Malaria Causes and its Stages

How malaria disease occur?

The presence of a  parasite called as plasmodium is the main cause for the creation of the disease Malaria in the blood. When an infected mosquito bites a person, this parasite gets transferred to the blood stream. The results could be either moderate or life-threatening at the same time complicated or uncomplicated. Malaria just about is the reason for about 1.5 to 2.7 million deaths resulting from up to 300 to 500 million reported cases of infection every year. It is a overwhelming fact that in specific places up to 40% of little children may die of penetrative malaria.

Symptoms of Malaria Disease

Malaria symptoms make it simple to find out the infection. A malarial attack usually contains of three stages, the cold stage, the hot stage and the sweating stage.

1. Cold Stage:
In this stage, regardless of the nomal body condition, the infected person goes through a stage of terrible coolness. As a result, the person requests for a blanket or any other material that he could cover himself up in until his shivering stops. consequently, there is severe headache and the skin will also turn cold.

2. Hot Phase:
In this stage, the person starts to feel hot and starts to put aside all the material that he used for covering himself up while feeling cold. This takes place as a result of consequent high fever. This is considered very dangerous in children as it could to serious contractions.

3. Sweating Phase:
As the fever sets to reduce, there is profuse sweating taking place. The level of sweating can be as serious as that the bed may even get soaked at times. You will be wanting to rest and sleep a lot more as you will be feeling very weak.

Malarial attacks may happen once in every 48 hours to 72 hours. The time between each malarial attack varies as the disease caused are by different parasites.

The above-quoted stages or levels are some of the early symptoms of malaria. Another imperative point to be taken into note is the fact that a person who has been infected by malaria before for a prolonged time is almost immune to the disease. However, the same cannot be said about a person who is non-immune. The person will easily fall victim and knuckle under easily to the disease.

Jaundice Disease Diagnosis and Treatment

Jaundice disease is generally differentiated by the yellow coloration of the skin and the whites of the eyes. This is caused by the increase or gathering of a waste product known as bilirubin in the blood. Jaundice is considered not only as an ailment but, but also as a path to many other related diseases. The yellowish coloring of the skin and the sclera may vary based on the amount of the chemical in the blood. At some situation, if the chemical level is too high, the color of the skin will become brown and not yellow.

Reasons of Jaundice and Symptoms:

Jaundice is caused by high levels of bilirubin in the blood. It is vital that we understand the basic jaundice symptoms and the main factor as to how this material is being despatched into our blood stream. Bilirubin mainly gets along the blood stream with the assistance of the red blood cells. These cells will naturally get botched as they become old. As the blood cells play the role of a mode for haemoglobin, an iron content which carries oxygen to the blood, is then liberated from the spoiled cells. Bilirubin is then formed as a result of the removal of iron.

Jaundice symptoms can also be seen in the liver too. It plays a very imperative role in developing jaundice. The main function of the liver is the removal of waste products from the blood stream. As discussed earlier, bilirubin is a waste product of red blood cells. Similarly, if the functioning of the liver is jeopardized by this bilirubin, jaundice can result. Likewise, the liver must be eradicating bilirubin from the blood stream and excrete it through the faeces. Whenever there is too much of waste products for the liver to remove or when the red blood cells get affected, jaundice occurs. Finally, hindrance in the bile ducts can curtail the flow of bile and bilirubin to decrease.

Some other symptoms of jaundice include itching, which at times can be intense, abdominal pain, loss of appetite, abdominal swelling, as well as by nausea, vomiting, headache, fever, dark-colored urine and light-colored stools.

Jaundice in newborns is very common these days. The yellowing of skin and other tissues of an infant child is known as neonatal jaundice. Appearance of bilirubin level in infants is 85umol/l (5mg/dL). Similarly, jaundice in adults has been usual for a quite long time. In adults , the bilirubin level is nearly 34umol/l (2mg/dL). Jaundice can be detected in newborns is identified by discoloring of the skin with digital pressure so that it exposes the underlying skin and subcutaneous tissue.

Diagnosis and  Treatment of Jaundice to be followed:

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI):

Magnetic resonance imaging scans determines the soft tissues of the abdomen by the employment of magnetization of the body. They are quite comprehensive like CT in the determination of tumors and studying of bile ducts. MRI scans can be altered to locate the bile ducts better than CT scan tests. Thus, they are preferred for determining the cause of bile duct obstruction.

Computerized Tomography (CT or CAT scans):

Computerized Tomography or CT scans are scans that utilize x-rays to analyze the soft tissues of the abdomen. Although they are considered not as effective as ultrasonography in diagnosing gallstones, they do prove efficient in identifying tumors in the liver and the pancreas and dilated bile ducts.

Ultrasonography:

Ultrasonography is an uncomplicated, secure and easily-accessible test which employs sound waves to analyze the organs within the abdomen.

Considering all the above-qouted methods, the treatment of jaundice generally needs a diagnosis of the particular cause of the jaundice and the treatment should be aimed at the particular cause.

Malaria Causes, Signs and Diagnosis

Malaria is a fatal disease that accounts for approximately 1.5 to 2.7 million deaths resulting from 300 to 500 million cases of infection every year. In certain regions, up to 40% of toddlers may die of acute malaria.Malaria is an parasitic infection caused by Plasmodium in the blood stream.

The malarial parasite is transferred through the bite of an infected mosquito. It could be mild or severe, complicated or uncomplicated. The infection has signs that make it identifiable. A typical malarial infection consists of three stages with a certain periodicity.

1. Cold Phase - There is a feeling of being cold, irrespective of actual body temperature. The person needs a blanket or other cover and shivers uncontrollably. The skin may feel cold with a severe headache.

2. Hot Phase - There is a high fever and the patient feels hot and may throw off all the blankets. It is particularly dangerous in children because it could lead to contractions.

3. Sweating Phase - There is profuse sweating as the fever ends, the bed may even be soaked. You feel weak and feel to take rest or sleep.

Common Malaria Symptoms are fever, chills, nausea, headaches, sweats, fatigue and vomiting. But the severity of the signs depends on your body's immunity and your overall health. On extreme occasions, malaria can cause problems with the brain and spinal cord i.e., Cerebral Malaria and lead to seizures, or even cause loss of consciousness. Other common symptoms of malaria are dry cough, muscle pain and enlarged spleen. Malaria Symptoms are cyclic and stay for different lengths of time. This is especially true during the initial stages of the disease.

Cyclical attacks - The exact period between attacks differs for the different species that causes malaria. Thus the attacks may occur at anytime between 48 hours to 72 hours.

The appearance of malaria signs depends on the type of plasmodium species. You will get the early symptoms of malaria in 9 to 14 days if you are infected by Plasmodium falciparum; 12 to 18 days for Plasmodium vivax or Plasmodium ovale; 18 to 40 days for Plasmodium malariae. Among all the malarial infections, the infection caused by P. falciparum is the most fatal.

Diagnosis of Malaria:

Note that humans who have been exposed to malarial paraistes or infections for a long time and are now partially immune may not exhibit all the symptoms of malaria. But a non immune person will succumb very quickly. The diagnosis of malaria is based on a combination of risk assessment, observing symptoms and medical tests.

Laboratory examinations involve the demonstration of the parasite in a film of blood. It could be a thin film in case of identifying the particular type of parasite causing the disease or a thick film if you need more reliability in finding the parasite. Though the medicinal tests are easy to carry out, they may not be available in all locations, Therefore presumptive treatment, which is treatment based on risk assessment is the most practical approach.

Thalassemia Types, Signs and Cure

Thalassemias are  genetic blood disorders that are inherited and are later passed down the family tree.

Thalassemias obstructs the hemoglobin production in the body which indirectly affects the RBCs. Hemoglobin is the iron rich protein that is found in the RBCs. Haemoglobin is essential for the supply of oxygen to the different regions of the body. It also empties out the carbon dioxide, by carrying it to the lungs from where it is exhaled out.


Kinds of Thalassemia disease:

Hemoglobin A, is a composition of 4 protein chains: Two alpha globin chains and two beta globin chains. The defects in these protein chains lead to two major kinds of thalassemia, called alpha and beta.

1. Alpha Thalassemia:

The alpha thalassemia includess the HBA1 and HBA2 genes, which is inherited in a mendelian recessive type. Alpha thalassemias would end up reducing the production of alpha-globin which results in the decrease in the production of alpha-globin chains, thereby resulting in an excess of β chains among adults and excess γ chains among the newborns.

2. Beta thalassemia:

Beta thalassemias are due to mutations in the HBB gene on chromosome 11 that inherited in an autosomal-recessive fashion. The severity depends on the type of the mutation. The mutation is either a Thalassemia major when any formation of beta chains is prevented or the  thalassemia intermedia if the formation of some beta chain is allowed.



Thalassemia symptoms:

The intensity of the symptoms depends on the severity of the disorder. Lack of oxygen prevails due to insufficient hemoglobin and red blood cells content.

Some of the major signs are:

Headaches
Respiratory disorders
Enlargement of spleen
Fatigue
Jaundice


Thalassemia symptoms are classified based on the mutation:


Alpha thalassemia symptoms:

Alpha thalassemia are silent carriers. The symptoms of the disorder are subtle and are hardly noticed. Lack of alpha globin protein doesn’t affect the hemoglobin and its functionalities.


Beta thalassemia symptoms:

1. Victims of beta thalassemia intermedia have a varied mild to moderate anemia symptoms. The disorder has symptoms similar to sickle cell anemia.  Therefore the diagnosis steps are confused while using the symptom checker.

2. Delayed puberty and slow growth: The anemia can affect a child's growth and     development very much and also affects the puberty

3. Bone related problems. Thalassemia may cause expansion of bone marrow. Bone marrow is the spongy filling inside bones that is made up of blood cells. During the expansion of bone marrows, the bones become wider than usual. Chances are that they become brittle and break easily.

4. An enlarged spleen: Spleen is an organ that helps in fighting infection     and removing unwanted material. For a person with thalassemia, the spleen works very hard resulting in an enlargement spleen thus worsening anemia. Spleen has to be removed when it becomes too large.


Thalassemia Treatment:

Blood transfusion therapy, one of the ways to treat thalassemia major involves blood examination for diagnosis. Splenectomy, iron chelation (as thalassemia minor causes iron deficiency), and allogeneic hematopoietic transplantation therapy is practiced to treat the patients with thalassemia major. Whereas, patients suffering from minor thalassemia have no specific treatments. Folic acid is used to treat certain pregnancy related problems caused by anemia.

Stomach Ulcer Symptoms, Diagnosis and Treatment

Stomach ulcer also called as Peptic ulcer or ulcus pepticum or Peptic Ulcer Disease (PUD) is an ulcer that is a mucosal erosion that is greater than or equal to 0.5 cm at an acidic region of gastrointestinal. The stomach ulcers and about 90 percent of other ulcers are caused by Helicobacter pylori. It is spiral-shaped bacterium which lives in the acidic environment of stomach.


Categorization of stomach ulcer:

Stomach ulcer classification depends on the part where the ulcers occur. Ulcers that occur at stomach refers to gastric ulcers and those that occur at Duodenum are called duodenal ulcers. Similarly those occurring at the Oesophagus are called Oesophageal ulcers and the last of its kind, Meckel's Diverticulum ulcers are the ones that form in the Meckel's Diverticulum.

These extremely painful ulcers mostly arise in the duodenum rather than in the stomach. The duodenal ulcers are mostlyusually benign.


Ulcer diet:

It is advisable for the ulcer patients to follow a diet that helps in digestion, doesn't cause irritation and is less in acid content. Some of them include breads, antacids, avoiding caffeine containing foods. Having a good source of protein at each meal and snacks includes also forms a healthy diet.


It is better to avoid Aspirin and other NSAIDs (Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory) drugs as they can cause or can aggravate the ulcer. NSAIDs or NAIDs are drugs which have analgesic and antipyretic effects. 


Peptic ulcer symptoms:

The primary stomach ulcer symptom that generally occurs is the abdominal pain. The pain is usually the burning or gnawing sensation which extends to the back. The pain is experienced mostly after eating.

Other stomach ulcer symptoms that usually arises are a typical heartburn, a bitter taste in mouth, a sick feeling.

Bloating, abdominal fullness, nausea and copious vomiting are some of the other stomach ulcer symptoms which arises at the stomach region. Severe cases would experience:

Hematemesis: This is a condition of vomitting blood. It can occur as a result of bleeding that arises directly from a gastric ulcer or arises because of damage of the esophagus from continuing vomiting.

Some stomach ulcers are like the gas symptoms that arises as a result of tightness of bowel along with the stomach ulcer. The gas symptoms of blurbing and farting is experienced and accompanied by melena, a symptom where the feces becomes tarry and foul smelling.


Diagnosis of Stomach ulcer:

The diagnostic examinations of peptic ulcer are:

Breath test: This involves a procedure that requires a radioactive carbon atom to detect Heliobacter. pylori.

Blood     test: Confirmation of presence of Heliobacter.     pylori antibodies requires a blood test. The inability to differentiate past exposure and current infection is the only possible flaw in diagnosis via blood test.

Stool     antigen test: Presence of Heliobacter.     pylori is examined in the stool samples in this test.

A small glass of liquid with radioactive carbon as a part of the substance is administered to the patient. This radioactive carbon will be broken down by H. pylori. The breath sample collected less than an hour shall decide if the patient is infected or not. The infected person would have the radioactive carbon substance in the form of carbon dioxide.


Upper gastrointestinal X-ray: Most common test is barium contrast X-ray test of GI tract. The person is made to swallow a white, metallic barium liquid during the time of X- ray. This coats the digestive tract and creates the ulcers more visible.

Endoscopy: The procedure follows an upper GI X-ray. Endoscopy is performed after the     detection of the ulcer.  A long, narrow tube with an inbuilt camera     is threaded down the throat, esophagus, stomach down to the duodenum providing a view of the upper digestive tract, helping the physician to  identify the exact region of ulcer.