damage too and definite skin damage. You wouldn't feel cold or pain because your cells are literally dying. After reheating, it would form blisters and the dead skin will turn black and hard. It is possible to die from deep frostbite, but it is really rare and mostly happens when you get infected in the wound. If you die from the cold, it's dying from hypothermia, which is different.

How do you get frostbite?

At 0 to -15 degrees celsius, you get frostbite on the part of the skin exposed in about 30 minutes and under that, it can happen within 15 minutes or quicker. For example, if some snow went into your glove, and you didn't dry the glove and then proceeded to play for 30 more minutes, you would get a frostnip, which would itch and heat up or even inflame a bit.

Symptoms:

- Numbness

- Itch

- Hot and inflamed

- Muscle and joint stiffness

- Hard skin (severe)

- Blisters (severe)

Risks:

Everyone can get a frostbite, but just be careful and try to leave your skin on something cold for a long time.

What if left untreated:

Infection can be caused by bad treatment.

Diagnosis:

- By looking at the skin

- If muscle or bone damage is possible, doctors may do MRI scan or X-Ray

Treatments:

- Painkillers

- Rewarming

- Treating from infection

- Antibiotics (fight infections)

- Amputation (extreme cases)

- TPA (extreme cases)

- Removal of dead tissue

Hypothermia

What is hypothermia?

Hypothermia is a medical condition that happens when your body loses temperature too quickly and falls under the temperature of 35 Degrees Celsius. This is a very dangerous situation and if you stay in hypothermia for a long time, you can possibly die, if not sustain permanent damages to your different organs. It can cause your organs like your heart, lungs, nervous system and brain to fail. 1500 people die from hypothermia in the US every year with the mortality rate from 38% to 84%. The older you are, the more vulnerable you are from hypothermia because your systems are weaker than when you're younger.

How do you get into the state of hypothermia?

You get into hypothermia when your body temperature drops below 35 Degrees Celsius, which when normal, should be 37. It is usually caused by a person spending too much time in the cold, being trapped during winter sports and no one can see them or help them or falling into cold water.

Symptoms:

- Shivering (body trying to heat you up by tightening and relaxing your muscles)

- Confusion (brain not functioning properly)

- Slurring (nervous system not working properly)

- Weak pulse (heart slowing down)

- Weak breath (lungs not functioning properly)

- Shock (blood pressure drop suddenly)

- Unconscious (your organs shut down)

Risks:

- Elderly

- Young babies

- Taking medications

- Alcohol usage

- Sick people

Diagnosis:

- Symptoms

- Blood tests

What if left untreated:

You can die from the complications.

Treatment:

- Warm drinks

- Take some rest

- Keep warm (Don't directly be blown by heat)

Preventions:

- Keep clothes dry

- Wear more clothes

- Wear face coverings

- Don't over work yourself

- Don't stay out for long

- Get back to warmth when you feel too cold

Meningitis

What is Meningitis?

Meningitis is an extremely dangerous disease which causes your meninges, or the membrane surrounding your brain and spinal cord to inflame. There are many types of meningitis, because the inflammation can be caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites and more. Typically if given treatment, 5-10% of people die, but if untreated, about 50% of patients die. Meningitis can even kill a person within 4 hours! Even if treated, the patient can be left with permanent damage to their brains and ears. Patients between 16-23 and younger than 1 are more likely to get meningitis.

Types of Meningitis:

1. Bacterial Meningitis - deadly, caused by bacteria, vaccines available

2. Viral Meningitis - most common, less severe than bacterial, caused by viruses, vaccines available

3. Fungal Meningitis - very rare, caused by fungi, can be caused by inhalation of spores

4. Parasitic Meningitis - rare, caused by parasites

5. PAM - rare, caused by amoeba

6. Non-infectious Meningitis - caused by non-infectious diseases (eg. cancer/drugs)

How do you contract Meningitis?

Bacterial and Viral:

    Coughing, sneezing and in rare occasions, through contact of feces. The bacteria can go into your sinus system and go into a bloodstream, which brings it to the brain.

Fungal: 

    Can be caused by breathing fungal spores in

Parasitic and PAM:

    Consumed parasitic eggs or amoeba in water

Non-infectious:

    Caused by diseases, injuries or some medications

Symptoms:

- Headaches

- Fever

- Stiff neck

- Nausea

- Sensitivity to brightness

- Seizures

- Confusion

Diagnosis needed:

- Lumbar puncture

- Eye examinations

- Ear examinations

- Blood examinations

- CT

- MRI

- EEG 

What if you don't treat it?

It can cause your brain to be damaged permanently or even cause death.

Treatment: 

- Antibiotics (B)

- Treating symptoms (P)

- Antifungal (F)

- Treated by body/anti-viral (V)

Prevention:

PLEASE GET VACCINES! The most risked from meningitis are teenagers without vaccines. But also, stay away from smoking, drinking as much as possible and get more rest.