Latest Health News October 2011 | Health News from India


Encephalitis kills around 500 people in UP
Encephalitis is an acute infection and inflammation of the brain. Encephalitis is generally a viral illness. Viruses such as those responsible for causing cold sores, mumps, measles, and chickenpox can also cause encephalitis. A certain family of viruses, the Arboviruses are spread by insects such as mosquitoes.Japanese encephalitis virus is the most common arbovirus in the world (virus transmitted by blood-sucking mosquitoes or ticks) and is responsible for 50,000 cases and 15,000 deaths per year. In UP,the majority of patients are suffering from water-borne entero-virus encephalitis while the cases of Japanese Encephalitis are about 10 per cent of the total encephalitis patients. A similar type of disease is meningitis where inflammation happens to the layers covering the brain.
Dengue fever becomes a worldwide problem
Dengue fever or breakbone fever, is an infectious tropical disease caused by the dengue virus. Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle and joint pains, and a characteristic skin rash that is similar to measles. Sometimes the disease develops into the life-threatening dengue hemorrhagic fever, resulting in bleeding, low levels of blood platelets and blood plasma leakage, or into dengue shock syndrome, where dangerously low blood pressure occurs. Dengue virus is primarily transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes. Now a days Dengue has become as a life taking disease in India.  It has become a worldwide problem since the Second World War and is endemic in more than 110 countries.

What are Tropical diseases?
Tropical diseases are diseases that are prevalent in or unique to tropical and subtropical regions. The diseases are less prevalent in temperate climates, due in part to the occurrence of a cold season, which controls the insect population by forcing hibernation. Insects such as mosquitoes and flies are by far the most common disease carrier, or vector. These insects may carry a parasite, bacterium or virus that is infectious to humans and animals. Encephalitis and Dengue are examples for Tropical diseases.

India's first robotic liver transplant performed in Gurgaon
In the first such surgery in India, doctors at a city hospital have performed a robotic liver transplant to save the life of a four-year-old child. The child was was suffering from tyrosinemia, a rare genetic disorder due to which the liver is unable to digest proteins. The robot was named as Da-Vinci.

Celiac Disease
Celiac Disease (CD) is caused by an immune reaction (hypersensitivity) to gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley, oats, and rye. In people with CD, gluten triggers an autoimmune reaction in which the body produces antibodies that attack its own tissue. This reaction causes inflammation and damage to the lining of the small intestines.  The current treatment is a strictly gluten-free diet for life. Rice and corn can be part of a gluten-free diet.

What is Bariatric surgery?
Bariatric surgery (weight-loss surgery) includes a variety of procedures performed on people who are obese. Weight loss is achieved by reducing the size of the stomach with an implanted medical device or through removal of a portion of the stomach etc. Studies show the Bariatric surgery can cause significant long-term loss of weight, recovery from diabetes, improvement in cardiovascular risk factors, and a reduction in mortality of 23% from 40%. Gastric bypass surgery, a type of bariatric surgery, which helps to control the sugar levels. Recently, BJP President Nitin Gadkari who was suffering from Type II diabetes went in for gastric bypass surgery.

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