We have covered COVID-19 (Corona) and Virology separately in 2 articles.Here we will cover other diseases important from Prelims Viewpoint.
Hantavirus
Hantaviruses are a family of viruses spread mainly by rodents and can cause varied disease syndromes in people worldwide. Infection with any hantavirus can produce hantavirus disease in people. Hantaviruses in the Americas are known as “New World” hantaviruses and may cause hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS). Other hantaviruses, known as “Old World” hantaviruses, are found mostly in Europe and Asia and may cause hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS).
Each hantavirus serotype has a specific rodent host species and is spread to people via aerosolized virus that is shed in urine, feces, and saliva, and less frequently by a bite from an infected host. The most important hantavirus in the United States that can cause HPS is the Sin Nombre virus, spread by the deer mouse.
UN Report on Pneumonia
A UN report said just five countries were responsible for more than half of child pneumonia deaths
India had the second-highest number of deaths of children under the age of five in 2018 due to pneumonia, a curable and preventable disease that claimed the life of one child every 39 seconds globally, according to a new report by the UN.
The report said just five countries were responsible for more than half of child pneumonia deaths: Nigeria (162,000), India (127,000), Pakistan (58,000), the Democratic Republic of Congo (40,000) and Ethiopia (32,000).
Pneumonia is caused by bacteria, viruses or fungi, and leaves children fighting for breath as their lungs fill with pus and fluid.
-The Hindu
Ministry for Health and Family Welfare launched ‘SAANS’- Social Awareness and Action to Neutralise Pneumonia Successfully- To reduce child mortality due to pneumonia- a child suffering from pneumonia can be treated with pre-referral dose of anti-biotic amoxicillin by ASHA workers.
Diabetes
This year’s-2020- World Diabetes Day theme is The Nurse and Diabetes.
Diabetes is a global health problem growing at such a rapid pace that the World Health Organization (WHO) describes it as an “epidemic”. In India, its prevalence started increasing in the 1980s and began escalating rapidly after the opening up of the economy in 1991.
Rapid economic growth has led to industrialisation and mechanisation, leading to a marked reduction in physical activity. Moreover, as people become more affluent, they tend to eat foods rich in sugar, salt and fat. All this leads to an epidemic of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and cancer. Of them, diabetes stands right on top.
– (The Hindu)
Diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs when the pancreas is no longer able to make insulin, or when the body cannot make good use of the insulin it produces.
Insulin is a hormone made by the pancreas, that acts like a key to let glucose from the food we eat pass from the blood stream into the cells in the body to produce energy. All carbohydrate foods are broken down into glucose in the blood. Insulin helps glucose get into the cells.
There are three main types of diabetes – type 1, type 2 and gestational.
Type 1 diabetes can develop at any age, but occurs most frequently in children and adolescents. When one has type 1 diabetes, body produces very little or no insulin, which means that one needs daily insulin injections to maintain blood glucose levels under control.
Type 2 diabetes is more common in adults and accounts for around 90% of all diabetes cases. When one has type 2 diabetes, body does not make good use of the insulin that it produces. The cornerstone of type 2 diabetes treatment is healthy lifestyle, including increased physical activity and healthy diet.
Gestational diabetes (GDM) is a type of diabetes that consists of high blood glucose during pregnancy and is associated with complications to both mother and child.
Seaweed extract shows anti-retroviral activity
Bioactive compound from two macroalgae shows anti-HIV-1 effect in lab tests.
The medicinal properties of compounds extracted from seaweed have been used for medicinal purposes. These compounds, as a class called sulphated polysaccharides, have been shown to have anti-inflammatory and antiviral properties. Of interest here is their anti-retroviral activity which makes them potential drugs against HIV.
Two species of marine brown algae, also known as macroalgae (seaweed), Dictiyota bartaysiana and Turbinaria decurrence – for extraction of Bio-active compound.
Polio
2 out of 3 wild poliovirus strains have been eradicated, says WHO.
Type 3– latest one to be eradicated
Type 2– eradicated in 2015
There are three individual and immunologically distinct wild poliovirus strains: wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1), wild poliovirus type 2 (WPV2) and wild poliovirus type 3 (WPV3). Symptomatically, all three strains are identical, in that they cause irreversible paralysis or even death. But there are genetic and virological differences, which make these three strains three separate viruses that must each be eradicated individually.
Now,the goal is eradication of wild poliovirus type 1. This virus remains in circulation in just two countries, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
(Source- The Hindu)
Important pointers-
- It is highly infectious viral disease which invades the nervous system and can cause irreversible paralysis within hours.
- In January 2014, India was declared poliofree after three years on zero cases.
- Eradication of Type 3 means that it opens up the possibility of switching from the currently used bivalent oral polio vaccine containing type 1 and type 3 to a monovalent vaccine containing only type 1.
- Polio remains endemic in three countries – Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan.
- Two vaccines-
- Oral polio vaccine: It consists of a mixture of live attenuated strains of polioviruses of three (now only two OPV 1 and OPV 3) different types of serotypes- since they are live viruses,they can change over time into wild polio virus called Vaccine-derived Poliovirus( VDPV) and cause polio.
- IPV or inactivated poliovirus vaccine is produced from wild-type poliovirus strains of each serotype that have been inactivated (killed) with formalin- effective against all 3 types- does not contain live virus so cannot cause infection in others.
- India introduced the injectable polio vaccine in Universal Immunisation Programme (IPV) to reduce chances of VDPI, which continues to happen in the country.
Vaccine against Typhoid
With a new vaccine against typhoid, made by an Indian vaccine manufactorer, Bharat Biotech of Hyderabad, that has been approved by WHO, typhoid, may soon be a thing of the past. The journal Nature Medicine called this one of the “Treatments that made headlines in 2018.”
The WHO has approved a vaccine against typhoid fever, called Typbar TCV, short for typhoid conjugate vaccine. It is the only vaccine deemed safe enough for use in infants starting at 6 months of age.
This vaccine is the first conjugate vaccine — a vaccine in which a weak antigen (of the typhoid germ) is attached to a strong antigen (from the tetanus germ) to elicit antibody responses — against a bacterial disease (typhoid) that “affects up to 20 million people annually.
(The Hindu)
Pakistan became the first country in the world to introduce World Health Organisationrecommended typhoid conjugate vaccine (TCV) against extensively drug-resistant (XDR) typhoid outbreak.
Rare Diseases
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare recently released the draft National Policy for Rare Diseases.
World Health Organization defines rare disease as a condition with a prevalence of one or less per 1,000 people.
These diseases are known as Orphan Diseases as the market for its drug development is not economically viable.
They include genetic diseases, rare cancers, infectious tropical diseases and degenerative diseases. 80% of rare diseases are genetic in origin and hence disproportionately impact children.
The policy states, rare diseases will be grouped into three broad categories.
In the first group are disorders amenable to one-time curative treatment (such as haematopoietic stem cell transplantation or organ transplantation), which shall receive financial support of up to Rs 15 lakh under the Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi and extended to people eligible under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana.
For a second group of diseases requiring lifelong treatment such as phenylketonuria but at relatively lower cost, or other forms of therapy such as for cystic fibrosis, it says state governments can consider supporting the patients.
For the third category—diseases requiring prohibitively expensive and lifelong therapy such as Gaucher disease, SMA and Pompe disease—the draft policy talks of setting up a digital platform for voluntary individual and corporate donors to contribute to the treatment cost.
Rare Diseases-
The most commonly reported diseases include Haemophilia, Thalassemia, Sickle-cell Anaemia and Primary Immuno Deficiency in children, auto-immune diseases, Lysosomal storage disorders such as Pompe disease, Hirschsprung disease, Gaucher’s disease, Cystic Fibrosis, Hemangiomas and certain forms of muscular dystrophies.
Tuberculosis
India signs a Loan Agreement worth US$ 400 Million with the World Bank to help Treat and Eliminate Tuberculosis from India; The World Bank supported Program will cover Nine State in the country to achieve the target of eliminating TB by 2025.
(PIB)
- It will support the Government of India’s (GoI) National Strategic Plan to end TB in India by 2025. It will do so by helping improve and strengthen diagnostics and management of drug-resistant tuberculosis and increase the capacity of public institutions engaged in monitoring and treating TB in the country
- It will also provide financial incentives to private sector care providers.
- It will also provide Direct Benefit Transfers to patients for acquiring the critical nutrition needed during treatment.
- The Program will even help the GoI strengthen the monitoring and implementation of Nikshay – a web-based TB case monitoring system introduced by the government.
Tuberculosis (TB)
- TB is caused by bacteria (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) that most often affect the lungs(pulmonary TB) and sometimes also affects other organs (extrapulmonary TB).
- Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is a form of TB caused by bacteria that do not respond to isoniazid and rifampicin, the 2 most powerful, first-line anti-TB drugs. MDR-TB is treatable and curable by using second-line drugs.
- Extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB) is a more serious form of MDR-TB caused by bacteria that do not respond to the most effective second-line anti-TB drugs, often leaving patients without any further treatment options.
- Ending the TB epidemic by 2030 is among the health targets of the newly adopted Sustainable Development Goals.
- India’s TB burden is the highest in the world, followed by Indonesia and China.
The list,if updated ,will be notified to you.
