[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Sign-in] [Mail] [Setup] [Help]
Status: Not Logged In; Sign In
|
Health See other Health Articles Title: Bugs and Cheese Medscape: One of the classes I most enjoyed during my first year of medical school was microbiology. It was the first time I felt like a doctor (well, almost) while sitting in class. We learned each "bug" or groups of bug, the illness and ailments it causes and how to treat it. This was the first class that was completely devoted to understanding a disease and how to treat it. I was told by many students a year ahead of me that this was my first taste of second year. Of course, we were given the most typical clinical vignettes. There will be exceptions to every rule in real life. For some reason, the one I remember most vividly is if you hear "cheese" and "pregnant woman," think Listeria! Completely unintentionally, but fantastic nonetheless, I took epidemiology of infectious disease for my master's degree at the same time as microbiology. While my microbiology professor did a terrific job describing the epidemiology of infectious disease, it was great to have protected class time to delve deeper into the subject. In my graduate class, we not only learned principles of infectious disease epidemiology but investigated a hypothetical outbreak and had a role-playing research assignment to prepare for an American malaria epidemic; we even held a town hall session on the issue. Since classes ended, I've kept an eye out for news stories related to infectious disease. On July 5 Food Safety News reported that five people had died from a multistate outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes. L. monocytogenes is a rod-shaped bacterium. It is often transmitted via contaminated, ready-to-eat foods like soft cheeses and deli meats. Although not incredibly common in the US, L. monocytogenes is incredibly dangerous for people with compromised immune systems which includes newborns, pregnant women and the elderly. It can cause meningitis, and brain and blood infections in immune compromised people. Even in healthy adults it can cause fever, vomiting and diarrhea. Advances in technology have allowed us to mass produce food and ship it nationwide (sometimes even internationally). This poses a challenge for consumers and epidemiologists alike as a case of food-borne illness in California may not appear to be related to another in New York. Thankfully, the CDC has a database called PulseNet which compares 'DNA fingerprints' of bacteria from patients to find clusters of disease that might represent unrecognized outbreaks. The CDC is using PulseNet in this Listeria outbreak look for other cases. Email ThisEmail This Report AbuseReport Abuse Average Rating: starstarstarstar placeholderstar placeholder Rate This star placeholderstar placeholderstar placeholderstar placeholderstar placeholder 2 Comments #1, Added By: ironjustice, "research assignment to prepare for an American malaria epidemic" Do you think you would have been awarded an F- if you would have mentioned the link between iron and infectious disease ? "In normal persons the antibacterial and antifungal properties of blood and other tissue fluids cannot be maintained unless there are exceptionally low levels of available iron. This is controlled by the presence of the unsaturated iron-binding proteins, transferrin and lactoferrin. In several clinical conditions an abnormal availability of iron is responsible for fatal septicaemia. This is because the phagocytic system is overwhelmed by rapidly growing organisms when iron is freely available." #2, Added By: ironjustice, Speaking of pandemic prevention. "Hindhede eventually discovered that the diminished use of animal foods meant far more than that. Within one year's time the death rate had decreased 40 percent. In addition, the Danish people experienced less disease. When thousands of people throughout Europe suffered influenza, Denmark was not affected. The other nations, using their high-protein diets consisting largely of animal foods, suffered greatly and their people died by the thousands." Poster Comment: Too much iron and bugs have a feast just like too much omega-3 allows prostate cancer cells to take off. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
|
||
|
[Home]
[Headlines]
[Latest Articles]
[Latest Comments]
[Post]
[Sign-in]
[Mail]
[Setup]
[Help]
|
||