Superstition is The Poison of Mind

Are you a superstition believer? Afraid to do anything important on Friday 13^th? Get paranoid if black cat crosses your path? Many of these superstitions are cultural phenomena and have their own origins. You will be surprised to hear how far and bizarre these superstitions can get, but the point of concern here is if these cultural phenomena reach to the point of posing serious dangerous. A similar cultural superstition is associated with tuberculosis that has the most unusual story that might be really fascinating to hear, but its implications are very serious and pose great hindrance to tuberculosis research and treatment. 

      In a rural district of South Africa, there is a strong belief that tuberculosis is the result of breaking cultural rules that demand abstinence form sexual intercourse after death of a family member or after a woman has an abortion. According to their belief traditional healers can only treat tuberculosis. It is also their belief that TB spreads from sufferers to other people who engage in excessive smoking and alcohol use.

      The origin of this cultural superstition is largely unknown. Perhaps these practices were implemented in old days to abstain people from certain acts deemed as bad or to promote an alcohol free society. But the health aspects of these cultural practices are something that is of serious concern.

    Tuberculosis is a highly endemic disease and TB cases are rapidly increasing in rate in South Africa. If beliefs and superstitions like these are still engraved in people’s mind then that means tuberculosis cases are not reaching the right places; that is hospitals and clinics. There is a strong stigmatization associated with this disease and most people do not tell about their symptoms because of shyness and fear of being held accountable for doing something they were supposed to be abstaining from. This often times result in high number of deaths as the disease is not being brought to health worker’s notice and thus no treatment is being given. There is also a very high risk of spread of disease as these people are basing the mode of contact on an entirely different and delusional source. The local health workers are mostly unaware of these traditional practices that also creates great hindrance in treatment.

       The first and utmost important thing is the implementation of a good control program that will increase cure rate of tuberculosis patients. Health workers need to have information about local beliefs so that they can work accordingly on how to proceed with treatment.

      It is also important to educate these people and create awareness among these people to not abstain from sexual intercourse after someone dies but to abstain from believing in these kinds of cultural superstitions. If a black cat crosses your path, it simply signifies it is going somewhere, nothing more.

Do you know of any similar interesting superstitions?

Edginton ME, Sekatane CS, Goldstein SJ. Patients' beliefs: do they affect
tuberculosis control? A study in a rural district of South Africa. Int J Tuberc
Lung Dis. 2002 Dec;6(12):1075-82. PubMed PMID: 12546115.

How Strong is Your Immune System?

          Our immune system is what helps us fight all sorts of diseases. Now imagine, if suddenly the immune system stops working, how prone one would be to even the most feeblest form of disease. If a compromised immune system is insufficient in even fighting off a feeble disease, how can it stand a chance against such a deadly disease such as tuberculosis?
         Compromised immune system is a very important issue when it comes to childhood tuberculosis. Before beginning any treatment of tuberculosis in a child, it is first important to know the exact situation of their immune response, hoe competent it is, if it has the proficiency to withstand the heavy dosage and injection required for the treatment of TB. After all these things have been determined, if the immune system is strong enough, then a suitable treatment plan and drugs are implemented which comprises of a full eight month period. 
        Anderson discusses the issue of TB and compromised immune response in the article “Diagnosis of Childhood Tuberculosis and Host RNA Expression in Africa” and also provides a very effective solution for possible ways of treatment.

        The entire point of concern in the treatment of TB is to determine whether the patient is immune compromise and continue the treatment from there. Unfortunately, in many developing countries, a significant portion of the population of children is immune compromised due to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The risks of developing an acute form of TB increases several folds in these children. A major issue arises in these situations, as immune compromised children are extremely vulnerable to all kind of disease. Immune compromised children and children with tuberculosis display similar early symptoms. In order to treat children with tuberculosis disease specifically, it is first crucial to establish a diagnostic test for children that could distinguish tuberculosis from other diseases in children who are or are not infected with HIV. Anderson presents a new kind of diagnostic test that can help distinguish tuberculosis from other diseases. He talks about the potential use of transcriptional signatures of the host blood to distinguish infectious tuberculosis disease from other diseases (Anderson, 2014).

     If these RNA expression signatures are used then it could help differentiate TB symptoms and disease from immune compromised HIV disease. Children who are immune compromised will be treated accordingly and the normal eight month course of antibiotics and injections can be conducted for the others. 
    Our immune response is the only defense we have against all foreign diseases. If immune compromised children can be detected at an early stage, it would have a very positive significant impact. There would be more chances that tuberculosis can be caught at an early stage in these children and a specialized treatment plan can be implemented immediately.  

Anderson, Suzanne T,PhD., M.R.C.P.C.H., Kaforou, M., M.Phil, Brent, Andrew J,PhD., M.R.C.P., Wright, V. J., PhD., Banwell, C. M., PhD., Chagaluka, George,M.B., B.S., . . . Eley, B.,F.C.P.(Paeds) (S.A.). (2014). Diagnosis of childhood tuberculosis and host RNA expression in africa. The New England Journal of Medicine, 370(18), 1712-23. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1520422194?accountid=14541

Father of Microbiology- Robert Koch

    If you are a science major student, then at some point you must have studied about different infectious diseases, including cholera and tuberculosis. Well, now you get a chance to meet the man who is behind these breakthrough discoveries about infectious diseases, Robert Koch. If you are not a science student, then after reading this post you will have great knowledge about inventions of an extremely talented German physician.

    Belonging to a poor mining family, Robert Koch’s journey to medical school was not an easy one. But his keen interest in biology during high school kept him going in his pursuit in a career in science. When he finally made his way to medical college, he realized that he had a deep interest in the biological branch of infectious diseases. He spent his entire life studying different infectious diseases and is highly accredited for his works in the field of microbiology and bacteriology. In 1872, he won a NobelPrize for his work on bacteria.

    Koch spent most of his time and effort on the study of tuberculosis. His aim was to somehow isolate the disease’s cause. There were several opinions about the agent being infectious, but no one had been able to identify the actual causative agent. It was Koch who discovered the bacterium tubercle bacillus as the main agent responsible for developing tuberculosis and confirmed its presence in the tissues of both animals and humans.

    In 1882, it was formally announced before the Physiological Society of Berlin that Koch had isolated the bacteria that was responsible for the deadly disease that has been the leading cause of death for centuries. He had found the germ behind the most feared disease- tuberculosis.

   Although he still couldn’t discover how exactly this disease spread from one person to another, but he was able to identify that “bad air” played a very important part. Years later, scientists and doctors now know exactly how tuberculosis disease spreads via air droplets of an infected person to a non infected person, but it was Koch who laid down the basic foundation of not only the disease but also its mode of transmission.

   Robert Koch’s work on infectious diseases was so important that soon afterwards his discovery of tubercle bacillus, the German government set up “Institute of Infectious Diseases” in Berlin whose entire purpose was the further study and cure of tuberculosis. This medical research institute plays a fundamental role in the future for many other great discoveries related to tuberculosis.

   Koch’s findings were a great inspiration for many young scientists and researchers who began to build on his work. He left a legacy behind- he developed research techniques that others still use throughout the world. It can truly be said Robert Koch is the father of microbiology.

References:

Sakula. A. (1983). Robert Koch: Centenary of the Discovery of the Tubercle Bacillus, 1882, The Canadian Veterinary Journal, 24 (4) 127-131

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A Disease without Border- From the Seals to the New World

      Many diseases have a chicken and egg situation; it is hard to say which existed first and which caused the other. They have been around for so long that they start feeling more like a circle that has no beginning. But fortunately, this does not hold true for all diseases. According to a new study published in the journal Nature, scientists have now figured out the mystery starting origin of the infectious disease tuberculosis and how it spread to the New World.

     According to New York Times article “Tuberculosisis Newer than Thought, Study Says”, scientists analyzed bacterial DNA from 1000 year old mummies to propose a new hypothesis for how tuberculosis originated. When their search was expanded, they found that the bacterial DNA found in affected mummies was most closely related to tuberculosis strains found only in seals. The results were truly shocking. Who could have thought that an animal that everyone loves could be the cause of spreading such a deadly disease around the world.

     Tuberculosis is an infectious disease caused by bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis. This bacteria attacks the lungs of the host where it causes extreme scarring. Different strands of this bacterium can also affect the bones but the most common form of bacterium attacks the lungs. TB is one of the leading cause of deaths in both children and adults worldwide which makes it such a widely studied topic by different scientists.

    To better understand the disease, many ancient DNA experts and biomolecular archaeologists have dedicated studies in trying to reconstruct the history of the bacterium that causes TB.

    There had been many theories for the origin of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, some dating back to as long as 10,000 years ago. But there has not been much consent among the genetic and archaeological scientists until recently. Some hypothesized that this disease might have transferred from cows to humans, but no one gave aquatic life much thought until the recent study with mummies.

    One of the fascinating aspects of finding that seals might have brought this bacterium to the New World and around the globe is that now it can be known exactly how old this bacterium is and what route might have led to its spread throughout the world. According to scientists, the first strand of bacteria originated in Africa about 6000 years ago, from where it transferred to seals on the African shore. The affected seals spread the bacterium to other seals and the cycle continued til it reached North America where it transferred from seals to other animals and eventually to humans.
    It is hard to believe that such an adorable animal could be the source for spreading such a deadly disease in the world, but like they say- it is a disease with no borders. 

Zimmer, Carl. (2014). “Tuberculosis Is Newer Than Thought, Study Says.” The New York Times. The New York Times. Web 16 Nov. 2014.

Is Tuberculosis Killing Your Child?

           In 2003, Rick and Francene adopted a 13-month-old boy from Russia. After returning to United States, they learned their child had tuberculosis. The doctor had ordered a TB skin test along with a chest x-ray. The results of the x-ray confirmed that their child had developed latent form of TB. Now the next step was treatment, which included months of heavy dosage of drugs and injections. After several months of treatment and care, their child is now healthy and happy (“TB personal stories,” 2013).

      Rick and Francene’s story is an example of one of the many childhood TB cases seen annually. The only difference is that Rick and Francene are living in a developed country and they have access to the help and resources needed to cure their child, but unfortunately, many others living around the world do not enjoy these privileges. It is also true that tuberculosis cases have declined sharply over the past few years in the Unites States, but it still remains a global issue worldwide. TB is one of the leading causes of global mortality in children and World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that in 2012 up to 74,000 children died from TB and half a million new cases are brought annually (“Childhood tuberculosis,” 2012).

        The first and utmost important aspect is to realize that childhood tuberculosis is different from adult tuberculosis. We have seen major advancements regarding diagnosis and treatment of TB in adults, but a very common misconception is that since this disease transfers from adults to children, the same diagnostic tools and treatments would be enough to cure children too. Whereas in reality, children do not respond to diagnostic methods the same way adults do.

          Another major issue is that in many developing countries, the drugs that are being used to cure TB were discovered decades ago. There have not been many advances in trying to make a better, more effective drug. Over the years, drug-resistant strands of bacterium have evolved making most of the preventive drugs against tuberculosis ineffective.

        The question that arises now is that how can we help prevent tuberculosis in children, and make sure that no other child dies of this infectious disease. The answer is that we have to take appropriate actions and precautions.

·      Get TB vaccinations. Every child should get BCG vaccine developed against severe type of TB in children, called military TB.

·      Develop new and better diagnostic tools. Improved tools can ensure that tuberculosis bacteria are detected right away so that treatment can be started.

·      Customized drugs for children. It is important that the drugs and vaccines that are being synthesized are customized for children specifically so they can receive proper dosage

·      Children at risk should be tested. If there are children in close proximity to someone who has an active TB, they should be tested for presence of the bacterium.

If global surveillance of childhood tuberculosis is improved and proper preventive measures are implemented then TB deaths in children can be prevented in the future.

References

"Childhood Tuberculosis Neglected, despite Available Remedies." WHO. N.p., 21 Mar. 2012. Web. 13 Sept. 2014.

“TB Personal Stories.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 15 Mar. 2013. Web. 28 Sept. 2014.