Disease Outbreak Alert After Typhoon Ondoy

Posted by apol | 1:41 AM | , , , , | 1 comments »




The Philippines has been hit hard by the typhoon Ondoy especially the Metro Manila and its sorrounding provinces like Rizal and Laguna. The typhoon was not that strong but it poured a lot of rains all over the place, all day and night. There were floods everywhere particularly those who resides near the river bank e.g, Marikina City and low lying areas like Malabon City. The raging water was just so angry that it almost submerged all the houses of the affected areas mentioned and to make it very hard for the people to survive, the current was strong and the water was dilluted with mud.

After the flood, health related concerns must be conducted through health education to employ the health safety of every individual survivors of flood and to stop any disease outbreak that can occur. Some of these communicable diseases discussed below;

1.) Water Borne Diseases
These kind of diseases are water related or caused by drinking or using contaminated water source. Flooding is associated with an increased risk of infection, however this risk is low unless there is significant population displacement and/or water sources are compromised. Some of the diseases it may cause are amoebiasis, cholera, dysentery, leptospirosis, typhoid fever, e. coli infection and so many others. The diseases mentioned above are still rampant today in the Philippines especially when there is a contamination of water source.


2.) Vector Borne Diseases
Floods may in some way direct to an increase in vector-borne diseases through the growth in the number and range of vector habitats. Standing water caused by heavy rainfall or overflow of rivers can act as breeding sites for mosquitoes, and therefore enhance the potential for exposure of the disaster-affected population and emergency workers to infections such as dengue and malaria. Flooding may at first flush out mosquito breeding sites, but it comes back when the waters recede. The risk of outbreaks is greatly increased by complicating factors, such as changes in human behaviour (increased exposure to mosquitoes while sleeping outside, a temporary pause in disease control activities, overcrowding), or changes in the habitat which promote mosquito breeding.

3.) Risks from Handling Corpses
Opposite to common belief, most agents do not survive long in the human body after death except for HIV virus which may last up to six days of dead body thus it may not impose a risk for a disease outbreak. On the other hand, workers who routinely handle corpses may have a risk of contracting tuberculosis, bloodborne viruses (such as Hepatitis B/C and HIV), and gastrointestinal infections (such as rotavirus diarrhoea, salmonellosis, E. coli, typhoid/paratyphoid fevers, hepatitis A, shigellosis and cholera). The public and emergency workers alike should be duly informed to avoid panic and inappropriate disposal of bodies, and to take adequate precautions in handling the dead bodies.

Preventive Measures
Short Term Measures

1.) Chlorination Of Water
2.) Vaccination of some specific Diseases like Hepa A
3.) Prevention Against Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever
4.) Proper Ways and Disposal Of Corpses
5.) Heath Education

* Promote good hygienic practice.
* Ensure safe food preparation techniques.
* Ensure boiling or chlorination of water.
* Vital importance of early diagnosis and treatment for dengue (within 24 hours of onset of fever).

Long Term Measures
1.)Legislative/administrative issues

* Create Disaster-Preparedness Programmes and Early Warning Systems.
* Improve surveillance on a local, national, international and global level.
* Promote tap-water quality regulation and monitoring.
* Enforce high standards of hygiene.

2.)Technical issues

* Improve water treatment and sanitation.
* Keep infectious disease control programmes active and efficient.

Video Credit Here
Reference: World Health Organization


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World of Warts; Causes and Treatments

Posted by apol | 12:59 AM | , , , | 7 comments »




Warts are kind of infection caused mainly by viruses in the human papillomavirus(HPV) family and there are more than 100 types of HPV viruses known. Warts can breed on every parts of your body. They can raise on the inside of your mouth, on your skin, on your genitals and on your rectal area. Common types of HPV tend to cause warts on the skin (such as the hands and fingers), while other HPV types tend to cause warts on the genitals and rectal area.

Warts are highly transmittable. It can be passed on to another person thru skin contact. It is also believed that warts can transfer from using towels or other objects that were used by a person who has warts.

Genital warts on the other hand are very contagious and can be passed to a new person during oral, vaginal or anal sex. It is very disgusting and embarassing to have those warts in the genital area and can affect your social and sexual life as a person. In most women, warts can grow on the cervix (inside the vagina), and without even knowing she has them and the poor partner can have it also.

These warts are often annoying. They can bleed and can inflict pain when they're touched. They can also be uncomfortable, especially if they grow on your face. A lot of times, warts fade away on their own, though it may take several months or even years for the warts to vanish completely. But some of these warts won't go away on their own and need to manually remove them with the help of experts of course especially genital warts.

Warts can be easily treated but it is very important for us to know that removing warts on the skin (such as on the fingers, feet and knees) are removed in different ways with the warts on the genitals. You might hurt your genital area by applying certain chemicals on it. You must also don’t try to treat warts on your face without talking to your doctor first. The following are some ways to remove common warts from the skin derived from familydoctor.org:

• Applying salicylic acid. You can treat warts on places such as the hands, feet or knees by putting salicylic acid (one brand name: Compound W) on the warts. To get good results, you must apply the acid every day for many weeks. After you take a bath or shower, pat your skin dry lightly with a towel. Then put salicylic acid on your warts. The acid sinks in deeper and works better when it is applied to damp skin. Before you take a shower or a bath the next day, use an emery board or pumice stone to file away the dead surface of the warts.

• Applying cantharidin. Your doctor may use cantharidin on your warts. With this treatment, the doctor "paints" the chemical onto the wart. Most people don't feel any pain when the chemical is applied to the wart. You'll experience some pain and blistering of the wart in about 3 to 8 hours. After treatment with cantharidin, a bandage is put over the wart. The bandage can be removed after 24 hours. When mixtures of cantharidin and other chemicals are used, the bandage is removed after 2 hours. When you see your doctor again, he or she will remove the dead skin of the wart. If the wart isn't gone after one treatment, your doctor may suggest another treatment.

• Applying liquid nitrogen. Your doctor may use liquid nitrogen to freeze the wart. This treatment is called cryotherapy. Applying liquid nitrogen to the wart causes a little discomfort. To completely remove a wart, liquid nitrogen treatments may be needed every 1 to 3 weeks for a total of 2 to 4 times. If no improvement is noted, your doctor may recommend another type of treatment.

• Other treatments for warts on the skin. Your doctor can also remove warts on the skin by burning the wart, cutting out the wart or removing the wart with a laser. These treatments are stronger, but they may leave a scar. They are normally reserved for warts that have not cleared up with other treatments.

• Talk to your doctor about which treatment is best for you.

Genital warts should be removed or treated with the help of your doctor. The viral infection that causes the warts in the genital area can’t be cured most of the time but the warts can be removed. This only means that there is a high possibility that it will regrow again after it has been removed on your genital area.

Now the question is “do warts can comeback again?”

Almost all of the treatments of warts on the skin are successful and they are gone for good. The body's immune system of an individual can typically get rid of any tiny bits of wart that may be left after a wart has been treated. Genital warts on the other hand are more expected to come back for the reason stated above that there's no cure for the virus that causes them and because warts are more complicated to manage in a moist environment. If warts come back, it is important to consult with the professionals to talk about other ways to control the warts.


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Dandruff, What are the cause and remedies for this?

Posted by apol | 2:05 AM | , , , , , | 9 comments »


Dandruff is an ordinary chronic scalp condition that affects anyone, which is manifested by itching and flaking of the skin on your scalp. It is not transmittable and is seldom serious, but it can be uncomfortable especially when you are in public places and sometimes hard to treat.

Dandruff is so easy to identify especially for most teens and adults. They are the white oily looking flakes of dead skin that dot your hair and shoulders and an itchy, scaling scalp. YUCK! That why up to now I just maintained my hair very short, the so called “uno” for us guys.

One way that almost all of us know to control dandruff is just by constant shampooing on a daily basis with a gentle cleanser. Guess we’ve seen a lot of commercials of this on tv and the latest that I saw was MANNY PAQUIAO as a product endorser of Head and Shoulders.

Dandruff can have various causes and it is important for us to know all of this. Simply because if we know the causes, then we know how we can treat or prevent that from our head. Here are some of the causes of dandruff in your hair:

1.)Psoriasis. This skin disorder causes a buildup of dead skin cells that form thick silvery scales. Psoriasis commonly occurs on your knees, elbows and trunk, but it can also affect your scalp.

2.)Dry skin. Simple dry skin — the kind you get during winter when the air is cold and rooms are overheated — is the most common cause of itchy, flaking skin. Flakes from dry skin are generally smaller and less oily than those from other causes of dandruff.

3.)Not shampooing often enough. If you don't regularly wash your hair, oils and skin cells from your scalp can build up, causing dandruff.

4.)Irritated, oily skin (seborrheic dermatitis). This condition, a frequent cause of dandruff, is marked by red, greasy skin covered with flaky white or yellow scales. Seborrheic dermatitis affects not only your scalp but also other areas rich in oil glands, such as your eyebrows, the sides of your nose and the backs of your ears, your breastbone, your groin area, and sometimes your armpits.

5.)Psoriasis. This skin disorder causes an accumulation of dead skin cells that form thick silvery scales. Psoriasis commonly occurs on your knees, elbows and trunk, but it can also affect your scalp.

6.)Sensitivity to hair care products (contact dermatitis).
Sometimes sensitivities to certain hair care products or hair dyes can cause a red, itchy, scaling scalp. Shampooing too often or using too many styling products also may irritate your scalp, causing dandruff.

7.)Eczema. If you have eczema on your scalp, it's possible you could develop dandruff

8.)A yeast-like fungus (malassezia). Malassezia lives on the scalps of most healthy adults without causing problems. But sometimes it grows out of control, feeding on the oils secreted by your hair follicles. This can irritate the skin on your scalp and cause more skin cells to grow. The extra skin cells die and fall off, clumping together with oil from your hair and scalp, making them appear white, flaky and visible in your hair or on your clothes.

Now we know the causes of dandruff, and its time to protect our head and scalp from it. We can even do this in the comfort of our own home. Some of it follows:

1.)Learn to manage stress. Stress affects your overall health, making you susceptible to a number of conditions and diseases. It can even help trigger dandruff or worsen existing symptoms.

2.)Shampoo often. If you tend to have an oily scalp, daily shampooing may help prevent dandruff.

3.)Cut back on styling products. Hair sprays, styling gels, mousses and hair waxes can all build up on your hair and scalp, making them oilier.

4.)Eat a healthy diet.
A diet that provides enough zinc, B vitamins and certain types of fats may help prevent dandruff.

5.)Get a little sun. Sunlight may be good for dandruff. But because exposure to ultraviolet light damages your skin and increases your risk of skin cancer, don't sunbathe. Instead, just spend a little time outdoors. And be sure to wear sunscreen on your face and body.

And what comes next to this? As we can see in every tv ad that concerns health, “if symptoms persist, call the doctor”. Although we can try a lot of medication that we can buy over the counter at home for dandruff but it is very important for us to call the attention and advice of the experts first before we try any medicinal shampoo for this. Or else….

Photo Credits Here


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Just Say No To High Heels

Posted by apol | 4:25 AM | , , , | 6 comments »


As Socrates once believed, "When your feet hurt, you hurt all over." What do toe and ankle pain, mid foot pain, heel pain and knee pain, hip pain and lower back pain, mid back pain, upper back pain, and headaches all have in common?

One thing they have in common is that they are the effects of wearing high heels on a regular basis.

Your foot is made up of 26 major bones, 33 joints, 107 ligaments, and 19 muscles and tendons. Your walking feet are intended to give you with balance and strength as you use them on many activities of your daily living. Below are several more fun information concerning your feet:

* Your two feet smash into the ground with average of 1,800 times on the route of on foot in a single mile.

* The ordinary person walks around 5 miles for every sunlight hours, translating to 8,000 to 10,000 steps for every time.

* When you hike, your feet bear the force of single and one-half times your body mass. When you run, this force increases to three to four times your body mass.

With so much demand on your feet merely to make through an ordinary period of the day, most of us don’t even realize how important it is to wear comfortable shoes especially the office workers. Even with super comfy running shoes on, your feet undergo incredible strain on them all through the day. Can you envision the load they handle as your full weight and more is crushing down on the bottom of your toes instead than being evenly dispersed to all 26 bones of every foot?

Wearing high heels creates defective biomechanics and extreme pressure on your ankles, knees, pelvis, and potentially all over your total spine. This is for the reason that your body, from feet to head, is single long series of gears, where the delighted functioning of every gear depends on the delighted functioning of every other gear. If the joints of your feet don’t execute correctly because of the damage of wearing high heels, expect the other areas of your body are strained to compensate and suffer additional wear and tear. In various cases, the compensatory changes that effect from wearing heels can cause the muscles behind your neck to be rigid, putting pressure on nerves that can effect in chronic headaches.

Women bear something like four times as many foot problems as men. Wearing high heels is certainly a major logic in support of this.

So here we are and let’s dig up on to certain suggestions on how to properly take care of your feet:

1. Try hard or not at all wear high heels.

2. When you leave shopping for shoes, make it in the afternoon or nightfall, as feet have a propensity to develop a little larger all through the day for the reason that of fluid accumulation. You need your shoes to be able to comfortably put up your feet while they are on their biggest.

3. Quantify your feet size every moment you purchase shoes. And be certain to determine them while standing. Don’t ignore to put on the thickest socks that you would usually wear.

4. Wear shoes on both of your feet, as single foot might be bigger than the other.

5. If you’re not already there, strive to be lean and mean in support of your body type. Being obese means added stress intended for your feet, not to point out the joints of your legs and spine. This is the added stress to your feet feel all day long.

6. Eat the whole, unprocessed foods with the aim of keeping your blood vessels and flow of blood strong, as the health of the tissues in your feet are mainly reliant on how well they receive nutrients and take waste products away. Avoid foods like hydrogenated oils and sweets because they badly affect our circulation.

Photo Credits Here


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9 Simple Steps to Goodnight Sleep

Posted by apol | 5:23 AM | , , , | 13 comments »


Sleep is vital for best physical condition. The quantity and quality of sleep we make every night will manipulate the mode we feel and our routine throughout daytime hours.

Elevated-level of performance of the nervous system requires that we obtain sufficient quality sleep. Ineffective rest results in abridged capacity to memorize, focus, plan, get on to decisions, and conduct out math calculations. Too little sleep results in lethargy and cut-rate physical routine, which could effect in a elevated rate of injuries, as well as motor-vehicle accidents.

As we snooze totally, we permit in support of efficient cell growth and restore. The discharge of growth hormones takes place throughout deep sleep. Sleeping intensely by night helps us to employ next to our greatest, emotionally and in public, with others all through the daytime.

Time and time again, persons who suffer trouble falling asleep and sleeping profoundly bend to medication. Practices have revealed to facilitate many sleep disorder can be solved through natural method. The list below are 9 steps you can acquire to ensure a helpful night’s forty winks.

1. Hold back your bedroom in support of sleep.

Your bedroom must be held in reserve, in support of sleep and lovemaking. Assignments, office work, and other stressful and stimulating activities must be held in reserve outside of the bedroom, as ought to televisions, radios, stereos, and other entertainment equipment. This will condition your body to relax and anticipate sleep when you go into the bedroom. You desire to keep whichever stress and pointless stimulation as far away from the bedroom as likely.

2. Be regular with being asleep and wake period.

Go to asleep next to the similar time every night, and move out of bed by the same schedule every morning. This will condition your body to fall into a routine of sleep and wakefulness. It is most excellent not to disrupt this routine, such as by sleeping in on weekends.

3. Stop nicotine, caffeine, sweets, and alcohol close to bedtime.

Nicotine, caffeine, honey, and alcohol often root sleeplessness. Nicotine, caffeine, and honey are stimulants with the intention of cause you to sleep lightly and to wake up ahead of you need to for the reason that of withdrawal. Common sources of caffeine are coffee, soft drinks, non-herbal teas, and certain over-the-counter and prescription medications. Alcohol prevents deep sleep and interferes with REM-stage be asleep, the stage of sleep that stimulates the learning centers of the brain. Adopting an unprocessed and total food diet will help you elude these stimulants.

4. Sleep in absolute darkness.

Melatonin is a hormone to initiates our need to sleep and affects the depth of sleep we attain. Melatonin regulates our sleep-wake cycles and is shaped by a gland in the brain. The quantity of light we are showing to by a few specified second is what tells this gland whether or not to transport melatonin. Dimness secretes melatonin making while light inhibits it. Thus, the darker it is once you sleep, the improved your melatonin creation, and the healthier quality of your sleep.

5. Do exercises frequently.

Exercise as much as possible at least 30 minutes a day. Being lively promotes a greater need in support of deep sleep and decreases stress. Do not exercise close to your bedtime; though, as exercise is motivating and can create difficulties in falling asleep. It is most excellent not to exercise energetically in 3 hours of your bedtime.

6. Make in no doubt you hold a comfortable mattress.

This sounds easy, but in attendance are countless figures of individuals out there, who are sleeping on a mattress that is too solid, too soft, or not helpful as much as necessary and are wondering why they can’t fall asleep. Invest in a mattress to make you feel calm sleeping on.

7. Claim your bed area.

Don’t divide your bed with a companion who takes up your room or who moves roughly so much that you undergo struggle falling or staying asleep. This includes your partner, children, and animal companions. Children following a specific age and animals must own their own designated spaces used for sleep. If you share a bed with your partner and/or children and bargain it crowded, consider investing in a larger bed, make two beds collected, or try sleeping with separate blankets. You can as well like to consider sleeping in a separate bed.

8. Get up if you can’t sleep.

If you suffer not fallen asleep past 15 minutes, move up and work out something as well in a different space. Thinking something like your lack of ability to sleep will add to the failure to sleep, which creates a vicious cycle. When you move up to perform something as well, be guaranteed with the intention of the action you engage in is relaxing and doesn’t draw in happy light. Reading and listening to melody can be excellent activities. Watching television and surfing the internet are not.

9. Know how much sleep you need.

To verify how long you need to sleep in order to function optimally, take the period to sleep until you wake up on your own with no outside motivation such as alarms or loud noises. Through this exercise you can determine the optimal amount of sleep in support of you.

With these steps, it can help a lot in resolving your sleep pattern disturbance and when you still experience the problem, maybe its about time to consult with the experts.

Photo Credits Here


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