Change of Plans

We are going to focus on one topic only. Malaria affects our lives in Mozambique more than any other of the diseases that we have been talking about, because we have either had malaria in the past or we know someone who has had malaria.

We are going to have to present the research we have done. The whole class presenting at once might be too confusing so I was thinking that we can break up into a few different group. We need to cover the causes and affected areas, the possibility of a vaccination and the pros and cons of mosquito nets.

The eight graders have a paper recycling project that is going to raise some money. That money can be used to buy mosquito nets for the community near school that we have been working with. Our goal is to be able to give a mosquito net to every kid in that school and their families.

Please comment to tell me which group you have chosen and if you have any more ideas for groups please tell. Also, please tell me what you think of this solution and I'll be happy to answer any questions and concerns.

Thank you, Clare

HIV/AIDS

Fact: Some people can become infected by HIV without knowing it.

What is HIV?
Human Immunodeficiency Virus. It can only survive in the cells of another organism. It damages the immune system. At the beginning of 2004, it was estimated that nearly 42,000,000 people were dying because of HIV.

What is AIDS?
Aids is acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. A syndrome is a set of signs and symptoms that occur together. The syndrome of AIDS is caused by HIV. But a person that has HIV may not develop AIDS as a disease. AIDS was first diasgnosed in 1991. And since then it has spread rapidly and cases have been heard of in more than a 150 countries.

How is HIV transmitted?
Unprotected sexual contact that may transmit HIV includes vaginal and anal sex, oral sex. Sharing drug injecting equipment. Pregnant mother to child and through breast milk.
Myths About HIV.HIV is not transmitted through sharing plates, cups, cutlery, swimming pools, toilets, kissing, coughing, sneezing, or spitting.HIV is not transmitted through mosquitoes.

Stages of HIV Infection.
Seroconversion and primary illness.
Other people may experience a short seroconversio illness between two and six weeks after becoming infected. Symptoms included in this seroconversion illness include: tiredness, fever, diarrhea, rash, and flu-like symptoms.

Asymptomatic HIV Infection.
After the seroconversion there might be a period of months or years during which the HIV does not show any symptoms. Though, it still damages your immune system.
Symptomatic HIV Infection.Indications of symptomatic HIV infection may include lack of energy, fevers, and night sweats, persistent thrush in women and prolonged bouts of diarrhea.

Late Stage Disease. (Which is the same as HIV).
A person may develop any number of infections which are considered as indicators of AIDS. These conditions include:
- Kaposi's Sarcosis
- Pnuemocystis Carinii Pnuemonia
- Toxoplasmosis- Cytomagalovirus disease
- Candidiasis (thrush) in the oesophagus, throat or lungs

Testing and diagnosis
Detected by a blood test for HIV antibodies. It may not be detectable immidiately after the infectio because it takes a while for measurable quantities of antibodies to be produced by the immune system (up to three months).

Treating HIV and AIDS.
There are 4 principles:
- targeting the virus itself using antiviral drugs.
- treating and where possible preventing the individual opportunistic infections which result from the damage to the immune system.
- restoring or rebuilding the damaged immune system
- treating and alleviating the symptoms of HIV.

Preventing transmission.
It can be prevented by:
- practising safe sex (using condoms although they are NOT 100% safe all the time)
- not sharing drug injecting equipment
- prevention is better than cure

from Maria and Taryn.

Class discussion

Hepatitis B

With over 350 million people affected worldwide, infection with the chronic hepatitis B virus causes considerable distress to individuals and results in substantial global economic loss through costs of treatment and indirectly, through lost productivity. However, the impact on the quality of life of patients is not well studied and despite the availability of new treatment options, little information is available on how infected and uninfected persons value the impact of health states arising from the hepatitis B virus. The objective of this study was to estimate preference-based "utility weights", for six increasingly severe health states that occur with chronic infection with the hepatitis B virus. This information was elicited from respondents living in six jurisdictions, in North America, Europe and Asia, that ranged from low to high prevalence of chronic hepatitis B infection. The authors interviewed 534 chronic hepatitis B-infected patients and 600 uninfected respondents making this one of the largest valuations of health states ever published, for any disease. The results show that the chronic hepatitis B and compensated cirrhosis health states have a moderate impact on health related quality of life, and there is a large detrimental effect on quality of life associated with decompensated cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. There were geographic differences in the impact of the different health states. A greater impact on quality of life was observed in Hong Kong and mainland China which are jurisdictions with high prevalence of disease. The authors speculate that finding be due to greater fear of the social consequences of infection. A practical implication of the inter-country differences is that economic evaluations may benefit from country-specific utility estimates.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/93154.php

Let's Start!

Please post some information on each one of your chosen diseases! Thank you Clare