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Studies Show Preventive Treatment May Help Reduce HIV Spread
There are two new studies that suggest giving anti-retroviral drugs to heterosexuals that are at high risk of contracting HIV may significantly reduce the chance that it will develop into full-blown AIDS. Giving heterosexuals the anti-retroviral drugs while their immune system is still healthy reduced the risk of getting HIV from their infected partners by [...]
Understanding Shingles
Shingles is a painful skin condition that can be caused by viral infection. It appears as a rash, most often a band of blisters that can cover one side of the body although it may appear anywhere. Shingles is also known as herpes zoster or simply zoster. It may not be a life-threatening condition but can turn out quite painful.Shingles CausesShingles is caused by the varicella zoster virus, the same virus that causes chickenpox. After recovering from chickenpox, the virus may remain inactive for…
Why Adults Should Be Concerned About Chickenpox
Perhaps due to their concern for their children’s health, adults neglect to take necessary preventive measures to avoid getting sick. But the thing is, a lot of diseases manifest more severely in adults than in children. Take chickenpox for instance. Adults come down with the disease often have more persistent and annoying symptoms than children do. And even though chickenpox complications are rare, they have a higher incidence rate in adults. Some of these complications include pneumonia (one i…
One Virus Particle Enough to Cause Infection
A study has shown that an exposure to even a single virus particle would be enough to theoretically cause an infection or disease. There was no previous proof to support this until the researchers from Wageningen University and Simon Fraser University in Canada conducted an experimental study with insect larvae. The team of researchers conducted the study by trying to expose two marked variants of a certain virus to a population of hosts, which were caterpillars. A virus population is generally …
Understanding Hepatitis B
Hepatitis B is a viral infection that causes the inflammation of the liver. It is caused by the hepatitis B virus or HBV. It can be a serious condition in some people that may lead to liver failure, cirrhosis or liver cancer. Causes of hepatitis BHepatitis B is caused by the hepatitis B virus, also known as HBV. They can either be an acute or chronic infection. An acute hepatitis B infection lasts less than six months with the body’s immune system able to clear the virus out. Chronic hepatitis B…
World’s Most Mysterious Diseases
The world’s most mysterious diseases may not be as uncommon as you think. In fact, there are some common diseases today that still puzzle a lot of medical experts, adding to the mystery of such conditions. Here are some of them. AIDSAcquired immune deficiency syndrome is a relatively common disease affecting a growing number of humans year after year. It is actually a set of symptoms and infections resulting from a damaged immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus or HIV. What mak…
Understanding Pertussis
There are between 30 to 50 million cases of pertussis or whooping cough worldwide, causing around 300,000 deaths every year. This makes the disease as one of the leading causes of vaccine-preventable deaths in the world. According to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were almost 26,000 cases of pertussis reported in the country in 2004. 90% of all pertussis cases occur in the underdeveloped and developing world. DefinitionPertussis is an acute and highly contagi…
Understanding Candidiasis
Candidiasis is defined as a fungal infection caused by the fungi Candida. These fungi live on all surfaces of our bodies. When these fungi increase in number, they tend to cause infections, particularly in warm and moist areas. Types of candidiasis include:Thrush – candida infections of the mouth affects moist surfaces around the lips, inside the cheeks, and on the tongue and palateEsophagitis – candida infections of the mouth can spread to the esophagus, causing esophagitis.Cutaneous candidiasi…
Research Finds AIDS Virus Origin to 100 Years Ago
A research team has come up with a suggestion that the HIV pandemic may have started 100 years ago, between 1884 and 1924, over 30 years before previous estimate. An international team of scientists has reached this claim after investigating African human tissue samples preserved for nearly 50 years. The finding was published in the October 2 issue of the journal Nature.The research team was lead by Dr. Michael Worobey, an assistant professor of ecology and evolution biology at the University of…
Understanding Aspergillosis
Aspergillosis is an allergic reaction that primarily affects your lungs or sinuses, however, it can also affect the rest of the human body. Susceptibility to this infection is dependent not on age, but on the ability of your immune system to ward off the infectious fungi called the Aspergillus fungi. This fungus thrives on plant debris and rotting vegetation, but it can also be found in air conditioning systems and the likes.Symptoms of aspergillosisAn Aspergillus fungal infection is relatively …
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