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Infectious diseases (Click to select text)
Infectious Diseases (STDS) STDS are an ever-increasing problem throughout the world, which threaten everyone who potentially comes in contact with them. They are able to wipe out entire nations or simply limit ones ability to function in a normal manner within a society. There are no limits to the ethnic background, cultural beliefs, age, sex, financial status, or social status that these diseases will oblige by. They know no bounds, seeking out there potential victims silently and unseen. These are the silent killers in the world today, having killed more people on a global scale than any war can measure up too. These diseases are relentless in their efforts for perfection, adapting, and becoming resistant to new antibiotics, antiviral medications, and new forms of treatment. They are able to mutate, split, divide, and create perfect clones of themselves at alarming rates. The efficiency that these diseases carry is also alarming. They are able to lie dormant for years before attacking their next victim. It is for this reason that the number of cases increases on a yearly basis. This is why individuals should take further precautions in preventing these diseases as well as preventing the spread of them on a global scale. Many people in today's society must take a more serious look at the implications that an infectious disease can have on one's life. What are STDS? Sexually transmitted diseases (STDS), also known as venereal diseases, is a broad term that refers to more than fifty diseases and syndromes, which may be transmitted through the exchange of body fluids such as semen, vaginal fluid, and blood. An STD is a particular destructive process in an organism; which is likely to spread to others. These diseases can be spread in either the form of a germ or a virus and are able to spread in any number of ways. Though most are spread through the act of sexual contact such as intercourse, oral sex and by touching your partner's genitals, they may also be acquired through airborn particles as well as general contact from hugging or brushing up with other individuals. Most infectious diseases attack the body through the bloodstream, slowly breaking down vital organs as well as the immune system. This process occurs when the disease creates enzymes, which the body is not able too naturally fight off. STDS can be very serious and painful and may have long term health consequences including sterility, chronic infection, scarring of a woman's fallopian tubes, cancer, and even death. These diseases affect men and women of all backgrounds and economic levels. A conservative estimate predicts that STDS will affect one in four sexually active Americans and Canadians at some time during their life. Nearly 65% of all STD's occur in people younger than twenty-five years of age and this percentage is predicted to steadily rise in the future. How are STDS Spread? Infectious diseases such as Aids, Hepatitis, and Syphilis are believed by many to be spread through sexual contact. While these diseases are spread through sexual contact, it is not unusual for many to believe that this is the only means of acquiring these diseases. Because of these assumptions, many individuals feel that if they are not sexually active, that they are not at risk. The truth is that there are several other means of contracting these diseases; many of which pose a greater threat than that of sexual contact with a partner. Hepatitis B, for example, can be spread through blood, semen, vaginal secretions, and even saliva. It also may be passed by sharing items like toothbrushes, razors and nailfiles. That is because the virus can survive at length on items that come into contact with an infected user. It seems that just about any object can put you in contact with the virus if proper cautions are not taken. Syphilis, while also being spread through sexual contact, has another approach to acquiring a host for itself, which most diseases do not. The spread of this disease has been linked to contaminated food, though most prominently found in milk. Although it is not exactly known how the disease has contaminated these items, there are strong speculations. Among these, is that people are purposely infecting these items, or there is a natural occurrence in the environment which is spreading the disease throughout certain items. AIDS too, is prominently spread through sexual contact, but does not possess less discrete means of infecting others as Hepatitis and Syphilis do. Because all three diseases are spread through the contact of body fluids it is also important to be cautious of other means of infection. These include sharing needles and syringes with others or from tattoos or body piercing with unsterillized needles. They may also be transmitted at the time of birth and during breast-feeding of a mother's newborn child. Hepatitis B Hepatitis B, or HB, is a disease that attacks the liver. Like Aids, it is caused by a virus that can be spread from one person to another. Yet, it is 100 times more infectious and 200 times more common that Aids. Following acute infection with the Hepatitis B virus (HBV), the symptoms may vary from person to person. For some people, this phase has no symptoms. In others, it results in serious and sometimes life-threatening symptoms. The acute phase causes symptoms such as weakness, fatigue, fever and vomiting. It may also cause jaundice, a yellowing of the skin and the whites of the eyes. Although it is usually not fatal, victims of acute HB may require hospitalization, followed by weeks or months of recuperation before being able to return to normal life. Though most adults will recover after having the illness for up to three months, 10% of those infected will not rid themselves of the disease. It is these individuals, who do not rid themselves of the disease within six months, who are then classified as a chronic carrier of the disease. Chronic HB is much different than that of the acute phase, as well as a much more dangerous situation to be in. While adults only pose as a 10% risk of acquiring Chronic HB, children pose a much higher rate, sometimes up to 90%. Victims of Chronic Hepatitis B may carry on a normal life for years, and never know that they are carriers of the disease. It is then years later that the symptoms of the disease appear, often after doing much damage to the liver. It is through these means that Chronic HB can lead to death through cirrhosis or cancer of the liver. What adds to the growing public concern is that a Chronic HB carrier does not show symptoms and may easily pass along the disease without any knowledge of doing so. HIV and Aids HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus. It is the organism that leads to the condition called AIDS. It does this by attacking and damaging the body's immune and nervous systems. The nervous system controls our movements, including the beating of our hearts and the pumping of our lungs, and the immune system fights off infections and diseases. Once someone becomes infected with HIV, the virus slowly destroys the immune system so the body cannot fight off even mild problems and the person is likely to get many different diseases. When the virus progresses to the point where the infected person is very sick, we call this Aids. The name Aids---Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome---can be interpreted as follows: "acquired" because its victims did not inherit the disease, "immune deficiency" because the common denominator is the breakdown of a patient's immune system, and "syndrome" to indicate the group of rare but often devastating diseases taking advantage of the body's collapsed defense system. These disorders often include an extremely rare form of skin, a lethal form of pneumonia, and other life-threatening infections. These may include multiple viral infections and severe fungal infections. Aids can also affect many people in very different way. The reason for this lies with the fact that the virus can be considered an opportunistic infection. That is, it will primarily prey on people whose immune systems have already been severely compromised or damaged, leaving them more exposed to the effects of the disease than someone with a strong immune system. It is because of this that it may take someone only six months to acquire Aids while others may not acquire the disease for numerous years. Syphilis Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease caused by bacterial spirochete. It is easily treated, but can have serious complications if not treated early after infection. Syphilis occurs in three stages, however, a person is only infectious during the first and second stage. The first stage (shows as a hard), usually painless, sore on the genitals, mouth, or any other point of sexual contact. This sore usually appears three to four weeks after infection, but can appear any time between the initial contact and ninety days after acquiring the disease. It normally heals completely within four weeks. Even though the symptoms disappear without treatment, the person is still able to pass the disease on to others. During the second stage there may be a red skin rash, loss of hair, fever, lumps on the genitals or general tiredness. These symptoms may appear two to four months after a person's initial infection and last for several weeks. If not treated, they often come back at spontaneous intervals with no warning. The rashes that one may experience during this stage may cover the entire body. As well as being painful, these rashes are also extremely contagious to those who come in direct contact with the infected carrier. The third stage for people who have not been treated occurs in about one-third of the people with the disease. Symptoms may show up as severe complications in the brain or heart. Cures for STDS STDS include bacterial and viral organisms and parasites. Bacterial STD's, such as gonorrhea, chlamydia, and Syphilis, are relatively easy to cure with antibiotics if diagnosed early. Viral STDS such as genital herpes, genital warts and HIV/AIDS cannot be cured, however, symptoms can be relieved. Others, such as Hepatitis B cannot be cured once received, however, the disease can be prevented totally if certain precautions are taken with your local doctor. To treat syphilis for example, a single injection of long-acting penicillin that persists in the blood for two-three weeks is the best treatment. Some doctors however suggest daily injections for this period. They feel that a more streamlined dose at a consistent rate in the bloodstream is a more effective means of curing the disease. Some people will encounter mild fevers, headaches, following treatment. This is rarely serious for most patients undergoing treatment. For hepatitis B, there is no effective treatment that provides a cure for acute infection but it can be prevented. Prevention involves immunization with hepatitis B vaccine. This process involves receiving three shots over a six-month period. Since this vaccine contains only the protein coat from the virus, not killed or inactive virus, it is considered to be one of the safest vaccines available. The most common side effects are pain and swelling at the site of the injection. Other side effects, which are less common, may include fever, fatigue, headaches, nausea, and sore muscles and joints, which may last for several days. AIDS, possibly the most feared and well-known disease, is probably the most difficult and painstaking one to treat. At the present time, there are eleven HIV antiviral medications available for those suffering from the disease. These antiviral medications are divided into "nuke", "non-nuke" and "protease inhibitors". These drugs attack the virus at two different places in its lifecycle. The nuke and non-nuke drugs slow down the HIV by interfering with its ability to teach your cells how to make more HIV. Though the old nuke medications only suppressed HIV by 70%, the new nukes are able to suppress the disease by as much as 99%. The protease inhibitors work by preventing the HIV from ever entering your cells, almost stopping the disease from progressing any further. This means of treatment is also very effective, slowing the virus down by 99%. Side effects vary from drug to drug, as there are many variations available for patients. Some common side effects do however include nausea, headaches, kidney damage, exhaustion and in rare cases, serious allergic reactions. Alternatives and Solutions Infectious diseases are an ever increasing problem throughout Canada and the World. The biggest problem facing the majority of the Worlds population, though, is the reluctance to educate oneself properly about these diseases in general. Whether this is due to the individual lack of motivation to take precautions or the Governments lack of money to help educate depends entirely on the country. Many people in developed countries, if not all, are aware of sexually transmitted diseases in one way or another, and know that there are ways to protect one's self. In lesser-developed countries though, people are aware that there is a problem but simply do not know how to protect themselves from it. It is this lack of Government support in 3rd World countries that is driving the World numbers up for the total number of people infected. This lack of support is primarily due to a lack of Government funds to increase public awareness and to offer the people simple protective measures such as condoms. It is now estimated that for AIDS alone, 80% of all world wide infected carriers reside in Africa. It is not only on a national scale, however, in which certain regions or age groups are more predominantly effected more so than others. In Canada, for example, the percentage of individuals who have been diagnosed with Syphilis in Saskatchewan is twice that of Ontario. While this may be alarming, what is even more alarming is the age group of Canadians effected by AIDS. While most are compelled to believe that people in the age groups of nine-teen through twenty-nine hold the highest number of reported cases, it is actually the age group between thirty through thirty-nine. In fact the number of reported cases in the age group between thirty to thirty-nine is twice that of the three age groups that lie between the ages of nine-teen to twenty-nine. The reason for this drastic decrease in reported cases for younger individual lies with the changing trends experienced over the last decade. The trend has been to teach and inform the younger population about the associated risks involved in many sexually related activities. This has evidently made the younger people of today more aware of the dangers and statistics show that the increased awareness has been declining the overall number of reported cases in developed countries. It is this type of trend that we must continue to implement worldwide if we wish to control the spread of these diseases. If we do not continue our efforts, or if we abandon them all together, we are almost certain to wipe out our own species. It is foreseeable that these diseases do have the capability to wipe across the globe as though the plague had returned. It is everyone's responsibility to oversee that an occurrence such as this never occurs. If we do not, it could end civilization, as we know it. While we are not 100% sure that we are able to do so, we must at least try. Or maybe we should not even worry about it, as it may be natures way of controlling the overpopulation problem, much as it does every seven years to control the rabbit population from manifesting into unheard of numbers.
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