Virus Diseases

Viruses are smallest microorganisms which cause infectious diseases. Viruses multiply only in live cells. How does this occur? Virus makes the cell it intends to enter produce special virus-alike molecules which form new virus particules which spread to neighbored healthy cells.

The number of viruses increases, gradually they capture more and more cells which leads to disease appearing. Each of body organs may be affected by viruses, thus each vurus disease has its own symptoms and signs. However, all viruses are intracellular pathogens and therefore all methods of treatment of diseases they cause are inefficient. Antibiotics are ineffective in case of viral infection, it means that the duration of disease and its severity depend on organism ability to fight the virus.

One of most seroius methods is prevention of serious virus diseases with the help of vaccination. Most popular classification of viruses is based on their correlation with diseases they cause, for example, viruses that cause such diseases as smallpox, measles, rubella and chickenpox. These diseases spred via blood through whole body very rapidly, and may affect at once several organs including skin (rash).

Other viruses affect only particular organs. For example, viruses of poliomyelitis and rabies damage nervous system. Influenza viruses affect respiratory system, viruses of hepatitis A and B affect liver work. However, this classification is not quite reliable because one and the same virus may damage various organs. For example, herpes catarrhalis may affect lips skin, genitalia or even nervous system. Therefore, today viruses do classify according to their size, shape, structure and mode of reproduction.

Though antibiotics are ineffective to fight viruses, however, there are medications which help to do it. Remember that prevention is the best way to fight virus diseases – try to avoid them, protect yourself and your children from them. Vaccination prevents from entering of particular viruses in the body.

How To Boost Your Immune System?

We continue to talk about immunity. See the beginning in previous post.

Vaccines may be killed or live. Adaptive immunity after injecting killed vaccine is of small duration (about one year) in comparison with live ones (5 – 8 years). Killed vaccines present of themselves a suspension of microorganisms killed with folmalin, spirit or heating. Live vaccines present of themselves a suspension of live but attenuated microorganisms.

Contraindications to vaccines usage are:
- acute febrile illness;
- passed infectious diseases;
- tuberculosis;
- heart disease;
- serious diseases of kidneys; stomach, etc;
- pregnancy;
- first weeks of lactation;
- allergies.

Signs of low immune system:
- frequent backsets of chronic diseases
- frequent cold-related diseases
- sedentary lifestyle, alcohol abuse, smoking, stress, lack of good rest do greatly lower immunity
- chemical substances have negative effects on immune system. Using of medications for a long period of time may lower immunity, so it is recommended to take preventive measures for maintaining body defenses.

How to boost your immune system?
1) Vitamins. Most positive effects on body have natural vitamins rather than pills.
2) Adaptogens, i.e. medical agents which increase body resistance to negative effects of external environment (ginseng, eleuterococcus, etc).
3) Exercises.
4) Healthy lifestyle.

Take special care about medications which do “boost the immunity”. Remember that those medications are never used as self-acting remedy. They may only be prescribed by your doctor to take it along with basic medication for treatment of concrete disease. Healthy people have no need to take these medications. Chemical balance in human body is too fragile mechanism and self-treatment in this case may lead to negative effects. Taking medications for immunity boosting without prescription of your doctor leads to immunity lowering.

What Is Immunity?

Immunity (lat. Immanitas – liberation from duties) is an ability of body to resist infections and toxins. Immune system is most important system in human body. Immunity protects body not only from microbes that provoke infectious diseases but also from genetically foreign cells (parasites, enthetic tissues and even cancerous cells). Immunity to infectious diseases shows in several forms.

Natural immunity appears without conscious human intervention. It may be innate or adaptive.

1. Innate immunity (inherent immunity) is determined by characteristics transmitted heritably which are common to particular species. This is biological peculiarity of a specie which is resistant to particular infections. For example, humans never get infected with distempers and, instead, dogs never get infected with typhoid fever. Children in their first months of life have natural immunity to measles, scarlet fever, and diphtheria, which is connected with retention of protective antibodies that he got from mother who was diseased with them in past.

2. Adaptive immunity (acquired immunity) results from body reaction to entering of microbes in the body. It occurs after infectious disease or results from latent inflammatory process. Acquired natural immunity after ones infectious disease persists for a long time, sometimes for life (typhoid fever, chicken pox, measles, etc), and sometimes for a short time (influenza, etc). Immune system “remembers” all microorganisms which it faced before. Antibodies against them remain in the body for a long time or even for life. So when the microbe enters the body again, the immune system already knows how to fight it and as a result the disease courses in more mild form.

3. Artificial immunity appears after injecting vaccines or serum. Vaccination is performed routinely independently from morbidity rate. Serum with antibodies is used to provide rapid activation of immunity when infection has already occurred. The duration of artificial immunity is less than of natural immunity. Serum provides the duration of 2 – 3 weeks, and vaccines from several months to 5 – 8 years.

Obligatory vaccines are vaccines against tuberculosis, measles, poliomyelitis, diphtheria, tetanus, etc. Routinely are made vaccines to particular population groups, for example, vaccines against intestinal infections to workers of food enterprises, child-care centres, etc. In particular terms vaccines are made again (revaccinaction).

pizza for diabetic

diabetic non-veg pizza(serves 6)
Ingredients:

8 ounces fat free cream cheese
1 cup egg substitute (or 8 egg whites)
1/3 cup low-carb milk
2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 bunch broccoli (Frozen's OK)
3 cups part-skim mozzarella cheese, shredded

Directions:

1Preheat oven to 375.

2Beat together half the cream cheese, milk, and eggs until smooth. Add any seasonings you want.

3Spray 9X13 pan with cooking spray or oil.

4Place 2 cups mozzerella cheese in bottom of pan.

5Pour egg mixture over cheese.

6Bake for 30 minutes.

7Meanwhile, steam the chicken and broccoli and cut into small pieces.

8Remove crust from oven and spread the remaining cream cheese on top.

9Put chicken and broccoli on cream cheese layer, then cover with remaining cup of mozzarella cheese.

10Bake another 5-10 minutes until cheese is melted.

diabetic veg pizza (serves 6)

Instructions
Things You'll Need
11 1/2-inch thin crust Italian bread shell

1 cup pizza sauce

2/3 cup shredded part-skim milk mozzarella cheese

6 oz. turkey sausage

1 small white onion, thinly sliced

1/2 cup fresh mushrooms, sliced

1/2 green bell pepper (chopped)

1/2 red and yellow peppers (chopped)

1/2 tsp. crushed dried oregano

1/2 tsp. crushed dried basil

Crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

recipie
1
Crumble the turkey sausage and brown in a skillet. Drain on paper towels and place in a bowl. Do this ahead of time and set aside.

2
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Place the shell on an ungreased 12-inch non-stick pizza pan.

3
Assemble your pizza by spreading the pizza sauce over the shell, leaving a 1-inch border around the rim. Sprinkle with half the cheese.

4
Arrange the cooked sausage on top of the cheese, covering evenly.

5
Top with onion and mushroom slices along with chopped green, yellow and red peppers. Sprinkle evenly with oregano, basil and red pepper flakes (if using). Top with remaining cheese.

6
Bake for 13 to 15 minutes until the crust is crisp and the cheese is melted and browned.

7
Cut into 6 wedges and serve with a salad, low sugar applesauce or coleslaw.

Top 10 ways to live with diabetes

Top 10 ways to live with diabetes
About 59 million indians have type 2 diabetes and many more are at high risk.
Diabetes is a metabolic as well as autoimmune disorder. It is caused by the abnormal secretion of the natural hormone insulin. Though diabetes can not be cured completely but you can kept it under control and can always live a healthy life style.


Below are the top ten precautions that should be followed to live with diabetes:

1) Exercise- exercise is specially important for people suffering from diabetes. You can start exercise at any age. It is a must for diabetics.

2) Diabetic diet- be honest and strict about it, keep in mind that over eating and unhealthy eating may even kill you. Follow your diabetic chart religiously.


3) Always keep in touch with doctors, feel free to discuss any abnormality. You will always find a whole lot of diabetes gurus, you can discuss with them, but before changing anything ask your doctor. Please keep in mind diabetes is a slow killer, we can’t play with it.

4) Medicine- be serious about those, take regularly, have extensive research work, feel free to discuss about the side effects. Take insulin regularly if it is required, never stop suddenly any thing without discussing with an specialist.

5) try to feel and understand the diabetic signals, low sugar level , high sugar levels, etc.

6) A fasting blood sugar test is the best screening tool. Blood sugar level testing is a diabetes risk calculator. Frequency of testing of blood and urine depends on the situation, your doctor is the best man to judge.

7) Avoid abnormal blood pressures, high or low what ever, it is not good for diabetics.

8.) Control your weight. Measure you weight periodically. Make it a habit to check your weight at least every month. Obesity is dangerous for diabetes.

9) Take care of your skin and feet. Act urgently to detect and cure any skin problems. Always use comfortable good quality shoes or slippers.

10) Take care of your eyes. Take all shorts of precautions for you eyes. Periodical eye examination is also required.

Try to keep in touch with the diabetic world, lots of research and new ideas are coming up every day. Learn about diabetes, learn about the new medicines new tools, discuss these with your doctor, arrange group discussions, and keep going.

Hold on for a sec. if you are a diabetic, please avoid marrying another diabetic.

How type1 and type2 diabetes differs in diagnosis?

How type1 and type2 diabetes differs in diagnosis?
This is a query most of you have. You wonder why some one is diagnosed to have type1 diabetes when in the texts you will find that this is a genetic disease (from birth). Also in other cases, there is a very thin line of difference in symptoms for type1 and type2 diabetes mellitus. In this article we have attempted to cover a few differences that we found would be comprehensive and important for you.


Firstly as a start up we would like to begin with defining both forms of diseases. Diabetes Mellitus deals with an increased level of sugar in the body which is about 190-200mg/dL. Now this problem can arise from two sources:

1.Inability of the receptors of the cell to bind insulin or not enough insulin is produced - Diabetes type2(more common).
2.Lack of production of insulin - Diabetes type1
Still there are other type of diabetes with which people often get confused is that of the diabetes insipidus. It is completely unrelated to the glucose level of our body. It does not deal with the glucose metabolism by any way. this condition arises due to excessive production of hormones such as vasopressin which causes excessive production of urine.

Now there are several techniques that has come into limelight which can differentiate between type1 and type2 diabetes. Let us discuss.

A)Natural or human produced insulin includes a C- peptide chain. This C- peptide chain is nicked off from the main insulin protein chain, in a modification of cell. Till date artificially produced insulin C-peptides are not included. Therefore, in case of type1 diabetes, where the production of insulin does not happen at all, a C- peptide detection test might help a lot. This is the best test available till date to differentiate the two types.

B)Tests such as anti-islet antibody, glutamic acid decarboxylase or insulinoma associated peptide2 also identifies the type1 diabetes. In anti islet antibody test, an antibody is prepared against the insulin produced. Generally the antibody designed is radioactively tagged. Therefore if this antibody binds with the insulin produced, it can be identified concluding that it is type2 diabetes.

C)Also another effective way to diagnose type1 diabetes is insulin resistance. In this type of test the insulin resistant which incorporates a glucose tolerance test. In case of type2 diabetes, there is some reistance shown by the test, as insulin is released may be in smaller amount. But type1 diabetes will have no effect.

D)The most recent type of test is by GAD 65 which can differentiate between type1 and type2 diabetes. In type1 diabetes there is the presence of GAD65 antibody in the body, and when we are introducing GAD65 we can easily detect the disease.

The above mentioned tests are quite effective in determining the two types of diabetes mellitus, and we hope that you can choose to undergo any one of them which you find convenient.

ARVI (Acute Respiratory Viral Infection)

ARVI (commonly known as cold) is a widespread virus disease of upper respiratory tract. Major symptoms: running nose, cough, sneezing, headache, sore throat, fatigue. ARVI is most common infectious disease in developed countries where in average an adult gets sick 2- 3 times a year and a child 6 – 10 times.

ARVI may be caused by a number of agents including 5 different groups of viruses (parainfluenza virus, influenza virus, adenovirus, rhinovirus, reovirus) and over 300 their subtypes. All of them are infectious and are transmitted via airborne and are not treated with antibiotics. Also ARVI is transmitted via body contact, for example, during hand shaking.

At the onset of the disease virus is multiplied in nose, nasopharynx, throat showing with gripes, running nose, irritation and dry cough. Body temperature usually is not increased. Sometimes in this process are involved mucous of eyes and gastrointestinal ones.

Then virus enters the blood and causes symptoms of common intoxication: chill, headache, acute pains in back and limbs. Activation of immunity response helps body to produce antibodies to the virus, after which blood gradually becomes clean from virus and then symptoms of intoxication decrease.

At he final stage of the disease occurs respiratory tract cleaning from epithelium damaged by virus which shows with running nose and humid cough.

Treatment and prevention
Prevention against ARVI mainly consists of general health improvement, body strengthening, immune system stimulation, regular exercises, taking vitamins, consuming healthy food, fruits and vegetables. When epidemic occurs, it is necessary to abstain from visiting public places , avoid close contacts with diseased people and wash hands more frequently. And same rules for diseased people – they should take a sick day, not visit public places, avoid contacts with healthy people and wear flu mask.

ARVI treatment commonly is symptomatic: plentiful warm drinking (not hot), taking vitamin C. You should know that taking antibiotics without doctor's recommendation is strongly prohibited because they do not have any effect on viruses and instead they get immunity down and cause disbacteriosis. It is not recommended to take antifebriles and painkillers when temperature is below 38 degrees C because moderate body temperature increase is a natural protective reaction of human body which helps immunity to fight viruses. When comes to antifebrile taking, patient should take Ibuprofen, most safe and effective medication today.

Use anti-viral medications to treat and prevent ARVI.