Hookah; Is it just a good time or is it worth the HERPES!

Hookah a common practice spreading around the global may have horrible health consequence. Hookah is a water pipe that consists of a smoke chamber, a water-filled bowl and a hose. Specially-made flavored tobacco, called “shisha,” is heated with charcoal. The smoke passes through the water and is then inhaled using the hose. ( To read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/161880-health-risks-of-hookah-smoking/#ixzz2R8c7YsBU) This practice has become more common in colleges.According to a new study by researchers at Wake Forest Baptist  Medical Center, 40.3 percent of students from eight North Carolina colleges and universities reported having smoked tobacco from a hookah, while only a slightly higher percentage (46.6) said they’d ever smoked a cigarette. A surprisingly high 17.4 percent of students surveyed said they regularly use hookah pipes. (read more at http://www.wakehealth.edu/News-Releases/2011/Hookah_Use_Widespread_Among_College_Students.htm )

When you share the hose with multiple mouths in hookah-smoking social group touch the mouth of the pipe and share the smoke, a person could quite literally catch herpes from the hookah itself. Even if you switch the mouth piece if the bars and cafes did not clean hookah pipes properly you can catch herpes. Herpes transmitted by direct contact with a lesion or the body fluid of an infected individual such as saliva which could easily be trapped in a hookah pipe.Which someone else puts their mouth on transmitting the herpes virus. 

Picture by Anonymous 

 Herpes simplex is a viral disease caused by both Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) and type 2 (HSV-2). Infection with the herpes virus is categorized based on the site of infection. “Oral herpes (HSV-1) – are colloquially called ‘cold sores’ or ‘fever blisters’ infect the face and mouth. Oral herpes is the most common form of infection. Genital herpes (HSV-2) – known simply as ‘herpes’, is the second most common form of herpes.” (Read more at http://www.quitshisha.com/effects-of-shisha/herpes-caused-by-shisha.html)  After initial infection, the viruses are transported to the sensory nerve cell, where they become latent and reside life-long. There is no cure for herpes yet medicine to suppress the recurrent infection from out breaking. Before partaking in this new common practice people please do your research hookah might be fun but can cause herpes and once you get herpes you cannot get rid up it! 

Its the Season of Sneezing!

It’s that time of year when sneezing, running nose itchy and running eyes are common. These bodies respond is due to allergies. According to National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 54.3 percent of Americans have allergies. (http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes.htm) What are allergies? Allergies are abnormal immune system reactions to things that are typically harmless to most people. When you're allergic to something, your immune system mistakenly believes that there’s a harmful substance in your body. To protect your body the immune system produce IgE antibodies to allergens. (Allergens are substances that cause allergic reaction; food, dust, pollen, medicines). Then the body starts to produce a specific antibody called IgE, known as immunoglobulin, to bind to the allergen. Those antibodies then cause certain cells in the body to release chemicals into the bloodstream, one of which is histamine.  Histamine causes most of the symptoms of an allergic reaction.

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There are no cures for allergies or prevention. Allergies are usually heritable. There are medications to subside the symptoms. The most common allergy control medications known as antihistamines. It blocks the histamine reducing agents in the allergic reaction and alleviates much of the sneezing and coughing. Many of these are sold over the counter, the best example being Benadryl. There’s something known as allergy shots also referred to as allergen immunotherapy. By receiving these injections of small amounts of an allergen, your body can gradually develop non-allergen antibodies and undergo other immune system changes that help reduce the reaction to that allergen.

 

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Recently  Europe has been using  "sublingual immunotherapy, the practice of gradually desensitizing the immune system to allergens by administering allergen extract droplets under the tongue." Treating allergies even though this practice has been proven to subsidize allergies the United States Food and Drug Administration has not approve this practice. (http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2013/03/27/under-the-tongue-droplets-could-cure-allergies/)

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SPLEEN!!! SPLEEN!!

            Many soldiers injured in combat die because of infection in bloodstream. The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University developed a Spleen-on-a-chip. This machine rapidly cleanse the blood of pathogens, “the patient's blood is mixed with magnetic nano-beads coated with a genetically engineered version of a human blood 'opsonin' protein that binds to a wide variety of bacteria, fungi, viruses, parasites, and toxins.” (Artificial Spleen to Treat Bloodstream Infection) In the science daily news the article Artificial Spleen to Treat Bloodstream Infection, explain this machine would glow through micro-channels “where magnetic forces pull out the bead-bound pathogens without removing human blood cells, proteins, fluids, or electrolytes” just like a human spleen does. The cleansed blood then flows back to the patient making the blood healthy. To read more visit: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130330130531.htm

          The spleen is an internal organ, found in the abdominal area. The spleen functions as a part of the immune system and storage of blood cells in the circulatory system. The spleen removes old red blood cells, called erythrocytes, from the blood supply and removes, stores and produces white blood cell lymphocytes. These stored lymphocytes produce antibodies and assist in removing microbes and other debris from the blood supply.  This invention can save many of our soldier’s life overseas without the right medical supplies. The project director Don Ingber, M.D., Ph.D explained. With the right funding this invetion can bring many of our soliders home. 

 

Credit: Wyss Institute