| Term Paper Title |
In The World We Live In, There Are Many Diseases Which Are So Deadly To The Poin |
| # of Words |
1115 |
| # of Pages (250 words per page double spaced) |
4.46 |
STDs
In the world we live in, there are many diseases which are so deadly to the point where there is no cure for the disease. At one’s first thought, most would think of AIDS, herpes, or maybe alshimers. However one might not consider Hepatitis, because a vaccine has been developed for types of the disease. Hepatitis can be caught and can also be hereditary. It is a disease to which there is no cure for but can be contained. A person may have hepatitis for many years and still not be aware that they have it. The disease can exist in many different forms.
Hepatitis is a disorder which involves the inflammation of the liver, the organ in the digestive system which detoxifies harmful substances such as alcohol. Symptoms of hepatitis include loss of appetite, dark urine, fatigue, and sometimes fever. The liver may become enlarged and a disorder called jaundice may occur, giving the skin a yellow tinge. Jaundice is a disorder symptomatic of several liver and blood diseases and is characterized by yellowing of the skin and mucous membranes, particularly the white of the eyes. Hepatogenous jaundice is caused by liver damage, particularly hepatitis. Hepatitis exists in an acute and/or chronic form. The acute form may subside after about two months or, rarely, can result in liver failutre. Chronic carriers are at risk of lasting liver disease. There are many different kinds of Hepatitis, some more serious then others.
Hepatitis A, once called infectious hepatitis, is the most widespread cause of acute hepatitis. Usually transmitted by food and water contaminated by human waste, such infections can reach epidemic proportions in unsanitary and filthy regions. In the United States, increasing members of drug abusers are coming down with Hepatitis A.
Both Hepatitis B and hepatitis non-A, non-B are spread mainly by blood or blood products, and type B is also known to be transmitted from a mother to a fetus and intimate contact, including sexual intercourse. Type B virus is resistant to sterilization of instruments in hospitals, and it is also recurrently seen in drug addicts who have shared needes. It often causes an initial episode of liver disease, unlike non-A, non-B, but both forms occasionally lead to chronic hepatitis. Researchers did not isolate a non-A, non-B virus until the year 1988. The virus they found, labeled C, probably is the cause of all the cases of non-A, non-B hepatitis.
Another form of hepatitis, called delta hepatitis, is caused by a very small virus that cannot replicate on its own. Instead it requires the presence of the hepatitis B virus. First identified in 1977, the virus has since been characterized and labeled as a retrovirus. Delta hepatitis can also become chronic.
A retrovirus is a virus that reproduces itself in a manner distinct from that of most other viruses. The core of any virus is a single molecule of nucleic acid, either DNA or RNA. When a virus invades a cell, this genetic material is usually replicated in its orignial form. A number of RNA viruses, however, make a facsimile of their genetic material in the form of DNA instead. In order to do so, they must be able to produce a particular enzyme that can construct a DNA molecule using an RNA template. This enzyme, called RNA-directed DNA polymerase, is also called reverse transcriptase because it reverse the normal celluar process...Read entire document
|
|
|
