Fighting infectious diseases | Arab News

 Combating antimicrobial resistance will require groundbreaking technological solutions. To prevent superbugs from claiming an estimated 10 million lives a year by 2050, we will need to invent new types of antimicrobial drugs and develop rapid diagnostic tests to avoid unnecessary treatment and cut our massive overuse of antibiotics.

And yet, as important as these high-tech contributions may be, they are only partial fixes. To tackle the problem permanently, the only option is to prevent infections from occurring in the first place — with improved hygiene, sanitation and disease surveillance. Indeed, only by focusing on these areas will we lower the demand for new drugs over the long term.

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Fighting infectious diseases | Arab News

read more articles by the writer Jim O'Neil :
 http://www.arabnews.com/author/Jim%20O'Neill

Genetic disease named after Saudi doctor | Arab News

John Hopkins University has named a new genetic disease after a Saudi woman doctor for contributing to research around the illness. Wafa bint Mohammad Al-Eyaid, a consultant in endocrine diseases and genetics at the King Abdulaziz Medical City, Ministry of the National Guard in Riyadh, followed 12 cases involving six Saudi families between 2002 and 2010.

She found that the children were born underweight despite seemingly normal periods of pregnancy, and had significant softness of the skin around their necks and elsewhere. All of them had heart defects, with some having undergone surgery.

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Genetic disease named after Saudi doctor | Arab News

Why you can't just wipe out mosquitoes to get rid of the Zika virus - Saudi Gazette

On Saturday Colombia’s national health institute confirmed that more than 2,100 pregnant Colombian women are infected with the Zika virus, which has been linked to a devastating birth defect that affects a fetus’ brain.

The mosquito-borne disease, for which there is no vaccine or treatment, has been quickly spreading across the Americas since May, when the first confirmed Zika infection was reported in Brazil. More than 4 million people could be infected by the end of the year,
according to the World Health Organization.


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Why you can't just wipe out mosquitoes to get rid of the Zika virus - Saudi Gazette

Hemophilia: Trained staff needed | Arab News

 Dr. Hazzaa Al-Zahrani, director of hematology and fellowship training programs at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center in Riyadh, has warned against the increasing risk of hemophilia in the Gulf region.
He said about 75 percent of the people suffering from the bleeding disorder in developing countries do not receive enough or adequate treatment, or none at all, because health systems in these countries already have enough on their hands among health problems such
as dealing with malignant and infectious diseases.

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Hemophilia: Trained staff needed | Arab News

Why You Can Get So Many Diseases from Mosquitoes | TIME

 

Times magazine:

Zika virus, the latest mosquito-borne virus to hit the United States, joins a long list of other infections the insects can carry, like malaria, dengue fever, chikungunya and West Nile. How can these bugs—so tiny that we often miss them at first swipe—be responsible for so many infections? It turns out their vampire-like tendencies are largely to blame.....

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Why You Can Get So Many Diseases from Mosquitoes | TIME

10 diseases you thought were gone- CNN

This year, the United States has recorded 16 cases of plague, while recent figures have revealed that in the UK, cases of "19th-century" diseases such as scurvy and scarlet fever are on the rise.

Changes to our living conditions and the development of medicines have affected the rise and fall of diseases, but they seldom disappear. To date, smallpox remains the only disease to have ever been eradicated.

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http://edition.cnn.com/2015/12/04/health/diseases-you-thought-were-gone/index.html

90% with genetic disorders marry cousins | Arab News

 JEDDAH: Around 90 percent of men with sickle cell anemia and thalassemia
insist on marrying first cousins even though there is a high risk of
their children having these disorders and birth defects.

This is according to Ali Al-Ghamdi, general supervisor of marriage tests at
Jeddah’s regional laboratory, who said that couples with genetic
disorders often marry because they want to adhere to traditions,
according to a report in a local publication recently.

Al-Ghamdi said that couples are not obliged to take tests. If they do, they are at
least aware of the risks involved if they tie the knot with one of them
having a genetic disorder.

He said clinics test for sickle cell anemia and thalassemia, among other diseases. If couples are negative they are given a certificate to continue their procedures. If one or
both has a genetic disease they are referred to a specialist clinic
where they will get advice on the consequences of getting married.

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90% with genetic disorders marry cousins | Arab News

KSA registered 21,761 AIDS cases since 1984 | Arab News

 JEDDAH: The Kingdom has recorded 21,761 people with AIDS in the country
since 1984, divided into 6,334 Saudis and 15,427 non-Saudis, a local
publication reported to mark World AIDS Day on Dec. 1.

In 2014, there were 1,222 new cases recorded, with Saudis making up 444 and
foreigners 778, according to Tawfiq bin Ahmad Khoja, director general of
the executive office of the GCC Health Ministers’ Council.

Khoja said that infections among people in the GCC countries is the lowest in
the region, between 0.15 and 1.95 for every 1,000 individuals.

 He said HIV cases are rising because of several factors, including people lacking knowledge, movement of people between large cities, drug addicts sharing needles and the influence of migrants from countries with a high incidence of infections.Khoja said the GCC health ministries have taken several precautions to counter the spread of this virus, including stopping the importation of blood from abroad, and increasing awareness campaigns especially targeting young people.


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KSA registered 21,761 AIDS cases since 1984 | Arab News

Six Alkhobar students down with swine flu | Arab News

 DAMMAM: Six elementary school students have been isolated on suspicion
of having swine flu, said officials at King Fahd Bridge Elementary School in Alkhobar.
The Department of Health Affairs in the Eastern Province sent a medical team to transfer the students to a local hospital for necessary tests and treatment.

School director Nasser Al-Maymouni refrained from providing any details about the issue, asking the media to contact the public relations wing of the education department. The director of education in the province, Abdulrahman Al-Maderes, has asked medical teams to investigate the condition of the students. “If it is confirmed that the students have swine flu, the department of education will take necessary precautionary measures,”
said Al-Maderes.

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Six Alkhobar students down with swine flu | Arab News

The twists and turns of naming diseases - BBC News

When a new disease is identified in agroup of patients it needs a name so it can be described, researched and treated. But, unlike naming a child, there is no little book of
names for diseases. So how do you choose the right name for a new condition? It isn't easy.

In the 1970s, Dr Graham Hughes, a rheumatologist working at London Bridge Hospital noticed that a group of his patients suffered from "sticky" blood that increased their risk of
dangerous blot clots. His colleagues decided to name the condition after
him, a recognition which is rare these days.

"It was an honour for me," explained Dr Hughes. "Hopefully, when I kick the bucket, I'll be remembered for it."


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The twists and turns of naming diseases - BBC News

Diseases on the rise: What to watch out for - source the news star

Flu isn’t the only illness you’ll want to have on your radar this year.
A new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
summarizes data on all infectious and non-infectious diseases reported
to health departments across the country, allowing for a “side by side
comparison,” said Dr. Robert Amler,
dean of the School of Health Sciences and Practice at New York Medical
College. Data in the summary is from 2013, the most recent year
available.
“For the first time we’re going to see, in the same
document, what’s happening with measles and what’s also happening with
blood lead levels in adults,” said Amler, whose career includes a nearly
25-year stint with the CDC. “And we’re going to see what’s happening
with Lyme disease at the same time as we’re counting outbreaks of
food-borne illness, which can be just as problematic.”

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link:

Diseases on the rise: What to watch out for

Research on MERS launched | Arab News

 RIYADH: The King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) in
cooperation with the ministries of health and agriculture has launched a
joint program for comprehensive research on the Middle East Respiratory
Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), which has infected 1,276 people in the
Kingdom since June 2012.
Of the total number of MERS victims, 546 have died, according to the Ministry of Health's latest count.
The
agreement was signed by President of the King Abdul Aziz City for
Science and Technology (KACST) Prince Turki bin Saud bin Mohammed Al
Saud, Health Minister Khalid Al-Falih and Minister of Agriculture
Abdulrahman bin Abdulmohsen Al-Fadhli at KACST headquarters on Sunday.



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Research on MERS launched | Arab News

Fight diseases with regular exercise: Al-Falih | Arab News

 RIYADH: Health Minister Khalid Al-Falih said regular physical exercises
will help build a healthy generation and reduce the incidence of
diseases in the Kingdom.
He was speaking at a charity race, which was
held under the patronage of Eastern Province Gov. Prince Saud bin Naif,
at the Alkhobar Corniche during the weekend.
The event was
sponsored by the Ministry of Health (MoH) to highlight the importance of
physical activities to promote healthy patterns and measures for
disease prevention. The theme of the event was: “Citizens’ Health is
First”.
The minister urged all residents and citizens to do exercise
regularly, at least walking, to fortify themselves against ailments
such as diabetes, obesity and heart problems. He pointed out that that
it is an expensive program to treat such patients.

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Fight diseases with regular exercise: Al-Falih | Arab News

How much do chronic diseases cost in the US? source FOXNEWS

The most expensive health condition in the United States is cardiovascular disease, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Treating people with cardiovascular disease results in costs for each U.S. state that range from $411 million to $26 billion yearly, according to the report. In addition, the costs of absenteeism (days of lost work) due to cardiovascular disease fall between $23 million and $1.3 billion for each state yearly, the report said.


The numbers in the report come from a CDC tool called the Chronic Disease Cost Calculator, and one of the reasons the researchers wrote the report was to demonstrate exactly what the tool can do, said Justin Trogdon, an associate professor of health policy and management at the University of North Carolina and a lead author of the new report, published today (Sept. 3) in the journal Preventing Chronic Disease.

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