New Treatment for Epidermolysis bullosa

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/14/health/14sfblister.html?scp=3&sq=disease&st=cse

While most people have never even heard of this disease, Epidermolysis bullosa (EB), is extremely unpleasant. One case is currently plaguing a fifteen year old girl named Ileana Peralta. This disease is genetic and is caused by lack of the gene that keeps layers of skin together, the collagen gene. As a result of this disease, Ileana has paper-thin skin that can easily blister and get infected. Those affected by this disease are forced to use gauze to protect their skin and, according to New York Times writer Sabin Russel, depending on the degree of seriousness, "these children are condemned to a life of pain and disfigurement."

Fortunately for Ileana and other children suffering from EB, many efforts are being made to treat this horrible disease. Doctors have been working with gene therapy, stem-cell therapy, and bone marrow transplants. Recently, $11.7 million dollars was granted to Stanford to further develop the stem-cell therapy. Their goal is to have a clinical trial by 2014. It is known that this disease can claim children's lives before they reach adulthood and therefore this treatment is needed as soon as possible.

Work is being done to "transform ordinary skin cells into all-purpose stem cells." These new stem cells will hold the collagen and are hoped to give the gene to those suffering from EB. Work on skin grafting is also being done to replace the thin, fragile skin with thicker skin.

The most recently developed treatment is called reprogramming, however the trials are too dangerous for humans at this point and there is some contreversy surrounding the treatment. Another contreversial method includes the bone marrow transplants. These transplants were done during a trial on seven EB and unfortunately, two died. Doctors have differing opinions on the treatment. Some believe the risks are necessary in order to save more people in the long run, while other believe other efforts should be made to treat the disease without risking the lives of the children.

This article is somewhat like our current unit on polio. Both often affect children and cause those afflicted trouble walking and moving around. I really enjoyed reading this article because there are so many diseases in the world that go unnoticed. I am happy to know that EB is getting attention in the medical world and that hopefully there will be a cure soon and that no more children will have to die. It was very emotional reading Ileana's story because she is only 15 and yet she has to deal with this painful disease everyday. It really makes you re-evaluate the little things you complain about on a daily basis. Just be happy you aren't having to wrap yourself in gauze everyday, or worrying about the possibility of not making it to adulthood.

Discovered Antibodies May be Helpful in the Body's Fight Against AIDS

http://news.health.com/2010/04/05/scientists-find-clues-how-body-fights-off-hiv/

I found the article "Scientists Find Clues to How the Body Fights Off HIV" at Health.com. The article was published on April 5, 2010 and listed sources such as the chief medical officer at Duke University of Medicine and members of The Foundation for AIDS Research which make it clear that the information given in the article is newly discovered, accurate information. The Author of the article is unknown.

Researches currently searching for a cure for AIDS have reportedly found new information on the process in which AIDS is fought off by the human body. These new findings are not certain to help scientists in developing a new vaccine as HIV still remains an extremely strong enemy to the body. However, chief medical officer, Dr. M. Anthony Moody at Duke University's, Human Vaccine Institue believes that the new findings will help scientists by making them aware of “a possible way that one could think about the kinds of response you’d want to have on hand before a virus shows up,". The researchers study was published and talked about four different kinds of antibodies they found in the immune system which create a barrier to prevent HIV from getting into the cells through what is called the receptor. Receptors are the entry point of AIDS into the cells in the majority of cases. The four antibodies work more to block the cells than to try to destroy the virus cells. The problem with HIV is that the body does not start fighting the virus off immediately, so the virus cells always seem to be one step ahead of the antibodies, even these new antibodies. Doctors are now considering testing the antibodies on animals to see if they boost their immune system. The problem is that the more steps that go into introducing the antibodies to protect against AIDS, the more things that can go wrong.

I found this article to be extremely interesting. What I found the most interesting was the fact that the new antibodies do not go out and try to kill and destroy the virus cells, they simply make a barrier to block them from the healthy cells. For most of the diseases we have learned about in class, the antibodies have attacked the virus right away. I find AIDS very interesting as a disease because there has been so much controversy over it especially during my lifetime. I read this article expecting to find some new type of controversy but I ended up finding something much more interesting and hopeful for the world and the state of the disease. However, there was something about this new information that I really didn't like. The author didn't make it clear what was going to be tested on animals. He or she said that the newly found antibodies would be tested on animals. Does this mean that those animals will also be administered AIDS? Is this legal or even possible? I do not agree with testing such a dangerous and notorious disease on any living thing.

Why Japanese "Get More" Out of Sushi Than Americans

The article that I chose was titled, "Promiscuous Bacteria Gone Wild: Why Sushi gives more energy to the Japanese," was written by Sharon Begley, and was published in Newsweek on April 7, 2010. The link to this article is: http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/thehumancondition
/archive/2010/04/07/promiscuous-bacteria-gone-wild-why-sushi-gives-more-energy-to-the-japanese.aspx

It discussed the phenomenon of why people of Japanese origin seem to be able to extract energy from sushi, and not American or other non-Japanese people. They were specifically talking about the seaweed that generally is wrapped around sushi. Apparently, there is a unique kind of bacteria that is able to digest the seaweed because they have a certain kind of gene that is only found in the intestines of Japanese people. Individuals not of Japanese descent, Americans, for example, get absolutely no nutritional value out of eating this particular kind of seaweed, because they lack the bacteria that contain the gene for proper digestion. Americans can digest it without a problem; they simply are unable to utilize the energy. Some are skeptical and ask how the gene gets transferred into the intestines. It is still somewhat of a puzzle, but it is suggested that many decades ago, when people ate seaweed that had not been cleaned or sterilized, they acquired some of the bacteria that had the gene, and this gene then got transferred to the other bacteria existing in the intestines. This theory is widely scrutinized, however. The article concluded that it was not possible for other people to get the gene just from eating bacteria that typically lives on seaweed. Bacteria only transfers information in the right conditions, so it is difficult to make it happen. In the article it explains, "that the special conditions that allow such gene transfer 'are probably not often encountered.'"

Even though this article does not directly relate to a specific epidemic or a disease, it does have a lot to do with our class and what we have learned this year. We have studied bacteria in almost every unit we do, like the immune system or our bacteria unit. One thing that connects to the article is when we learned about normal bacteria flora in the immune system unit. There are millions of bacteria living on the skin, and this prevents harmful, pathogenic bacteria from settling down and starting a colony. This is also true for the intestines. There is bacteria such as E. coli, which synthesize vitamin K that is necessary for healthy blood clotting. We also learned a little bit about transformation, which is when one bacteria transfers a plasmid (piece of DNA) to another bacteria. In this article it was the plasmid for digesting a specific kind of seaweed. This just shows you how unique and specialized bacteria are and how many different kinds inhabit our world and our intestines.

A New Role for Mice?

While looking for an article to write about in todays blog, I came across an article on Boston.com called, "In the search for cancer drugs, mice get new role". This article was written by Carolyn Y. Johnson and was published on April 5, 2010. This article talks about how a man named Dr. Pier Paolo Pandolfi has begun an experiment that could have a huge impact on the way cancer drugs are tested in the future. Dr. Pandolfi has begun to give treatment to patients suffering with cancer at Beth Israel Deaconness Medical Center and has also begun to give the same treatments he is giving his patients to mice as well.

In recent years, mice have been used as test subjects for drugs before they make it into the clinic. This is because animal models of disease can help doctors and scientists better understand cancer and determine what drugs or treatments are safe to use in human beings. However, in this new work being done by Dr. Pandolfi, mice are being treated with the same drugs at the same time as patients in hopes that what is learned in the hospitals from patients can be put together with what is learned in the laboratories with mice to speed up the development of new and effective cancer drugs.Mice are being used in this experiment because they can be engineered to carry one or more faulty genes known to cause human cancers. For this experiment scientists inserted various human prostate and lung cancer gene mutations into the mice and then gave the animals identical treatments to the people in clinical trials. Pandolfi and collaborators from the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center hope the mice, with simpler genetics than the humans, will help give a better understanding to what is going on in the bodies of the patients.

I found this article very interesting because I am fascinated with how scientists are able to come up with various vaccines, treatments and drugs that have had a huge impact on health all around the world. This article also grabbed my attention because I am very iffy about animal testing and whether or not scientists should use animals for testing. Part of me thinks it is cruel while the other part of me knows that by doing animal testing, scientists are creating treatments that are helping millions of people around the world. Overall, I hope to learn more about this experiment and see if it helps the development of cancer drugs because cancer is a horrible disease that I hope we can find a cure for in the future.

Here is the link to the article:

http://www.boston.com/news/health/articles/2010/04/05/mice_get_new_role_in_search_for_cancer_drugs/

Is a Norovirus Sickening Harvard Faculty Club?

Today I found an article on Boston.com entitled "Possible Norovirus closes Harvard Faculty Club." The article was written by Travis Anderson and was published on April 2, 2010. The article talks about how a spokeswoman for the schools hospitality and dining services program, Crista Martin, sent out an email saying that the club in Cambridge which had been closed a week ago due to a possible norovirus outbreak would remain closed until a cleaning crew sanitized the entire building.

Noroviruses are a group of viruses that cause gastroenteritis in people. Gastroenteritis is an inflammation of the lining of the stomach and intestines. Because of this, the article goes on to discuss how many sick patrons had reported syptoms of nausea and diarrhea. The article also talks a lot about the symptoms of a norovirus and says common norovirus symptoms include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and some stomach cramping. Infections can spread by eating food or drinking liquids contaminated with the virus, touching contaminated surfaces or objects before putting fingers in one’s mouth, and having direct contact with an infected person. Martin adds that closing the club was a precautionary measure to ensure the safety of everyone. Louise Rice, director of public health nursing for the city of Cambridge said "more than 10 people became ill after eating at the Faculty Club but, officials have not yet determined whether they were infected with a norovirus." I thought this quote was important because it gives the reader of the article a better insight into what the people going through this are actually experiencing.

The reason the article quickly grabbed my attention was because it talked about a lot of similar things we have studied in class and it interested me to learn more about how what we are learning in class connects to the real world today. It talked about viruses and illnesses which we have definitely covered a lot in class. It also talked about the symptoms of this specific virus which was cool because we talk a lot in class about the symptoms of each ailment we study. This article also connected to a project I did in my spanish class a few weeks ago about the earthquake in Haiti and about all of the health issues that came along with it. Our assignment was to make a PSA in Spanish about all the horrible things happening to the people in Haiti and what we can do to help. A lot of the ways we can help included donating money to organizations which study viruses and diseases such as the CDC, or Center for Disease Control. I thought this was a cool connection because it shows how many different areas of study the CDC is involved in and all of the ways is helps our world as a community.

I really enjoyed this article in general because there isn't really any controversy. The article simply gives insights to what is happening in our surrounding community, and the people involved fill the reporters in on only the information that they know. Even the people affected still don't know all of the details and if it is even definitely a norovirus which I think is pretty cool. Below is the link to a video from Youtube which gives a great explanation as to what a norovirus is, the symptoms is causes, and methods of transmission.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n_3xQ-i_4A

Here's the link to the article in the Boston Globe if you want to check it out:

http://www.boston.com/news/health/articles/2010/04/02/possible_norovirus_closes_harvard_faculty_club/

Highest rates for H1N1 vaccination in the Northeast!

In the article "CDC: New England tops in swine flu vaccinations" written by Mike Stobbe, an AP medical writer, on April 1 2010, the outline of swine flu reception is given. The article which appeared in Rhode Island Newspapers goes into the statistics of what percentage of people per US state have been vaccinated for the swine flu. The North East has the highest percentages followed in last place by Southeast and Central areas of the country. He goes into detail about what may be causing the different percentages across the country. He suggests that since the swine flu hit the south earlier they already needed the vaccine when it wasn't available and many now have no desire to get it since it seems to have already "passed though." By contrast the H1N1 flu hit the North East just as the vaccinations were becoming available, which could have caused their high reception rate. The link is below.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/rhode_island/articles/2010/04/01/cdc_new_england_tops_in_swine_flu_vaccinations/

I found this article to be very interesting especially as people are less and less interested in getting vaccinated in our own school. I guess it really is all about supply and demand. Now that people arn't seeing "swine flu" everywhere they don't see a need to be vaccinated, even as a precaution. I think the timing of the epidemic in particular areas of the country coupled with the idea of supply and demand is what caused the big differences in percentages. Another detail that the article goes into I find interesting. Depending on what role the local government took in encouraging vaccinations also played a big part on the percentages of people who decided to take the precaution. It makes sense that it would be more widely publicized in the North Eastern states since, by the time it had reached us, we had time to see the damaging effects it can have on other people within our country. I still have not been vaccinated and I think that many people who haven't probably share the belief that the epidemic has passed for the year and if we didn't get it by now, we never will. This attitude is similar to that which is detremental for polio carriers. Even if some people decline to get vaccinated they run the risk of infecting other people. So if the whole country does not get vaccinated there is a chance that the disease could continue to spread rapidy. Unlike polio, however, the signs of infection are almost always visable.

Blogging is Back!

After a hiatus in third quarter, student blogging for "History and Science of Epidemic Disease" is back. Infectious disease is part of the human experience and nearly every day epidemic disease is in the news.

A quick search of the Boston Globe online turned up a number of recent articles directly related to what we have been studying this year. Here is a very recent one of note:

"Being Perfect Isn't Everything" by Brian MacQuarie, Boston Globe, April 1, 2010.
http://www.boston.com/news/health/articles/2010/04/01/being_perfect_isnt_everything/

This article focuses on the perfect attendance record of Justin LaBatte, a Senior at Amesbury High School. LaBatte didn't miss a single day in his 13 years of public schooling! Brian and his mom want recognition while school officials are concerned with rewarding such a feat. Administrators simply do not want to encourage students who are sick with the flu or other infectious diseases to come to school.

Are attendance awards a thing of the past? (I actually remember the student who won the perfect attendance award at my high school senior awards assembly! Scholarship money went with the award.) Do schools and parents need to do more to make sure that students and teachers stay home when they are sick (especially during flu season)? How might our school address this especially considering the H1N1 district preparedness plan presented by Superintendent Doherty?