If you haven't got Mad Cow yet, it's likely that you'll get away with all those Big Macs you ate in the 80's.
Deaths from variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
BSE was initially recognized in cattle in the UK in 1986. It is estimated that up to 400,000 cattle infected with BSE entered the human food chain in the 1980s. The epidemic in cattle in Britain reached incredible proportions: by 1993 more than 1,000 cases per week were being reported.
Initially, it was assumed that humans could not contract a spongiform encephalopathy from infected cattle. While cows could theoretically get BSE from consuming sheep infected with scrapie, due to genetic differences between humans and cattle, people were considered safe (humans have never been affected by contaminated sheep). Although scientists were questioning this logic as early as 1990, it wasn't until 1996, when 10 people contracted the human form of BSE (vCJD) that the authorities woke up to the risks.
The number of cases grew year on year until peaking in 2000, about 8 years after the peak of the epidemic in cattle. However, per the chart above, the number of deaths from variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) look well into decline.
A cumulative total of 159 cases of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease had been reported in the UK by the end of December 2005, of whom 153 had died. Outside the UK, the numbers remain small with 15 cases in France, four in the Republic of Ireland, two in the United States, and one each in Canada, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, and Spain (1).
CDR Weekly 26 Jan 06 PDF
So my question is, will the Singapore Health Authorities reconsider accepting my O-negative despite that I lived in the UK from '88-92. Answer: probably not.
In 2004 a new report published in the Lancet medical journal showed that vCJD can be transmitted by blood transfusions (Peden, 2004). The finding alarmed healthcare officials because a large epidemic of the disease might arise in the near future. There is no test to determine if a blood donor is infected and is in the latent phase of vCJD. In reaction to this report, the British government banned anyone who had received a blood transfusion since January 1980 from donating blood.
On May 28, 2002, the United States Food and Drug Administration instituted a policy that excludes from donation anyone who lived in high-risk areas of Europe from 1980 to the mid-1990s. A similar policy applies to potential donors to the Australian Red Cross' Blood Service, procluding people who have spent a cumulative time of six months or more in the United Kingdom between 1980 and 1996.
Wikipedia
It turns out that, while I was practically a strict vegetarian while living in the UK, I may yet suffer from Mad Cow disease:
A "significant level" of the population could be unknowingly infected with variant CJD, according to scientists whose study reveals the disease to be more easily transmitted than previously thought. The debate about the number of people infected by vCJD - the human form of BSE - has ranged from estimates of a few hundred to hundreds of thousands. Some people are understood to be more genetically susceptible to the disease but the study published today by Lancet Neurology shows that mice with all variations of the gene involved were susceptible to different degrees to vCJD passed on through infected blood transfusions.
The Guradian - 27 March 2006
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Age of victim:
Labels: medicine
Google is my doctor, but for anything of concern, I always get a second opinion because Google is a bit of a quack.
For instance I recently asked Dr. Google about a small mouth ulcer on the inside of my lip. It's been there 3 weeks and appears set to stay. I searched on lump, translucent, purplish, hard, clear, mouth, ulcer, blister, canker... Google's diagnosis? Mouth Cancer. It was pretty clear-cut. For other complaints I've tended to be given a range of diagnoses from terminal to embarrassing but benign. In this case there seemed to be no options. I’d have to have part of my face removed and reconstruction surgery with bits of my arm.
So I went off to my dentist as recommended. He spent less than 30 seconds examining my sore, and then charged me $50 for his diagnosis: blocked saliva gland.
It turns out that if the mouth sore tends to wax and wane in size (as mine does) it's unlikely to be cancer as that's a one-way growth story.
And the cure? It seams the treatment largely involves some form of self-mutilation (you can lance it and if it still doesn't clear up, a deeper incision may do the trick). Of course the dentist is willing to do the dirty work for another $100 or so but there's no guarantees it won't come back.
I've now attacked it with a variety of pins, razors and tweezers to no avail. My efforts tend to result in blood, a small infection, then a remission of about a day before it's back.
I think I need to google for a supplier of special implements for auto-surgery.
Anyway, that's my contribution to Google the quack on the subject of benign mouth conditions (along with suitably gross picture). The moral of the story is, don't panic before you get a second opinion as Google is a bit of an alarmist.
Labels: health, medicine, net, rants
I have tinnitus. It first hit me when I was 30 after I'd not been sleeping enough for a period of about 2 weeks. I was also very unhappy with my job and stressing out over a career move... plus I'd been drinking more than usual (for me that meant going from nothing to getting drunk once a week with friends from work).
My system was under a lot of stress.
Previously I had suffered from TMJ Syndrome (from grinding my teeth in my sleep), which had caused me face, and head aches. I was getting that under control although my physio had warned me: if you don't deal with the stress, it will find another way to come out. It did.
The first bought hit me hard: I had strong ringing in one ear (left or right? I don't remember now) and light ringing in the other. It affected my hearing. I was tested and in the bad ear I was slightly deaf at low registers.
I got an MRI to be sure there was no tumour and the doctor gave me some gingko then told me to learn to live with it. I asked him if there was a connection with my TMJ. He said no. He was wrong of course. Later research on the net showed there's a strong link.
This doc also tested me for allergies (totally unrelated) and then sent me to buy a bunch of anti-allergy products from a company I later learned he had shares in. There are doctors like this in Singapore so beware. I won't name him but watch out for any ENT docs at Gleneagles who give you random allergy tests and generally seem totally uninterested in your actual condition.
I wasn't satisfied with his "live with it" prescription. So, I hunted around the net and came up with what promised to be a potential cure:
- ginko
- lecithin
- vitamin B complex
and... - no more caffeine
- no more alcohol
- lot of exercise
- plenty of rest
I exercised like a maniac for 2 weeks and followed my dietary prescription strictly then ... poof! I had a complete cure.
Actually I had a complete remission. About a year later it came back, though not so strongly. Again I was tired and this combined with a few glasses of red wine seemed to trigger the tinnitus.
I took wine permanently off my drink list and returned to the regime. It worked again.
Over the next 6 years, I would get very minor boughts every 6-9 months which would last a day or two. Eventually, however, I grew to have a constant hum in my head. It wasn't loud - I could only hear it at night before sleeping when everything was silent. And I'm conscious of it at classical music concerts during very quiet passages. For the most part, however, I'm completely unaware of it.
I exercise regularly now, drink almost no caffeine, rarely drink alcohol and take vities every day. I also believe my teeth grinding is long gone. I do however, often fail to get enough sleep.
It's Back!That’s been my problem this past week: not enough sleep. Because of it, I've been drinking tea at the office to keep me awake. It's not a good combo for me: fatigue and caffeine. The amount I drink (2-3 cups) probably isn't a problem: it's just that relative to what I usually drink, it's way too much.
Two nights ago, as I was going to sleep, I remember thinking that I couldn't hear any tinnitus at all - no ring, hum or whine. Ha! That proved to be the calm before the storm. Often before it comes, I go a little deaf!
In the morning, I woke up with a burgeoning case of the real thing in my left ear. It got worse as the day progressed. Of course timing always sucks: I had tickets to watch Gil Shaham perform with the SSO. Fortunately the noise in my head wasn't too bad during the concert though it would have been nice to enjoy it in silence.
Today it's fairly strong... it feels like one side of my head is living in an airplane cabin at 40,000 feet. That's exactly what the muffled sound and feel is like. It's the worse it's been in several years.
As I'm now living what most would consider a pretty healthy lifestyle, I have little left to tweak besides the amount of rest I get. I had 8 hours last night and I'm still exhausted so that shows I'd really let myself get run down - which is plain stupidity. Still, I'm confident I'll get this thing back under control by the weekend and I'll have a strong reminder for a while to get enough sleep.
It sucks but I think in a way I'm lucky to have it. I've got a very loud alarm bell to make sure I take care of myself. Because of it, I enjoy great health.
Labels: health, howto, medicine
