#human health
A follow up to my previous post on Vibrio prevalence in North and South Carolina! A great example of how climate change won’t just affect wildlife and natural places, but also human health! And this is just the tip of the melting iceberg of climate change and human health interactions…..
What is vibrio? Deadly flesh-eating bacteria migrates to odd place in Carolina waters
Okay ignore the fact that I accidentally said a serious covid case because what I meant to say was a serious covid reaction case. Just want to point that out because I know everyone is a skeptic and I just want to head that off.
Anyways, I’ve been so sick for a week from a Covid vaccine reaction where I didn’t even know what day it was or where I was. Day one after the moderna vaccine (lot 3001652) I started to get a fever that night. Vaccines are good, just sometimes one catches you but hey, better than covid because I don’t now have permanent lung damage to go along with everything.
Went to the hospital, possible covid pneumonia. Or just a different pneumonia. It was an atypical pneumonia which is usually associated with “walking” pneumonia or covid pneumonia. Four days of antibiotics in the emergency room in Leduc. Then got home, stayed home over night, had absolutely zero idea where or when I was. I was completely out of it. Still can’t place anything in order. Got dropped off at the Devon hospital because of the confusion. They held me there on antibiotics, then transfered to the Misericordia hospital, then back to Devon in the morning. They did an LP and CT. I still couldn’t figure out where I was. Got discharged, I think. Got home, tried to drink, tried to eat an pureed ice bar. Immediately threw up,.called an ambulance. They took me to the Misericordia, who basically did nothing even though I was so disoriented I couldn’t figure out when or where I was. Called my brother who took me to the u of a hospital because like obviously you shouldn’t discharge someone who has no idea where they are, can’t walk on their own, and all that. So I had my brother stay with me at the u of a hospital and explain that this is not normal for me and had my mom phone them to figure out a plan. Nice to have good support people to get pissed off when dictated. My mom understandable pretty ticked off when they tried to just discharge me at the mis. That’s when I was feeling kind of hopeless because I was getting worse and no one was taking me seriously at all. That’s a pretty shitty feeling.
Anyways, they admitted me and I’m finally starting to be a bit better.
But the one thing which hit me super hard
My 920 Duolingo streak. Was lost. I sort of depressedly started over and I contact Duolingo support because y'know it felt pretty rough.
No pushing, just ‘hey that super sucks and that is an incredible achievement and it was absolutely out of your control". Legit made my day! (That first message was yesterday when I was still pretty loopy)
For such future is worth to keep our fingers crossed!
Evolution of Ebola Virus – Where are we now?
Scientists continue to study the evolution of the Ebola virus following the West African outbreak to determine how extraordinary numbers of humans became infected.
Their results showed genetic changes occurring as the virus transmitted from human to human.
To be sure, the theory was put to test. Researchers focused on the surface protein which the virus uses to bind a protein receptor on the surface of the target cell in order to gain entry. After identifying genetic changes accruing in the surface protein, synthetic clones were generated to see if mutant proteins behave differently to those seen in virus samples at the start of the outbreak.
The data was clear, a number of genetic changes that occurred during the outbreak increased infectivity. One change in particular, a substitution of an amino acid involved in receptor binding, was particularly striking: not simply because it dramatically increased infectivity, but also because it was present in viruses that dominated the West African outbreak.
Another twist from the study, mutations that increased infectivity in human cells seemed to reduce the ability of the protein to mediate entry into cells obtained from fruit bat cells - said to be the natural host for ebola virus.
Unprecedented number of human to human transmissions gave the virus an opportunity to adapt to humans; an opportunity the virus didn’t miss.
Images:
Credit: NIAID; String-like Ebola virus particles are shedding from an infected cell in this electron micrograph.
Credit: Nixxphotography; Ebola Virus Disease
Credit: Credit Maurizio De Angelis, Wellcome Images; Ebola virus structure, illustration
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Hospital superbug treatment could be revolutionised with faecal transplants
C.difficile is a bacteria that can infest the gut, causing anything from mild diarrhoea to life threatening illness. In the last year, the lives of 20 patients have been transformed by the use of Faecal Microbiota Transplant (FMT) in the UK.
The treatment uses faecal material collected from a healthy donor which is then screened for infections in a lab. Healthy material is mixed with a solution, filtered and administered through a fine tube into the stomach or small intestine. It can also be directly applied to the colon or large bowel via an endoscope. The treatment has had a 90 percent success rate, restoring balance in the gut.
Images: Top image - ‘Clostridium difficile’ credit: Wellcome Images. Bottom image - credit: Giphy.
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Snail shells offer clues to the origin of body asymmetry
Researchers have discovered a gene in snails that determines whether their shells twist clockwise or anticlockwise.
The discovery could offer clues to how the same gene affects body asymmetry in other animals including humans.
While animals tend to be symmetrical on the outside, they’re almost entirely asymmetrical on the inside.
The findings are an important step in understanding how our organs are placed asymmetrically, and why this process can sometimes go wrong when some (or all) of the internal organs are reversed or mirrored from their normal placement.
Image credit: Claude & Amadine EVA
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