6 Factors That Fuel The Spread Of Disease In An Environment

It shouldn't be a new story to us all that micro-organisms are the cause of all the numerous diseases and infections that have caused mankind so much pain. They have taken our loved ones away from us, made us fall sick, and has tormented our dear lives in so many different and life threatening ways.



 

Have you ever imagined living a life without sickness? I mean a life that you don’t have to bother about falling sick from any of the diseases caused by the numerous disease micro-organisms that have being roaming our planet earth for ages. Ifnot pushed your sense of imagination to that extent you are really missing a lot because I have done so and I bet you, it’s an exciting experience if at all it can ever come to pass, which I guess.

Micro-organisms cause diseases and infections and they can be found almost everywhere on the surface of the earth, they can be found floating around and suspended inside the air we breathe, they can be found in large quantity inside the assumed clean water we drink every day. Man has tried everything possible to keep its environment clean and void from this tiny, microscopic enemies, all to no avail. So many techniques has being employed to make this assignment a success but we are still far from what we will wish to call success.

In this article, I will try to highlight a number of environmental factors that influences the spread of this micro-organisms, in other wards causing diseases to us, the humans.

• Water Supply:

Water they say is a universal solvent. It is the most abundant substance on planet earth. It is very important in our lives but when it contains harmful organisms it is more harmful than good. Drinking or cooking with water that contains so many harmful organisms is very dangerous. Lack of safe and clean water in an environment, inadequate excreta disposal facilities, poor hygiene can provide disease micro-organisms a conducive habitat to live and breed in. A large number of the existing disease micro-organisms can fend very well when surrounded by water.

• Sanitation Facilities:

Since mankind cannot completely do away with this micro-organisms, reducing their number in a giving place can help checkmate the level at which they spread diseases and this is done by sanitation. Keeping the environment clean with efficient equipment have always being the way up. Developed countries can almost boost of that while developing and under-developing countries are still very far behind in the race to checkmate this micro-organisms.  This is because the Government cannot provide its citizens with good and efficient sanitation facilities.

• Climatic Change:

Our climate has a lot of roles to play in the spread of disease. Climatologists have identified upwards trends in global temperatures and has also estimated an unprecedented increase of 2.0 degrees centigrade by the year 2100. Micro-organisms will always fend well in environments with increased temperature. Entropy will be very high and they will continue feeling homely until the temperature increases to a level where they can’t survive any longer. The micro-organisms, plasmodium in mosquitoes and other micro-organisms that cause dengue fever, viral encephalitdes are among the organisms that are most sensitive to climate.

• Air:

The air we breathe can act as a means of transport for so many disease micro-organisms. Micro-organisms suspended inside the air can be transported into our nostrils when we breathe in air. Mostly so many micro-organisms mix together with dust particles, making their existence and movements hiding.

• Food:

We eat to live, but when the food we eat has being contaminated with deadly micro-organisms; then the food we eat will be more of harm than good to us. Food substances that wasn’t preserved will easily be attacked by micro-organisms which will breed and form a community inside the food, when ingested, the micro-organisms manifest within us the humans and causes diseases.

• Carrier Organisms:

Disease micro-organisms can be transmitted from one organism to another. This is one of the major means by which diseases spread. Plasm odium which causes malaria can be transmitted to man by mosquitoes. Man can also pass diseases to each other through body fluid contacts like sweat, semen, saliva. This is the most dangerous factor that has being giving rise to the spread of diseases since the beginning of planet earth.



As usual, your contributions, questions and what so ever has always being welcomed here on any article on Cliniconomy in form of comments.

If you don’t have anything to comment about. Why not tell us the most dangerous and effective factor whereby diseases have being spreading throughout the human population.

 

Continue Reading

Heart Disease In Women: How To Secure Your Self

Not everybody has actually giving ears to the numerous awareness raised by health associations concerning the issue of heart disease in women. Those who are missing out on this vital information; those who don't still realize that heart disease is so real and is a threat for them. While our young women believe that they're too young for heart disease, this is not the case. Risk factors often begin when women are in their twenties. The disease continues to develop over time.

 Statistics concerning heart disease in young women

• One in every three women over age 20 suffer from some form of heart disease.

• 35,000 women in the U.S. under the age of 55 have heart attacks each year.

• Twice as many women than men under the age of 50 die from heart attacks.

Risk Factors For heart disease in Women

Some of the common risk factors for heart disease in young women include the obvious ones: smoking, high cholesterol, diabetes, and obesity; along with a sedentary lifestyle. Metabolic syndrome is another common risk factor for women of all ages. This is actually a group of factors which includes abdomen fat, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and high triglyceride levels.

However, there are hidden risks as well. These include: high blood sugar during pregnancy, a history of missed periods by age 35, and low levels of vitamin D. A recent news report also listed depression as a major risk factor for heart disease in young women. In fact, according to a new study, women under the age of 55 who suffered from depression doubled their chance of having a heart attack or other form of heart disease.

How can Women protect themselves?

Women can begin protecting themselves from heart disease while in their twenties. This protection starts with a visit to their primary care doctor. This is particularly important if a woman has a family history of heart disease and heart attacks.

The visit to a doctor should include a heart wellness exam. This includes a blood cholesterol test (starting at age 20), blood pressure check, heart rate, body mass index and waist measurement. Knowing where you stand can motivate you to make lifestyle changes if needed.

Lifestyle modifications for young women

Cut back on sugar: It can increase artery-clogging triglyceride levels and decrease your HDL (good) cholesterol levels.

Don't start smoking, and quit if you do smoke. This is extremely important if you take birth control pills. The combination of smoking and the pill can lead to heart attacks and strokes. Avoid secondhand smoke as well.

Eat foods that are on the "healthy" list: whole-grains, beans and other legumes, brightly colored vegetables and fruits. Don't forget fatty fish, which are high in omega-3 fatty acids. These include salmon, halibut, tuna, and sardines. Avoid the nasty trans-fats found in highly processed foods, fried foods, and store-bought baked goods. Eating healthier and limiting your sodium intake can also lower blood pressure levels and help you avoid or manage diabetes. It also improves cholesterol levels.

Learn to love exercise and physical activity. Once you find out what exercise can do for you, you'll find it easy to love. Exercise is a great way to reduce the risk of heart disease in women. It also boosts our energy, lowers blood pressure, and improves our mental health. A current study shows that running, even just for short periods of time, (5 to 10 minutes a day) is a particularly good way to avoid heart disease. Add strength training to an exercise program for additional heart benefits.

Take vitamin D supplements if you have low levels of this vitamin. A vitamin D deficiency can be discovered through a simple blood test.

Visit your doctor if you think you're suffering from depression. Prescription medications may help. Adding therapy may provide you with the additional benefit of being able to talk about issues you are facing. Regular exercise will also help reduce depression.

 

Why is it so important for young women to take care of their hearts? It's because heart disease is the number one killer for women of all ages. One in four women die from heart disease in women each year, and more women than men die from heart attacks. But women can, and should, fight back; by making necessary changes to save their hearts, and their lives.

Continue Reading

What Is Gangrene? The Effective Treatment For Gangrenous Tissues

Just like other life threatening medical conditions, medicine has always found an awkward name to give them and this one she called it Gangrene. It is used to describe the death of an area of the body which is caused when the blood supply to that part of the body is cut off, the dismissal of blood from the affected part may be caused either by an infection, vascular disease, injury or trauma. Gangrene can affect any part of the body but it is more predominant in the toes, fingers, feet and hands.

[caption id="attachment_6225" align="aligncenter" width="240"] Toe infected with dry Gangrene[/caption]

 

 

What Are The Types Of Gangrene?

There are 2 main types of Gangrene name:

• Dry gangrene: It is the gradual reduction of blood flow through the arteries. In this type of gangrene, the gangrenous body tissue becomes cold and black, it begins to dry up and finally sloughs off (sheds away like that of the skin of a snake). It is mostly seen in people with blocked arteries (arteriosclerosis) which can either come up as a result of cigarette smoking, high level of cholesterol, diabetes and other genetic factors.

 

• Wet gangrene and Gas Gangrene: This type mostly develops as a result of untreated and infected wounds. Inflammations usually occur as a result of infection which was caused by the immediate halted flow of blood to the about to be gangrenous part of the body. When the blood stops flowing to the gangrenous tissue, the growth of bacteria is increased and tremendously multiplied because the white blood cells (disease fighting cells) cannot get to the gangrenous region because of the “no blood flow zone” instituted on the tissue.


•         Gas Gangrene: This is under wet gangrene and it looks very much like it, the different is that  gas gangrene is caused by clostridia bacteria, which can live , grow and reproduce in the absence of oxygen. As it grows, they emit poisonous toxins and gas which readily spreads into the bloodstream and has the capability to damage vital organs if not treated early.

What Are The Causes Of Gangrene?

Blood is the most important aspect of life. The red liquid is very important because it transport all the life sustaining substances round the body, to the body cells who need the resources to keep us alive. The blood transports oxygen, food substances, minerals and white blood cell which will always fight invading bacteria in the body so as to keep us healthy.

Any condition that will affect the normal flow of blood increases the risk of gangrene. Because blood keeps the cells alive and when the blood doesn’t get to the cell, the cell dies off and that is it. So, the conditions that can cause gangrene, includes:

• Smoking


• Obesity


• Trauma


• Atherosclerosis


• Diabetics


• Artery Disease


• Injury

 

What Are The Symptoms Of Gangrene?

The symptoms of gangrene includes:

1. The infected area is initially red and later turns to cold and numb when not properly treated.


2. It becomes black and shriveled (dry gangrene)


3. In wet gangrene, the infected area swells up and putrefies.


4. It becomes unbearably painful


5. Local oozing occurs.


6. The infected region produces an awful odor


7. It becomes black.


8. The patients gradually develops a fever. Increases heart rate and rapid breathing if the toxins in the infected part spreads into the blood stream.


9. In some cases of gas gangrene, the gas produced by clostridia produces a cracking or skin breaking sensation when the affected area is pressed down.

A quick question before we continue, as you have seen the symptoms of the three types of gangrene, which of them looks more deadly and scary to you?

 

What Are the Various Ways to Prevent Gangrene?

So, enough of the long scary story about gangrene, let us look at the ways in which you can prevent gangrene. Like so many other health conditions, the most important weapon in the treatment arsenal is the prevention.

• Simple, keep your wounds clean to avoid infections. Clean wound with antiseptic solution.


• Watch out for the signs that the injury has already being infected, such signs includes pus, redness, swelling and pain.


• People with diabetics should keep an eye on their blood sugar level, using proper medication to monitor it.


• If you are a cigarette smoker, you have to stop smoking.


• If eventually your injury becomes infected. Consult a qualified Doctor.


• Exercise and keep fit.

 

What Are the Available and Effective Methods For The Treatment Of Gangrene?

Introduction of antibiotics has proven its prowess in eliminating gangrene. Antibiotics will prevent the spread of any bacteria infection.

To treat dry gangrene, which is caused by the lack of blood flow. Trying to restore the blood supply will be very important. This could be carried out through surgery.

Wet gangrene and gas gangrene needs to be treated aggressively and with intense caution, this is because of the infection accompanying it. A type of surgery called Surgical Debridement (removal of dead tissues) is performed, alongside the application of intravenous (inside the blood vessels) antibiotics are administered to control infection.

 

Do you think i have left something behind? feel free to put it down on the comment box.

 

Continue Reading

The difference between cancer cells and normal cells

[caption id="attachment_5650" align="aligncenter" width="150"] Photo credit: freedigitalphotos.net[/caption]

A Cell is the basic unit of a living organism, meaning that a cell is the building block of a full organism. In my own understanding; different cells of the same function come together to form a body tissue and different body tissues of the same type and function come together to form an organ then different organs of the same function come together to form a whole system. The  cells that come together to form the skin can be referred to as skin cells, just like that, the cells that will come together to form a bone can be called the bone cells. We also have heart or cardiac cells and so on.

In this post we are going to discuss about the difference between cancer cells and normal cells.  Read along.

The body is made up of trillions of cells of different types which occupy different parts of the body. During the early stages of life, cells divide more rapidly and faster with the sole purpose to bring about growth, but immediately one reaches adulthood and no longer needs to grow, cells now divide to bring about the replacement of dying or worn-out cells. The process by which an individual increase in size right from childhood to adulthood is brought about by the division of this different type of cells in their various parts and locations of the body.

Normally, a cell is supposed to take a specific and systematic path during its life cycle; that is, undergoing cell division when matured and dying off when worn out.  Another thing that a normal cell does is to remain in its particular location in the body together with other cells of its type and function. As stated above, our body cells continue to divide even when we are adults to replace dead and worn out cells which will be ejected from the system at the long run. All this things occur systematically and orderly and it is engineered by the genetic instructions within the cell which regulates the operations and life cycle of a normal cell. The difference between cancer cells and normal cells is that a normal cell is has a  balance between its production, growth, division and death.

 

What about Cancer Cells?

Meanwhile, a cancer cell on the other hand is a cell also but far from being a normal cell. It is a cell that undergo uncontrolled and rapid proliferation instead of the slow coordinated mechanism of a normal cell. A cancer cell doesn’t follow the path of a normal cell instead they go the other way round. Cancer cells grow and divide rapidly through an unregulated and unsystematic way, thereby altering the balance and normal functioning of the body.  The genetic instructions contained in cells that coordinate the life processes of a normal cell has no power on a cancer cell. Cancer cells are stubborn cells that grow out of control. They will refuse to die when they are supposed to die, instead they continue growing and producing abnormal cells of their type. The main difference between cancer cells and normal cells is that it has the ability to leave its present location, flow through the blood stream and get deposited in another location where it becomes harmful when it starts reproduction of a cell different from the type of cell that originally occupies that part of the body. This process is called Metastasis.

You might like to read: 9 inexpensive ways to reduce your cancer risk

Cancer cells become cancer cells because of certain DNA damage in the nucleus of the cell. Normal cells can either repair the damage or die off. But cancer cells will neither repair the damage nor die off  but will continue creating cells that has that same damaged DNA; cells that the body doesn’t understand and cells that is of no use to the body. Damaged DNA can be caused by many factors mainly cigarette or hard drug smoking or exposure to radiation or nuclear substances.

When cancer cells come together they form a tissue called tumor. Tumors can replace normal body tissues and pose more threat to the body if not handled properly and early.

Although there are effective methods to combat cancer now but the very best and most effective weapon to do so is the early detection of cancerous cells, this should be when the cancerous cells have not started undergoing Metastasis.

 

As usual, your comments are highly encouraged. What do you think about this post? Do you have any contributions to make to this post? Do you have any question to ask? Drop it down on the comment box let us discuss about it together.

Remain blessed.

 

 

Continue Reading

Computer Vision Syndrome: How Your Computer Is Destroying Your Sense Of Sight

Computer vision syndrome a group of eye and vision related problems, engineered by the prolonged engagement of our eyes on a computer's screen.
With the advent of modern technology, the world is now crawling out from previous centuries of darkness and individuals are dancing towards the light to embrace the illumination brought about by the modern piece of gadgets that help make our world so easy to live in. Wondering what would have being my personal fate if not for the laptop i am typing with.

Unfortunately enough, the popular saying, "everything that has an advantage also comes with some disadvantages," also applies here. If you are the type that spend at least 3 hours everyday, staring into the Computer screen; i am talking about people like me, my fellow bloggers who spend almost the whole day online, starring at the screen of our computer, if not trying to design  our blog to look good and acceptable, we are typing our next blog post or researching on the next idea for our next article.

On the other hand, another set of individuals that rely daily on computers to get their jobs done easily and accurately, talking about  the bankers, the secretaries in various big offices  and other individuals working in an office that require their eyes to be fixed to the computer's  screen for long.

If you find yourself among  this category of people  i mentioned above, or your lifestyle have being configured in such a way that you  just have to spend so much time on the computer. Just keep on reading because this post is basically for you. If basic care is not taken to checkmate this our present lifestyle, am sorry to say  we  are all strolling down the path to the eye condition called computer vision syndrome.  Stick with me let me tell you how:

Reading from a printed page and reading from a computer screen isn't the same, the eyes will always go for the option to read from a printed page if given the power to do so. This is because viewing from a computer screen makes the eyes to work harder more than the norm. The computer screen was designed in such a way that it will always laden the eye with a high visual demand. Which makes the eye stress out and at the long run develop certain visual related problems called computer vision syndrome.

The symptoms of computer visual syndrome includes:

• Eyestrain


• Headache


• Blurred Vision


• Dry Eyes


• Neck and shoulder pain


• Fatigue


• Vertigo


• Redness in the eye

This symptoms may be caused or aggravated by improper sitting position while working on the computer,  improper lighting conditions, a  bright overhead lighting or the direction of the air moving past the eyes.

What Can I Do About This?

Implementing the various techniques stated below when next you are to work for hours on your computer will make the situation  easier and bearable for your eye. And sticking to it means no computer visual syndrome for!

Poor Lighting Conditions:
The room shouldn't be filled with bright lights, if you are to use a computer at all, try and reduce the rooms illumination to an extent that it wouldn't cause you difficulties when trying to focus on the texts on your computer screen.

Glares on the computer screen:
Position your computer screens to avoid glares coming from either the window or wheresoever. If the glares cannot the avoided try and get an anti glare screen which will filter away glares from light sources.

Poor seating posture:
The height of your chair should be designed in such a way that allows your feet to lie flat on the ground, the chair's arm should be adjusted in such a way where you can rest your arm on it, and your wrist shouldn't rest on the keyboard.

Location Of Computer Screen:
The computer screen should be located 15 to 20 degrees below eye level  when measured from the center of the screen and 20 to 28 inches away from the eyes. Anything less than this will surely create a condition where your eyes will have to work more harder to

Resting Your Eye.
Always use the 20,20,20 method to rest your eyes, let me explain the 20,20,20 method, for every 20 mins , focus the eyes on an object 20 feet (6 meters) away for 20 seconds. This basically gives a convenient distance and timeframe for a person to rest his cilliary muscles. Or, you can just close  your eyes for 20 seconds, at least every half hour you focus uninterrupted on your computer screen.

Blinking Frequently:
To minimize your chances of developing dry eye when using a computer, try to blink  frequently. Because this  keeps the front surface of your eye moist by replacing the liquid on the eyes from time to time.

With regular eye rests during work and proper viewing habits, garnished with regular eye examinations, the chances of suffering from computer visual syndrome is highly reduced.

As usual, your ideas, thoughts and questions are highly encouraged on this post. Feel free to put them down on the comment box below.

Continue Reading