|  |  |  | | | | | MedTerms Word of the Day | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Typhoid fever: An acute illness with fever caused by infection with the Salmonella typhi bacteria contracted from contaminated water and food. The disease has an insidious onset characterized by fever, headache, constipation, malaise, chills, and myalgia (muscle pain). Diarrhea is uncommon, and vomiting is not usually severe. Confusion, delirium, intestinal perforation, and death may occur in severe cases. Without therapy, the illness may last for 3 to 4 weeks and death rates range between 12% and 30%. The disease is transmitted through contaminated drinking water or food. Large epidemics are most often related to fecal contamination of water supplies or street vended foods. A chronic carrier state -- excretion of the organism for more than 1 year -- occurs in approximately 5% of cases. Typhoid Mary was a chronic carrier. About 16 million cases of typhoid fever and 600,000 deaths occur yearly worldwide. There are about 400 cases a year in the US, mostly among travelers. For people traveling to high risk areas, vaccines are recommended. One needs to complete the vaccination at least a week before travel so that the vaccine has time to take effect. The risk of typhoid is greatest for travelers to the Indian subcontinent and to developing countries in Asia, Africa, and Central and South America where there is prolonged exposure to potentially contaminated food and drink. Vaccination is particularly recommended for anyone traveling to smaller cities, villages, and rural areas off the usual tourist itineraries. Typhoid vaccination is not 100% effective and is not a substitute for careful selection of food and drink. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), as of May 30, 2003, 200 cases of typhoid fever, including 40 deaths, had occurred in remote villages of the Grand Bois Area of Haiti. Three of the cases were laboratory confirmed. The residents of the affected villages lack access to health care facilities and safe water. All water points in the area showed E.coli bacterial contamination. Deaths occurred primarily among people who did not receive medical attention. Treatment is with antibiotics but taking antibiotics does not prevent typhoid fever There is still 1-2% mortality (risk of death).
MedTerms (TM) is the Medical Dictionary of MedicineNet.com.
We Bring Doctors' Knowledge To You | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Dengue fever: An acute mosquito- borne viral illness of sudden onset that usually follows a benign course with headache, fever, prostration, severe joint and muscle pain, swollen glands (lymphadenopathy) and rash. The presence (the "dengue triad") of fever, rash, and headache (and other pains) is particularly characteristic of dengue. Dengue fever is endemic throughout the tropics and subtropics. It goes by other names including breakbone or dandy fever. Victims of dengue often have contortions due to the intense joint and muscle pain. Hence, the name "breakbone fever." Slaves in the West Indies who contracted dengue were said to have "dandy fever" because of their postures and gait.
MedTerms (TM) is the Medical Dictionary of MedicineNet.com.
We Bring Doctors' Knowledge To You | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Optic neuroma: A slow-growing benign tumor of the optic nerve. Optic gliomas are associated with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), can lead to partial or complete loss of vision, painless bulging of the eye, and headache, and are treated by surgical excision (removal) or, if too extensive, by radiotherapy.
MedTerms (TM) is the Medical Dictionary of MedicineNet.com.
We Bring Doctors' Knowledge To You | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Gustavson syndrome: A disorder first reported in 1999 by Gustavson and colleagues as a new X-linked mental retardation syndrome. In the family they studied there were 7 male children in 2 generations with the syndrome. The affected males were genealogically connected through females who were presumed to be carriers of the gene responsible for the syndrome. In addition to severe mental retardation, the syndrome includes microcephaly, optic atrophy with severely impaired vision or blindness, severe hearing defect, spasticity, epileptic seizures, restricted movement of the large joints, and death in infancy or early childhood. GUST, the gene that causes Gustavson syndrome, has been shown (through linkage analysis) to be on the X chromosome and to be, specifically, in chromosome band Xq26. At least two other mental retardation syndromes (Borjeson and Pettigrew syndromes) have been mapped to the same region. Gustavson syndrome is also known as mental retardation with optic atrophy, deafness and seizures.
MedTerms (TM) is the Medical Dictionary of MedicineNet.com.
We Bring Doctors' Knowledge To You | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | De Quervain's tenosynovitis: De Quervain's tenosynovitis is inflammation of tendons on the side of the wrist at the base of the thumb. These tendons include the extensor pollicis brevis and the abductor pollicis longus tendons. De Quervain's tenosynovitis typically is associated with pain when the thumb is folded across the palm and the fingers are flexed over the thumb as the hand is pulled away from the involved wrist area. (This is referred to as the Finklestein sign.) Treatment of De Quervain's tenosynovitis includes any combination of rest, splinting, ice, anti-inflammation medication, and/or cortisone injection. Surgery is only rarely necessary.
MedTerms (TM) is the Medical Dictionary of MedicineNet.com.
We Bring Doctors' Knowledge To You | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Bladder cancer: A common form of cancer that begins in the lining of the bladder as a superficial tumor (carcinoma in situ). The most common warning sign is blood in the urine. If there is enough blood to color the urine it may range from slightly rusty to deep red. Other symptoms may be pain during urination and frequent urination or feeling the need to urinate without results. The diagnosis may be suspected by findings in the medical history and physical examination, urine, and intravenous pyelogram (IVP). Confirmation requires a biopsy usually taken through a cystoscope (a thin lighted tube inserted through the urethra into the bladder). The bladder is lined with cells called transitional cells and squamous cells. Over 90% of bladder cancers begin in the transitional cells as transitional cell carcinoma. About 8% of bladder cancer patients have squamous cell carcinomas. The tumor may grow through the lining into the muscular wall of the bladder and extend into nearby organs such as the uterus or vagina (in women) or the prostate gland (in men). It also may invade the wall of the abdomen. When bladder cancer spreads beyond the bladder, the malignant cells are frequently found in nearby lymph nodes and may have spread to other lymph nodes or other places including the lungs, liver, or bones. Risk factors for bladder cancer include age (people under 40 rarely get this disease), race (Whites are at twice the risk of Blacks and Hispanics, with Asians at least risk), gender (men are at 2-3 times higher risk than women), family history of bladder cancer, use of tobacco (a major risk factor), treatment with cyclophosphamide or arsenic (for cancer or another disease), and occupational exposures (to workers in the rubber, chemical, and leather industries, hairdressers, machinists, metal workers, printers, painters, textile workers, and truck drivers). The type of treatment depends on the growth, size, and location of the tumor. Surgery is common. It may be a transurethral resection (removal or burning away the cancer through a cystoscope), segmental cystectomy (removal of part of the bladder), or radical cystectomy (removal of the entire bladder, the nearby lymph nodes, part of the urethra, and nearby organs that may contain cancer cells). Patients may also have chemotherapy, biological therapy, or radiotherapy. Prolonged survival in most patients with superficial cancers is achieved by transurethral resection (TUR) with or without intravesical (within-the-bladder) chemotherapy. However, cure is currently not possible for the majority of patients with deeply invasive tumors and for most patients with regional or distant metastases.
MedTerms (TM) is the Medical Dictionary of MedicineNet.com.
We Bring Doctors' Knowledge To You | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Foot pain: Foot pain is the sensation of discomfort in the foot arising from disorders or injury to any of the structures in the foot including bones, nerves, muscles, blood vessels, or connective tissue. There are numerous and varied causes for foot pain, since the foot is an extremely complex anatomic structure made up of 26 bones and 33 joints along with 19 muscles and 107 ligaments. Causes of foot pain originating in the foot include broken bones, calcaneal spurs, plantar fasciitis , arthritis, and infections. Systemic conditions and diseases, such as peripheral neuropathy resulting from diabetes and peripheral vascular disease (atherosclerosis) can sometimes result in foot pain.
MedTerms (TM) is the Medical Dictionary of MedicineNet.com.
We Bring Doctors' Knowledge To You | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Retinal detachment: A separation of the retina from its connection at the back of the eye. The separation usually results from a tear (that is, a rent or rip, not a tear drop) in the retina. The tear often occurs when the vitreous gel pulls loose or separates from its attachment to the retina, usually in the outside edges of the eye. The vitreous is a clear gel that fills most of the inside of the eye between the retina and the lens. If the retina is weak when the vitreous gel pulls loose, the retina will tear. This rip is sometimes accompanied by bleeding, or hemorrhage, if a blood vessel is also torn. Once the retina has torn, liquid from the vitreous gel can then pass through the tear and accumulate behind the retina. The build-up of fluid behind the retina is what separates (detaches) the retina from the back of the eye. As more of the liquid vitreous collects behind the retina, the extent of the retinal detachment can progress and involve the entire retina, leading to a total retinal detachment. A retinal detachment almost always affects only one eye. The second eye, however, must be checked thoroughly for any signs of the problem.
MedTerms (TM) is the Medical Dictionary of MedicineNet.com.
We Bring Doctors' Knowledge To You | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Salmon safety: The safety of eating salmon, especially farm-raised salmon. The levels of more than 50 pollutants, including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), were determined in some 700 salmon from around the world. The results reported in 2004 indicated that farmed salmon have higher levels of toxic pollutants than wild salmon caught in the ocean and that the source of the toxic pollutants, as suspected, is the feed. The risks of eating salmon must be weighed against the known health benefits of salmon. See also: Feed contaminant.
MedTerms (TM) is the Medical Dictionary of MedicineNet.com.
We Bring Doctors' Knowledge To You | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Bony syndactyly: A condition in which the bones of fingers or toes are joined together. Bony syndactyly is the opposite of cutaneous syndactyly, in which the bones are normal but skin between the digits is webbed.
MedTerms (TM) is the Medical Dictionary of MedicineNet.com.
We Bring Doctors' Knowledge To You | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Ankyrin deficiency: Known also as hereditary spherocytosis (HS), this is a genetic disorder of the red blood cell membrane clinically characterized by anemia, jaundice (yellowing) and splenomegaly (enlargement of the spleen), due to deficiency of ankyrin, a protein in the membrane of the red cell. In HS the red cells are smaller, rounder, and more fragile than normal. The red cells have a spherical rather than the biconcave-disk shape of the normal red cell. These rotund red cells (spherocytes) are osmotically fragile and less flexible than normal red cells and tend to get trapped in narrow blood passages, particularly in the spleen, and there they break up (hemolyze) leading to hemolytic anemia. The clogging of the spleen with red cells almost invariably causes splenomegaly. The breakup of the red cells releases hemoglobin and the heme part gives rise to bilirubin, the pigment of jaundice. The excess bilirubin leads to the formation of gallstones, even in childhood, There is also often iron overload due to the excess destruction of iron-rich red cells. Hereditary spherocytosis is most common in people of northern European ancestry. It often shows up in infancy or early childhood, causing anemia and jaundice. The bone marrow has to work extra hard to make more red cells. So, if in the course of an ordinary viral illness, the bone marrow stops making red cells, the anemia can quickly become profound. This is termed an aplastic crisis. Laboratory studies show evidence not only of many spherocytes but also increased numbers of reticulocytes (young red blood cells), hyperbilirubinemia (increased blood levels of the jaundice pigment bilirubin due to the breakup of the red cells) and increased osmotic fragility of the red cells. HS is due to a deficiency of a protein called ankyrin. Ankyrins are cell membrane proteins (thought to interconnect integral proteins with the spectrin-based membrane skeleton.) The ankyrin of red blood cells (erythrocytic ankyrin) is called ankyrin-R or ankyrin-1. It is represented by the symbol ANK1. The HS gene, that for ANK1, has been mapped to chromosome 8 and, specifically, to chromosome band 8p11.2. HS is inherited as a dominant trait so, if a person with HS reproduces, their child (irrespective of whether it is a boy or girl) has a 50:50 chance to have HS. The treatment of hereditary spherocytosis is to remove the spleen (splenectomy). Although the red cell defect persists, the breakup of the red cells (hemolysis) ceases. Splenectomy, however, is a hazard in young children. Young children without a spleen are at increased risk for overwhelming sepsis (bloodstream infection), particularly with the pneumococcus bacteria. Splenectomy is therefore usually postponed if possible until the age of 3 years. Before having a splenectomy, anyone with HS should have the pneumococcal vaccine. Persons with HS (or another cause of brisk ongoing hemolysis) should take supplemental folic acid. The prognosis (outlook) after splenectomy is for a normal life and a normal life expectancy. HS is also known as congenital hemolytic jaundice, severe atypical spherocytosis, spherocytosis type II, erythrocyte ankyrin deficiency, ankyrin-R deficiency, and ankyrin1 deficiency.
MedTerms (TM) is the Medical Dictionary of MedicineNet.com.
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