Posts Tagged ‘Healthy Body’

Dengue – Causes, Signs and Symptoms, Risk factors.

Dengue is transmitted by the bite of an Aedes mosquito infected with any one of the four dengue viruses. Dengue fever can occur to people of all ages but it mostly affects children under the age of 15 years, but can occur in all age groups. It is also known as breakdown fever.

It is found mostly during and shortly after the rainy season in tropical and subtropical areas of Africa, Southeast Asia and China, India, Middle East, Caribbean and Central and South America, Australia and the South and Central Pacific. The dengue virus is transmitted to its host during probing and blood feeding.

Causes of Dengue Fever

- It is caused by one of four closely related virus serotypes (DEN-1, DEN-2, DEN-3, and DEN-4), of the genus Flavivirus.
- Increase in non-biodegradable plastic packaging and discarded tires.
- Increased jet air travel is helping people infected with dengue viruses to move easily from city to city.
- Lack of effective methods to control epidemics.
- Lack of effective mosquito control efforts.
- Poor Public health systems.
- Rapid growth or Overcrowding of cities in tropical countries.
- Urban decay, and substandard sanitation, allowing more mosquitoes to live closer to more people.

Signs and Symptoms of Dengue

After the mosquito carrying the virus has bitten a person the symptoms generally starts within 5 to 8 days. The acute phase of illness can last for 1 week followed by a 1 to 2 week period of recovery period.
- Mild fever, to incapacitating high fever upto 105 degrees.
- Rashes
- Headache
- Redness and pain in eyes
- Joint and muscle pain
- Nausea and vomiting
- Loss of appetite
- Change in taste
- Swollen lymph nodes

Who is at a high risk of having dengue?

- Anyone who is bitten by an infected mosquito can get Dengue fever.
- Risk factors for Dengue hemorrhagic fever include a person’s age and immune status.
- It also depends on type of infecting virus.

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Melanoma – Type of skin cancer

Melanoma is a disease of the skin in which cancer cells are found in the melanocytes, the cells that produce color in the skin or pigment known as melanin. Melanoma usually occurs in adults, but it may occasionally be found in children and adolescents. Melanoma may also be called cutaneous melanoma or malignant melanoma. Melanoma is the rarest, but most virulent, form of skin cancer.

- A flat or raised growth of black or brown color, often mixed with blue, red, or white parts, from 6 mm to few cm in size, may appear anywhere on the skin, in men mostly on the trunk, in women on the back and legs, and parts of the skin that are usually hidden from the sun, but were exposed to intense sunlight for short periods.
- Melanoma may show one or more of typical ABCDE characteristics: Asymmetry: one part of the tumor differs from other parts; Border of the tumor is irregular; Color: tumor may be of different colors, often several colors are present in one tumor; Diameter above 6 mm (in most cases), Evolving: lesion growths and changes color and appearance with time.

Melanoma Subtypes :
- Superficially spreading melanoma grows relatively slowly.
- Nodular melanoma grows rapidly – weeks to months. It tends to ulcerate and bleed.
- Acral lentiginous melanoma appears in dark skinned people (Afro-American, Asian, and Hispanic), mostly on their palms, soles, and under nails.
- Lentigo maligna melanoma. A macule grows slowly (years) as a patch, over 1-3 cm in size. It does not spread to other organs.

Treatment :
- Chemotherapy is often used to treat melanoma that has returned or spread.
- Medications such as interferon or interleukin, which boost the immune system to fight the cancer, may be useful in addition to chemotherapy and surgery. This kind of treatment is called immunotherapy. However, interferon has many side effects and can be difficult to tolerate.
- Radiation treatments may be used to relieve pain or discomfort caused by cancer that has spread.
- Cancer that has spread elsewhere in the body is sometimes removed with surgery to relieve pain or discomfort.

Squamous Cell Carcinoma – Type of skin cancer

Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is the second most common form of skin cancer and accounts for 20% of cutaneous malignancies.Squamous cell carcinoma frequently arises on the sun-exposed skin of middle-aged and elderly individuals.

- Squamous cell carcinoma arises from squamous cells in the uppermost layer of epidermis – stratum corneum.
- It appears as a scaly, reddish, dome-shaped, fleshy nodule, from 5 mm to few cm (if left untreated) in size, often with a central ulcer. It mostly appears on sun exposed areas of the skin or lips.
- It grows slowly, but it can spread to other organs.

Risks for squamous cell skin cancer include:
- Having light-colored skin, blue or green eyes, or blond or red hair.
- Long-term, daily sun exposure (such as in people who work outside).
- Many severe sunburns early in life.
- Older age.
- A large number of x-rays.
- Arsenic.
- Chemical exposure.
- Chronic skin ulcers.
- Actinic keratoses (These lesions have the potential to progress to squamous cell carcinoma.).
At first cancer cells tend to spread only as far as the nearest lymph nodes clusters of tissue found in the underarms, groin, neck, and other parts of the body that help fight disease. When cancer spreads, they often trap cancer cells. structures, which filter out and trap the cancer cells. If spread has occurred, the affected lymph nodes can be removed before cancer spreads to vital organs.
With early detection and proper treatment, SCC is curable. Allowed to progress, SCC can invade and destroy much of the tissue surrounding the cancerous tumor, which can be disfiguring.
Some SCCs, such as those that develop on a lip or an ear, can be particularly aggressive. Left untreated, aggressive SCCs have a greater risk for metastasis (spreading) to the lymph nodes and other internal organs. This makes early diagnosis and treatment of SCC essential.