Tag Archives: America

02.02.17
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Heart Disease

Hi Everyone! Sorry about the delay in getting this post out – since June, I have started graduate school at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in Newark NJ. Last semester was extremely busy, but now that I am in the swing of things, I will be focusing my efforts back on Disease Detective! Going forward, I will be making relevant posts on prevalent diseases. Enjoy!

heart-disease-heart-mesh

For my first post getting back into Disease Detective, I have decided to write about Heart Disease. February is American Heart Month, and with Valentine’s Day right around the corner, I figured this topic would be fitting. Below, I have some of the major facts and figures about Heart Disease.

  • Heart Disease is not actually a single disease. The term “Heart Disease” is used to described several different types of heart conditions, including:
    • Atherosclerosis (narrowed, stiffening blood vessels)
    • Heart Failure
    • Heart Attack
    • Arrhythmia (many different types)
    • Congenital Heart Defects
    • Various Heart Valve Conditions
  • Heart Disease is currently the leading cause of death for adults in the United States, with over 600,000 individuals dying each year (as of 2014). One American dies every minute from a condition classified under heart disease.
    • Coronary heart disease alone kills over 365,000 Americans every year
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Heart Disease Death Rates in the USA, by County (www.cdc.gov)

  • Since heart disease consists of many different conditions, there is no single set of symptoms to look for. In addition, men and women can experience different symptoms for many of the same conditions. In general, the following symptoms could be signs of an underlying heart condition caused by a atherosclerotic disease,
  • While it used to be considered a fatal diagnosis, Heart Disease is no longer a death sentence – many treatments exist to help patients manage their specific condition and overall health so they can continue to live long lives
  • In many cases, heart disease can be treated non-invasively through the use of medications and lifestyle changes. Adopting a healthy diet, exercising regularly, and taking any prescription medications your doctor prescribes will help control your condition and improve your health. In some cases however, surgery may need to be performed to correct the condition before it becomes fatal.

 

For more information on Heart Disease, please visit:

American Heart Association

Mayo Clinic Heart Disease Information

CDC Heart Disease

 

02.11.16
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Zika Virus – An Overview

When you turn on your TV or open a news app on your phone, you are surrounded by talks about the Zika Virus. While the news focuses on Zika Virus as it is spreading through the Americas, little is being reported on its history in the world. Earlier this week, an article written by Jon Cohen was published in Science that briefly traces the history of Zika virus from when it was first discovered to the present day. Below, I will present an overview of some of the main historical facts presented in the article to set the stage for more posts about Zika in the weeks ahead…

  • The first reports of Zika Virus occurred in April of 1947 from a group of scientists studying yellow fever in the Zika Forest in Uganda. These scientists observed a rhesus monkey with an abnormal fever. At the time, they were unsure what the virus was. The virus was isolated and injected into mice to check for the possibility of transmission.
  • A few months later, the same scientists discovered the same virus infecting the Aedes africanus Again, this virus was checked for transmission and it matched the virus isolated from the rhesus monkey. The scientists named it Zika Virus, after the Zika Forest that it was discovered in.
  • One of the first scientists to examine Zika Virus’ mechanism of transmission was William Bearcroft. Bearcroft injected himself with isolated Zika Virus and waited until he had symptoms of the disease – headaches and a slight fever. Once he noticed symptoms, Bearcroft allowed female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes to bite his left arm. He took these mosquitoes to healthy mice, allowed them to bite the mice, and later observed the symptoms of Zika in the mice. This simple experiment confirmed that Zika Virus is transmitted by mosquitoes to humans and other organisms.
  • Since these initial discoveries, Zika has not been extensively studied, as other, more pressing and emergent diseases came to light
  • The latest outbreak, currently occurring, is the largest recorded Zika outbreak. Due to the greater number of infected individuals, scientists will be able to study the virus more accurately and in greater detail.

In today’s outbreak, many news articles are detailing the correlation of Zika Virus and increased rates of microcephaly (abnormally small heads) in newborns in countries such as Brazil. While this at first sounds terrifying, it is important to realize that there is no proven link between the two observations, and it is currently only a possibility. The CDC has published a study detailing how there may be an association between Zika Virus and Microcephaly, but cautioned that prior to the Zika Virus fear, newborn head sizes were not recorded as accurately in many regions of Brazil, meaning that cases of microcephaly prior to Zika’s appearance could have slipped past the statistics. Currently, only 270 cases of suspected microcephaly have been confirmed, from the initial, newly identified 4,180 cases. Of these 270 newborns, only six were found to have the Zika Virus inside of them. It is important for this message to get out to the general public so fear and panic does not set in. While we do not know much about Zika Virus yet, it is important for the scientific community, the news media, and the general public to hold out on passing judgement until claims are proven.

For more information, visit:

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/02/zika-s-long-strange-trip-limelight?utm_campaign=email-news-latest&et_rid=17103660&et_cid=263974

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/65/wr/mm6503e2.htm

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2016-01-brazil-microcephaly-cases.html