Secondhand Smoke Reduction

Good news to the U.S!

The CDC has recently reported a decline in exposure to second hand smoke.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/04/health/for-americans-second-hand-smoke-exposure-cut-in-half-cdc-reports.html?ref=health&_r=0

Measles- Vaccinate

Click Above for Forbes Article: "Should Doctors Fire Their Anti-Vaccine Patients"

Recently, there has been an outbreak of measles within the U.S at Disneyland and other places. This has struck numerous Americans by surprise since there's a vaccine that helped almost completely annihilate measles after 1982. But when individuals, especially children, are not vaccinated for this and other diseases it puts not only themselves but the surrounding individuals at risk. Some reasons for not having a child vaccinated can be religious beliefs, mistrust in medicine such as thinking it will cause autism (which it has been proven not to "click for link of study"), and children simply being too young to get vaccinated. 

Unfortunately, this non-vaccinated group is more susceptible to catch measles and other diseases at a 90% infection rate after exposure. This puts vaccinated children and adults at risk, which many people may think how does that happen, how can people who are vaccinated get the disease from which they were vaccinated for? Well, since the purpose of a vaccination is to introduce a weaker version of a virus as to set up the immune system to design antibodies specifically for that virus it would be a common thought that the body would be ready for pathogens that the U.S has vaccinations for. 

Yet, some people do not have the reaction of their immune system that is required to produce specific cytokines (response callers to white blood cells) that would help monocytes and macrophages (cells in the immune system that "digest" foreign pathogens) to develop in order to fight off a measles exposure. The current measles outbreak has a possibility of naturally being stopped with a combination of high quality health care in the U.S and the high numbers of vaccinated individuals. 

Attached below is a link to the WHO (World Health Organization) with facts and statistics on the measles virus.

WHO (MEASLES)

Health Insurance Deadline

With an effort to make the American population an insured population, the government has worked on a health insurance individual mandate for in recent years. With this work, it is essential that individuals who are financially able to have health insurance finally buy it if not already personally purchased.

February 15, 2015 is the deadline under the ACA and if health insurance is not purchased by then there will be either a $325 per person ($162.50 per child under 18) penalty with a maximum of $925 worth of penalties or a 2% yearly household income penalty that is maximized at the national average for premium on a bronze plan (Fees & Exemptions, 2015).

Unless under one or multiple of the categories below, it is essential to seek individual/family health insurance before the February 15th deadline:

• Income is below the tax filing limit

• Suffer a hardship that prevents you from being able to buy health coverage

• Health coverage is unaffordable for you

• Currently incarcerated

• Time without coverage is less than three months

• Religious objection

• Undocumented immigrant

• Member of an Native American tribe

With expansion in government programs such as Medicaid there are more ways to become part of the insured population! Provided below is a link in which can help guide individuals towards choosing a health insurance plan!

HEALTH INSURANCE INFORMATION

Reference

Fees & Exemptions. (n.d.). Retrieved January 28, 2015, from https://www.healthcare.gov/fees-exemptions/fee-for-not-being-covered/

Holiday Info: Christmas Cacti Allergies

(Click Picture above for the link to Immediate allergic and nonallergic reactions to Christmas and Easter cacti study)

With Christmas coming around the corner many Americans will get themselves and their families Christmas trees and cacti. Approximate numbers of these trees were 33.02 million for real trees and 14.7 million for fake trees (NCTA, 2013). The mass consensus is that the use of Christmas trees are positive yet unfortunately having interactions with the less used Christmas Cacti can sometimes lead to undesirable effects. Individuals who had occupational exposures with Christmas Cacti were separated in groups of "cases" and "controls". After the "case" group was pricked with a Cactus needle, it was determined that 8% of the group was allergic towards Christmas Cacti. These allergies were mild, type 1 allergies that were in the form of urticaria and rhino conjunctivitis (Anderson, Bindslev-Jensen, Paulsen, Stahl, 2014). It was determined that fresh cacti leaves may have a variance in components throughout the year that individuals may have allergic reactions towards, especially ones who are occupationally exposed to cacti. With this noted, if there are any individuals who have the symptoms of urticaria (more commonly known as hives) and/or rhino conjunctivitis after contact with a Christmas Cactus, contact your primary physician or local health care provider to determine if the cactus exposure is the reason for the symptoms. Below are some examples of symptoms linked to an allergic reaction towards Christmas Cacti. -Happy Holidays


urticaria symptoms:  Pruritus, Rash, Lesions, Skin eruptions, Irritation.

rhino conjunctivitis symptoms: nasal congestion, runny nose, post-nasal drip, sneezing, red eyes (conjunctivitis), and itching of the nose or eyes.

References

Immediate allergic and nonallergic reactions to Christmas and Easter cacti. (n.d.). Retrieved December          

        25, 2014, from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1034/j.1398-9995.1999.00016.x/full

National Christmas Tree Association News & Media Industry Statistics Consumer Survey. (n.d.). 

       Retrieved December 25, 2014, from 

       http://www.realchristmastrees.org/dnn/NewsMedia/IndustryStatistics/ConsumerSurvey.aspx

Urticaria. (n.d.). Retrieved December 25, 2014, from 
      http://www.rightdiagnosis.com/u/urticaria/intro.htm

HIV/AIDS in the U.S

HIV/AIDS is often seen as a disease in which only happens in developing countries yet this is not the case. With an influx of transportation availability worldwide and large group of individuals not using STI protection during intercourse as well as use of dirty needles, the disease has spread from person to person on a consistent track. In order to stop a disease we cannot currently fully cure, the best way to at least slow down the progression of the disease is to know how to prevent new cases to begin with.

U.S AIDS Brief History

• First case reported in the U.S of AIDS: June 1981.
• Over 1.1 million infected in the U.S.
• Level of disease in nation: Epidemic (larger than expected incidence/prevalence of the disease)
• 648,459+ deaths

Incidence

• 50,000 new cases a year (stable rate in U.S)
• 44% Black, 31% White, 21% Latino

Prevalence

• 1.2 million infected with disease
• 1 in 7 are not aware of infection

Testing Sites

Possible sites/areas in which can provide screenings and overall resources (clean needles, condoms, testing, etc.). Most testing results' accuracy can range from 94%-99% accurate determining on which one is provided:

• Planned Parenthood
• Contacting primary care provider
• Local health departments
• Universities (events & clinics)

Protection

• Asking partner for testing information
• Condoms (Birth Control Pills do NOT prevent contraction of HIV/AID's and many other STI's)
• Drug users: Only inject sanitary and unused needles
• Avoiding exposure to seminal fluid & blood from infected individuals (viral load in blood usually lower than seminal fluid but not always the case)

Cost

• Programs that help pay cost: Medicaid, the Ryan White Program, the Housing Opportunities for Persons with HIV/AIDS Program, Medicare, etc.
• Estimated $12.1 billion annual cost
• Medicare spending on HIV/AIDS roughly $6.6 billion

References

 

How We're Spending. (n.d.). Retrieved December 21, 2014, from http://www.aids.gov/federal-

       

        resources/funding-opportunities/how-were-spending/

 

Financial Impact of HIV/AIDS. (n.d.). Retrieved December 21, 2014, from http://carm.org/statistics-

      

        financial-hiv-aids

 

The HIV/AIDS Epidemic in the United States. (n.d.). Retrieved December 21, 2014, from

 

        http://kff.org/hivaids/fact-sheet/the-hivaids-epidemic-in-the-united-states/



The Fight Against Ebola Documentary

This is a documentary related to one of my previous post that I found while searching around the internet. Enjoy!

Macerudet - Water and Sanitation Project

Hello All!

Quick update. I've recently been accepted to volunteer for the Macerudet - Water & Sanitation Project. It is a program designed to increased the access of safe drinking water and improve the sanitation facilities in the Masulita province of Uganda. For the country of Uganda, there are only 72% of people that can access improved drinking water sources. Also, only 34% of people in Uganda use improved sanitation facilities ("Statistics," 2010). Unfortunately, isolated rural areas such as Masulita have even lower numbers. This lack of water and sanitation infrastructure has a major impact on the health of this population with higher risk of developing candidiasis and/or other waterborne illness. Personally, my role is to help research funding sources towards this project. If anyone is interested in helping with this search or would like more information you may contact me.

"The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others."
-Alber Schweitzer, M.D

References

Statistics. (2010, January 1). Retrieved October 24, 2014, from 

        http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/uganda_statistics.html