ASTHMA, BRONCHITIS, HEPATITIS 'B', JAUNDICE, MIGRAINE HEADACHE, PARKINSON, ESOPHAGEAL CANCER, CHICKENPOX, MALARIA, TUBERCULOSIS (TB), TYPHOID, TUMOR,

ASTHMA

Asthma is characterized as an inflammation of the bronchial tubes (airways) that causes swelling and narrowing (constriction) of the airways. The result is difficulty breathing. The bronchial narrowing is usually either totally or at least partially reversible with treatments. During asthma attacks (exacerbations of asthma), the smooth muscle cells in the bronchi constrict, the airways become inflamed and swollen, and breathing becomes difficult.

Asthmatics produce an excess of thick mucus in their bronchial tubes, which are also often very sensitive to external triggers (such as dry air and cigarette smoke). These external triggers can cause the airways to constrict and the bronchial muscles to tighten, rendering difficulty in breathing. This is called an "asthma attack," and it can be quite serious—if the internal organs don't get enough oxygen, an asthma attack can be fatal. Asthma affects 7% of the population of the United States, 6.5% of British people and a total of 300 million worldwide.

Bronchial tubes that are chronically inflamed may become overly sensitive to allergens (specific triggers) or irritants (nonspecific triggers). The airways may become "twitchy" and remain in a state of heightened sensitivity. This is called "bronchial hyperactivity" (BHR). It is likely that there is a spectrum of bronchial hyper reactivity in all individuals. However, it is clear that asthmatics and allergic individuals (without apparent asthma) have a greater degree of bronchial hyperactivity than no asthmatic and no allergic people. In sensitive individuals, the bronchial tubes are more likely to swell and constrict when exposed to triggers such as allergens, tobacco smoke, or exercise. Amongst asthmatics, some may have mild BHR and no symptoms while others may have severe BHR and chronic symptoms.

BRONCHITIS

Bronchitis is an inflammation of the air passages within the lungs. It occurs when the trachea (windpipe) and the large and small bronchi (airways) within the lungs become inflamed because of infection or other causes. Air is pulled into the lungs when we breathe, initially passing through the mouth, nose, and larynx (voicebox) into the trachea and continues en route to each lung via either the right or left bronchi (the bronchial tree - bronchi, bronchioles, and alveoli). Bronchi are formed as the lower part of the trachea divides into two tubes that lead to the lungs. As the bronchi get farther away from the trachea, each bronchial tube divides and gets smaller (resembling an inverted tree) to provide the air to lung tissue so that it can transfer oxygen to the blood stream and remove carbon dioxide (the waste product of metabolism).

Bronchitis causes inflammation of the bronchial tubes. The inflammation causes swelling of the lining of these breathing tubes, narrowing the tubes and promoting secretion of inflammatory fluid.

• The thin mucous lining of these airways can become irritated and swollen.
• The cells that make up this lining may leak fluids in response to the inflammation.
• Coughing is a reflex that works to clear secretions from the lungs. Often the discomfort of a severe cough leads you to seek medical treatment.
• Both adults and children can get bronchitis. Symptoms are similar for both.

Infants usually get bronchiolitis, which involves the smaller airways and causes symptoms similar to asthma.

HEPATITIS 'B' 

Hepatitis B as a term refers to an infectious illness caused by HBV (Hepatitis B) virus affecting the liver, which causes inflammation of liver called as Hepatitis. The acute illness causes liver inflammation, vomiting, jaundice and—rarely—death. Chronic hepatitis B may eventually cause liver cirrhosis and liver cancer—a fatal disease with very poor response to current chemotherapy.

Hepatitis B can be classified into two phases1. Acute Hepatitis
2. Chronic Hepatitis

Acute Hepatitis: It refers to newly acquired infections. In most people with acute hepatitis, symptoms resolve over weeks to months and they are cured of the infection. However, a small number of people develop a very severe, life-threatening form of acute hepatitis called fulminant hepatitis.

Chronic Hepatitis:It refers to hepatitis infection lasting more than 6 months. The liver is an important organ that filters toxins out of the blood, stores energy for later use, helps with digestion, and makes substances that fight infections and control bleeding.

JAUNDICE

Jaundice is not a disease but rather a sign that can occur in many different diseases. It is a yellow discoloration of the skin, mucous membranes, and the whites of the eyes caused by increased amounts of bilirubin in the blood. Jaundice is a sign of an underlying disease process. Bilirubin is a by-product of the daily natural breakdown and destruction of red blood cells in the body. Normally, the liver metabolizes and excretes the bilirubin in the form of bile. However, if there is a disruption in this normal metabolism and/or production of bilirubin it causes hyperbilirubinemia subsequently causes increased levels of bilirubin in the extracellular fluids causing jaundice.

What is neonatal jaundice (jaundice in newborn babies)?

Neonatal jaundice is jaundice that begins within the first few days after birth (Jaundice that is present at the time of birth suggests a more serious cause of the jaundice) it is usually harmless In fact, bilirubin levels in the blood become elevated in almost all infants during the first few days following birth, and jaundice occurs in more than half this condition is often seen in infants around the second day after birth, lasting until day 8 in normal births, or to around day 14 in premature births. For all but a few infants, the elevation and jaundice represents a normal physiological phenomenon and does not cause problems.

Serum bilirubin normally drops to a low level without any intervention required: the jaundice is presumably a consequence of metabolic and physiological adjustments after birth. When an infant is born, the infant's body begins to rapidly destroy the red blood cells containing the fetal-type hemoglobin and replaces them with red blood cells containing the adult-type hemoglobin. This floods the liver with bilirubin derived from the fetal hemoglobin from the destroyed red blood cells. The liver in a newborn infant is not mature, and its ability to process and eliminate bilirubin is limited. As a result of both the influx of large amounts of bilirubin and the immaturity of the liver, bilirubin accumulates in the blood. Within two or three weeks, the destruction of red blood cells ends, the liver matures, and the bilirubin levels return to normal.

MIGRAINE HEADACHE

Migraine is a neurological syndrome characterized by altered bodily perceptions, severe headaches, and nausea. Physiologically, the migraine headache is a neurological condition more common to women than to men. The typical migraine headache is unilateral (affecting one half of the head) and pulsating, lasting from 4 to 72 hours; symptoms include nausea, vomiting, photophobia (increased sensitivity to light), and photophobia (increased sensitivity to sound). Approximately one-third of people who suffer migraine headache perceive an aura - unusual visual, olfactory, or other sensory experiences that are a sign that the migraine will soon occur. There are migraine headache variants, some originate in the brainstem (featuring intercellular transport dysfunction of calcium and potassium ions) and some are genetically disposed. Studies of twins indicate a 60 to 65 percent genetic influence upon their propensity to develop migraine headache. Moreover, fluctuating hormone levels indicate a migraine relation: 75 percent of adult patients are women, although migraine affects approximately equal numbers of prepubescent boys and girls; propensity to migraine headache is known to disappear during pregnancy, although in some women migraines may become more frequent during pregnancy.

PARKINSONS

Peptic ulcers can be said, as areas in the digestive system were the gastric juices and stomach acids destroy the tissue lining.Peptic ulcer disease is a general term for ulcers that occur in the stomach, duodenum (upper part of the small intestine) and esophagus.

An ulcer occurs when the acidic digestive juices, which are secreted by the stomach cells, corrode the lining of these organsusually defined as mucosal erosions equal to or greater than 0.5 cm.

• The mucous membrane lining the digestive tract erodes and causes a gradual breakdown of tissue.
• This breakdown causes a gnawing or burning pain in the upper middle part of the belly (abdomen).
• Although most peptic ulcers are small, they can cause a considerable amount of discomfort.
• Ulcers can occur at any age, although they are rare in children and teenagers.
• Ulcers in upper part of intestine are called as Duodenal Ulcers
• Ulcers in the stomach are called as Gastric Ulcers
• Ulcers in Esophagus are called as Esophageal ulcer
• Meckel'sDiverticulum (called Meckel'sDiverticulum ulcer)
• Duodenal ulcers are more common than Gastric Ulcers
• Duodenal ulcers usually first occur between the ages of 30-50 years and are twice as common in men as in women.

Stomach (or gastric) ulcers usually occur in people older than 60 years and are more common in women.

ESOPHAGEAL CANCER

Esophageal cancer (or oesophageal cancer) is malignancy of the esophagus.

Oesophagus Esophagus is the part of digestive tract through which food moves from the mouth to the stomach.The esophagus is a muscular tube it is about 8-10 inches long.

Cancer:Normal cells grow and divide to form new cells, as the body needs them. When normal cells grow old or get damaged, they die, and new cells take their place. Cancer occurs when normal cells undergo a transformation in which they grow and multiply without normal controls forming malignant (cancerous), tumor (growth) that consists of cells from the oesophagus.

Cancer cells can spread deeper in to the same or neighboring organs by breaking away from the tumour, through blood and lymph supply. These cells can attach themselves to different tissues and form new tumors. This process is known as Metastasis. Growths in the wall of the esophagus can be benign (not cancer) or malignant (cancer). Benign growths are not as harmful as malignant growths There are two main types of oesophageal cancer:

1. Squamous Cell Carcinoma: It occurs from the flat cells lining the oesophagus

2. Adenocarcinoma: It occurs from the oesophageal glands. In nearly 80-85% percent of the cases the tumour is present in middle and the lower One third of the oesophagus. The cardinal symptom of oesophageal cancer is dysphagia (difficulty in swallowing).

CHICKENPOX 

Chickenpox (or 'chicken pox') is a highly contagious illness caused by primary infection with varicella zoster virus (VZV).It usually starts with vesicular skin rash mainly on the body and head rather than at the periphery and becomes itchy, raw pockmarks, which mostly heal without scarring. On examination, the observer typically finds lesions at various stages of healing.

Chickenpox is an airborne disease spread easily through coughing or sneezing of ill individuals or through direct contact with secretions from the rash. A person with chickenpox is infectious one to two days before the rash appears. They remain contagious until all lesions have crusted over (this takes approximately six days). Immunocompromised patients are contagious during the entire period as new lesions keep appearing. Crusted lesions are not contagious.

MALARIA

Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by protists (a type of microorganism) of the genus Plasmodium. The protists first infect the liver, then act as parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases progressing to coma or death. The disease is widespread in tropical and subtropical regions in a broad band around the equator, including much of Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and the Americas.

 

Five species of Plasmodium can infect and be transmitted by humans. The vast majority of deaths are caused by P. falciparum while P. vivax, P. ovale, and P. malariae cause a generally milder form of malaria that is rarely fatal. The zoonotic species P. knowlesi, prevalent in Southeast Asia, causes malaria in macaques but can also cause severe infections in humans. Malaria is prevalent in tropical regions because the significant amounts of rainfall, consistently high temperatures and high humidity, along with stagnant waters in which mosquito larvae readily mature, provide them with the environment they need for continuous breeding. Disease transmission can be reduced by preventing mosquito bites by distribution of mosquito nets and insect repellents, or with mosquito-control measures such as spraying insecticides and draining standing water.

TUBERCULOSIS

Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB (short for tubercle bacillus) is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis typically attacks the lungs, but can also affect other parts of the body. It is spread through the air when people who have an active TB infection cough, sneeze, or otherwise transmit their saliva through the air. Most infections are asymptomatic and latent, but about one in ten latent infections eventually progresses to active disease which, if left untreated, kills more than 50% of those so infected.

The classic symptoms of active TB infection are a chronic cough with blood-tinged sputum, fever, night sweats, and weight loss (the latter giving rise to the formerly prevalent term "consumption"). Infection of other organs causes a wide range of symptoms. Diagnosis of active TB relies on radiology (commonly chest X-rays), as well as microscopic examination and microbiological culture of body fluids. Diagnosis of latent TB relies on the tuberculin skin test (TST) and/or blood tests. Treatment is difficult and requires administration of multiple antibiotics over a long period of time. Social contacts are also screened and treated if necessary. Antibiotic resistance is a growing problem in multiple drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) infections. Prevention relies on screening programs and vaccination with the bacillus Calmette–Guérin vaccine.

TYPHOID

Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a common worldwide bacterial disease, transmitted by the ingestion of food or water contaminated with the feces of an infected person, which contain the bacterium Salmonella typhi, serotype Typhi.

The disease has received various names, such as gastric fever, abdominal typhus, infantile remittant fever, slow fever, nervous fever or pythogenic fever. The name "typhoid" means "resembling typhus" and comes from the neuropsychiatric symptoms common to typhoid and typhus. Despite this similarity of their names, typhoid fever and typhus are distinct diseases and are caused by different species of bacteria. The impact of this disease fell sharply with the application of modern sanitation techniques.

TUMOR

A tumor (or tumour) is commonly used as a synonym for a neoplasm (a solid or fluid-filled [cystic] lesion that may or may not be formed by an abnormal growth of neoplastic cells) that appears enlarged in size. Tumor is not synonymous with cancer. While cancer is by definition malignant, a tumor can be benign, pre-malignant, or malignant, or can represent a lesion without any cancerous potential whatsoever.

The terms "mass" and "nodule" are often used synonymously with "tumor". Generally speaking, however, the term "tumor" is used generically, without reference to the physical size of the lesion. More specifically, the term "mass" is often used when the lesion has a maximal diameter of at least 20 millimeters (mm) in greatest direction, while the term "nodule" is usually used when the size of the lesion is less than 20 mm in its greatest dimension (25.4 mm = 1 inch).