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Tuesday, June 30, 2020

Deadly Diseases in Competition with Coronavirus (COVID-19) and Why

Nadene Goldfoot                                                   


Tuberculosis (TB) is a disease caused by bacteria called Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Symptoms are a cough.  The bacteria usually attack the lungs, but they can also damage other parts of the body. TB spreads through the air when a person with TB of the lungs or throat coughs, sneezes, or talks.  Although tuberculosis is contagious, it's not easy to catch. You're much more likely to get tuberculosis from someone you live with or work with than from a stranger. Most people with active TB who've had appropriate drug treatment for at least two weeks are no longer contagious. My first husband and father of my children found he had TB when in high school in Lakewood, Washington.  He had to spend a year in a special sanitarium for TB which put him behind a year in graduating.  Being he had an IQ of 165, he was able to pick up the threads of studying and became a radiologist.  The illness thrust his interests into medicine, no doubt.  
 
                                                                         
Hepatitis B  A serious liver infection caused by the hepatitis B virus that's easily preventable by a vaccine.
This disease is most commonly spread by exposure to infected body fluids.
Symptoms are variable and include yellowing of the eyes, abdominal pain, and dark urine. Some people, particularly children, don't experience any symptoms. In chronic cases, liver failure, cancer, or scarring can occur.
The condition often clears up on its own. Chronic cases need medication and possibly a liver transplant.                  
Pneumonia Pneumonia is an infection in your lungs caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi, or parasites. You can become infected if you come in contact with someone who is sick. You can get pneumonia if you recently had surgery or needed a ventilator to help you breathe. Pneumonia can also be caused by accidentally inhaling saliva or small pieces of food.Infection that inflames air sacs in one or both lungs, which may fill with fluid.
With pneumonia, the air sacs may fill with fluid or pus. The infection can be life-threatening to anyone, but particularly to infants, children, and people over 65.
Symptoms include cough with phlegm or pus, fever, chills, and difficulty breathing.  Antibiotics can treat many forms of pneumonia. Some forms of pneumonia can be prevented by vaccines.  The physical reason  that coronavirus patients die is caused by pneumonia because the lungs have been contaminated by the virus. 
                                                     

Norovirus is a very contagious virus that causes vomiting and diarrhea. Anyone can get infected and sick with norovirus. You can get norovirus from: Having direct contact with an infected person. Consuming contaminated food or water. You hear of people on cruises coming down with this disease because of the closeness of passengers.  It could have been transferred through the air conditioning.  The virus can be found in the stool of infected individuals as long as two weeks after recovery, as well as on contaminated surfaces for up to two weeks.  This is how scientists learn more about the world of viruses and how they must be fought compared to bacterium.  
                                                         
 
Sars  or Severe acute respiratory syndrome:  A contagious and sometimes fatal respiratory illness caused by a coronavirus.  SARS appeared in 2002 in China. It spread worldwide within a few months, though it was quickly contained. SARS is a virus transmitted through droplets that enter the air when someone with the disease coughs, sneezes, or talks. No known transmission has occurred since 2004.  Fever, dry cough, headache, muscle aches, and difficulty breathing are symptoms.  No treatment exists except supportive care.  Fewer than 1,000 cases in USA per year.  (SARS was first reported in Asia in February 2003. Over the next few months, the illness spread to more than two dozen countries in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia before the SARS global outbreak of 2003 was contained).   
                                                       
    
Swine Flu:       A human respiratory infection caused by an influenza strain that started in pigs.  Swine flu was first recognized in the 1919 pandemic and still circulates as a seasonal flu virus. Swine flu is caused by the H1N1 virus strain, which started in pigs.  Symptoms include fever, cough, sore throat, chills, and body aches.  Typical treatment includes rest, pain relievers, and fluids.  Dr. Faucci on Trump's team just commented tonight that this flu has now reappeared again.  It didn't even make the list below.  It contains the 2009 pandemic genes which is not a good sign.  The G4 virus kept showing up in pigs, year after year -- and even showed sharp increases in the swine population after 2016.  Further tests showed that G4 can infect humans by binding to our cells and receptors, and it can replicate quickly inside our airway cells. And though G4 holds H1N1 genes, people who have received seasonal flu vaccines won't have any immunity.  G4 already appears to have infected humans in China. In Hebei and Shandong provinces, both places with high pig numbers, more than 10% of swine workers on pig farms and 4.4% of the general population tested positive in a survey from 2016 to 2018.                                                                                     

Flu    Influenza (the flu) and COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus that's led to the current pandemic, are both infectious respiratory illnesses. Although the symptoms of COVID-19 and the flu can look similar, the two illnesses are caused by different viruses.  We are accustomed to getting our annual shot to prevent getting the flu every year.  We we were not aware that this other deadly flu virus was lurking to get as many as it could, creating a pandemic.  There is no  vaccine for us against the COVID-19 as yet.  Life without that protection is shocking and many are in denial, doing things like refusing to wear masks, something people gladly did in 1918 with the first flu pandemic that was probably slightly altered from this one.

 COVID-19: Caused by one virus, the novel 2019 coronavirus, now called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, or SARS-CoV-2.  Flu: Caused by any of several different types and strains of influenza viruses.  
Both can be spread from person to person through droplets in the air from an infected person coughing, sneezing or talking.  A possible difference: COVID-19 might be spread through the airborne route .  Both can be spread by an infected person for several days before their symptoms appear.  Both cause fever, cough, body aches and fatigue; sometimes vomiting and diarrhea. The full list of symptoms of COVID-19 continues to evolve as more is learned about the illness.  Can be mild or severe, even fatal in rare cases.  Can result in pneumonia.


COVID-19: The first cases appeared in China in late 2019 and the first confirmed case in the United States appeared in January 2020.  Approximately 10,415,035 cases have been confirmed worldwide. There have been 2,682,897 cases in the U.S. as of June 30, 2020.*  Flu: The World Health Organization estimates that 1 billion people worldwide get the flu every year.  In the U.S., for Oct. 1, 2019 – Apr. 4, 2020, the CDC estimates that there were 39 million to 56 million cases of flu. (The CDC does not know the exact number because the flu is not a reportable disease in most parts of the U.S.)                                                                                
Whooping Cough  a childhood disease I had along with Measles, Mumps, etc.  A highly contagious respiratory tract infection that is easily preventable by vaccine.  This big cough starts out small with bacteria called Bordetella pertussis. Anyone exposed to the bacteria can get sick.  Whooping cough is particularly dangerous for infants.Besides a cough that sounds like "whoop," symptoms include a runny nose, nasal congestion, and sneezing.  Treatment includes antibiotics.  Born in 1934, there were no vaccines.  Most children came down with these childhood diseases.  With chicken pox, I was on my bed chasing down chickens, so I thought.  Today's children are protected.  
                                                    

Measles  A viral infection that's serious for small children but is easily preventable by a vaccine.  The disease spreads through the air by respiratory droplets produced from coughing or sneezing.  Measles symptoms don't appear until 10 to 14 days after exposure. They include cough, runny nose, inflamed eyes, sore throat, fever, and a red, blotchy skin rash.  There's no treatment to get rid of an established measles infection, but over-the-counter fever reducers or vitamin A may help with symptoms.  I had the measles as a child and had the 3 day measles as an adult while teaching.  There I was up at the blackboard and had broken out with those red spots all over again.  I got to go home.  It's very rare today in the USA, almost wiped out with less than 1,000 cases per year though it's highly contagious.  Some parents are afraid of any of the vaccines for childhood illnesses, fear of it causing more serious complications of other problems faced today.
                                                            
Typhoid fever  very rare in USA, less than 20,000 cases per year:  A bacterial disease spread through contaminated food and water or close contact.  Vaccines are recommended in areas where typhoid fever is common.  Symptoms include high fever, headache, belly pain, and either constipation or diarrhea.  Treatment includes antibiotics and fluids.  
                                                  

Cholera   is an infectious disease that causes severe watery diarrhea, which can lead to dehydration and even death if untreated. It is caused by eating food or drinking water contaminated with a bacterium called Vibrio cholerae.  
Symptoms: Dehydration                                                          
Submitted by Data Driver Expert/Accountant Doug Offermann

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