Parkinson's disease

Brief description:

Parkinson's disease is a disorder of the brain that leads to shaking (tremors) and difficulty with walking, movement, and coordination.Usually beginning in a person's late fifties or early sixties, Parkinson disease causes a progressive decline in movement control, affecting the ability to control initiation, speed, and smoothness of motion.

Signs & symptoms:

• muscle rigidity


• Unstable, stooped, or slumped-over posture
  
• Loss of balance
  
• Gait (walking pattern) changes


• Shuffling walk
  
• Slow movement
  
• Muscle aches and pains
  
• Shaking, tremors
  
• Changes in facial expression
  
• Voice or speech chages
  
• Loss of fine motor skills
  
• Frequent falls
  

Additional symptoms that may be associated with this disease:

• Depression


• Confusion


• Dementia


• Seborrhea


• Loss of muscle function or feeling


• Muscle atrophy


• Memory loss


• Drooling


• Anxiety, stress, and tension
  

Causes: Parkinson's disease occurs when the nerve cells in the part of the brain that controls muscle movement are gradually destroyed. The damage gets worse with time. The exact reason that the cells of the brain waste away is unknown. The disorder may affect one or both sides of the body, with varying degrees of loss of function. maybe toxins, genetics, head trauma, or drug-induced

Diagnosis: There are currently no blood or laboratory tests that have been proven to help in diagnosing PD. Therefore the diagnosis is based on medical history and a neurological examination. The disease can be difficult to diagnose accurately.

Treatment: There is no known cure for Parkinson's disease. The goal of treatment is to control symptoms.

Prevention: There is no known way to prevent Parkinson disease.

major organ system affected: immune system and nervous system

Epidemiology: Nationwide, as many as 1.5 million people suffer from Parkinson's, according to the Parkinson's Disease Foundation. A chronic and progressive disorder, Parkinson's strikes slightly more men than women and more whites than blacks in the United States. Though the disease is found most often in patients over 50, as many as 10 percent of patients--afflicted with the so-called "young-onset" Parkinson's--are under 40. About 50,000 Americans are diagnosed with Parkinson's yearly.

References: http://www.bigcscottsboro.com/hipics/parkin.jpg, http://www.healthatoz.com/healthatoz/Atoz/common/standard/transform.jsp?requestURI=/healthatoz/Atoz/ency/parkinson_disease.jsp, http://www.healthline.com/adamcontent/parkinsons-disease/2#supportgroups, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkinsons_disease, http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/1998/498_pd.html

Lyme Disease

Brief Description:

Lyme disease, or borreliosis, is an emerging infectious disease caused by bacteria from the genus Borrelia. The vector of infection is typically the bite of an infected black-legged or deer tick, but other carriers (including other ticks in the genus Ixodes) have been implicated.

Signs & Symptoms:

The acute phase of Lyme disease infection is a characteristic reddish "bulls-eye" rash, with accompanying fever, malaise, and musculoskeletal pain (arthralgia or myalgia). The characteristic reddish "bull's-eye" rash (known as erythema chronicum migrans) may be seen in up to 80% of early stage Lyme disease patients, appearing anywhere from one day to a month after a tick bite. The rash does not represent an allergic reaction to the bite, but a skin infection cause by the Lyme bacteria. The incubation period from infection to the onset of symptoms is usually 1–2 weeks, but can be much shorter (days), or much longer (months to years). Symptoms most often occur from May through September because the nymphal stage of the tick is responsible for most cases.

Causes:

Lyme disease is caused by Gram-negative spirochetal bacteria from the genus Borrelia. At least 37 Borrelia species have been described, 12 of which are Lyme related. Hard-bodied ticks of the genus Ixodes are the primary vectors of Lyme disease. The majority of infections are caused by ticks in the nymph stage, as adult ticks are more easily detected and removed as a consequence of their relatively large size.

Diagnosis:
Due to the difficulty in culturing Borrelia bacteria in the laboratory, diagnosis of Lyme disease is typically based on the clinical exam findings and a history of exposure to endemic Lyme areas.

Treatment:

Antibiotics are the primary treatment for Lyme disease. Penicillin was first demonstrated by researchers to be useful against Borrellia in the 1950s; today the antibiotics of choice are doxycycline, amoxicillin and ceftriaxone. Macrolide antibiotics are also used.

Prevention:

Stay away from ticks.

Epidemiology:

Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne disease in North America and Europe, and one of the fastest-growing infectious diseases in the United States. Of cases reported to the United States Center for Disease Control (CDC), the ratio of Lyme disease infection is 7.9 cases for every 100,000 persons. In the ten states where Lyme disease is most common, the average was 31.6 cases for every 100,000 persons for the year 2005.

What is a Disease?

a condition of abnormal vital function involving any structure, part, or system of an organism. a specific illness or disorder characterized by a recognizable set of signs and symptoms, attributable to herdity, infection, diet or environment.
reference: Mosby's Medical, Nursing, & Allied Health Dictionary. Fourth Edition

reflection: After all the definitions that I have read I think this is the most simpliest and easiest to understand. It gets the point across and describes what a disease is without all the big words. It gives you the information that needs to be known. Out of all the definitions I like this one the most.