Health Wikipedia

Everyday, thousands of people undergoing major surgeries need blood transfusion. Many people suffering from various conditions like haemophilia (genetic disease that impair the body’s ability to control blood clotting), dengue, severe anaemia, blood cancer, thalaessemia need blood transfusion.

On an average, 3 to 3.5 lakh bags of blood are needed in our country every year. There is always strict advice to transfuse safe blood. But from where these amount of blood will come? Blood is not produced in a factory and yet there is no alternative source for blood. The only source of blood is human body.

Usually, blood from relative is encouraged for transfusion. But if a healthy relative of the same blood group is not available, blood from any healthy voluntary donor of that group may be transfused. In our country, people usually depend on the organisations like Sandhani, Redcresent, Badhon, Quantam etc. for safe and fresh blood. We should remember that these organisations or institutions do not manufacture blood. They are only the media to collect blood from healthy voluntary donors to provide it to the needy people. The more the voluntary donor, the more these organisations will make blood available.

Here the question comes — who can donate blood? Any person within the age group of 18-60 years with a body weight as minimum 45 kg for female and 48 kg for male and having a general well-health is an eligible blood donor. Healthy means that you feel well and can perform normal activities; your blood pressure, pulse, body temperature are normal; and you are free from any blood boarn diseases such as malaria, syphilis, gonorrhoea, hepatitis B, C, AIDS, haemophilia etc.

You may have chronic conditions like diabetes or high blood pressure; but in these cases, healthy means — you are being treated and the condition is under control. Such healthy people can donate one bag (350-450 ml) blood safely every 4 months.

After donating blood, the donor should take rest for 15-20 minutes. Routine work is absolutely fine after the initial rest. Rigorous physical work should be avoided for few hours. After resting for a while a donor should be given some liquid (fluid) to drink, such as water, ORS, milk or fruit juice. The donor needs no special diet other than a routine balanced diet. The body replaces blood volume or plasma within 24 hours.

It is very unfortunate that voluntary blood donation is still not so popular in our country. This is due to the lack of proper awareness, social movement, irrational fear and superstitions about donating blood. Some organisations are working in this field but still the number of voluntary blood donor is not keeping pace with the yearly requirement of blood.

In a study conducted by Sandhani, Dhaka Medical College Unit, it was seen that 62 percent of the population were unaware of the blood-transmitted diseases, 53 percent of people did not even know what their blood group was; 66 percent admitted that their knowledge about blood donation was not sufficient.

For the lack of adequate voluntary donors, many patients are being compelled to buy blood from professional blood donors. Such donors are more likely to carry dangerous infections and their blood is more likely to be of lower standard, as they tend to donate, better to say, trade more frequently.

In Bangladesh, mostly drug addicts sell their blood to get money to buy drugs for addiction. Usually they are under-nourished, having less haemoglobin in their blood. They also suffer from various blood transmissible diseases. So, the patient who is getting that blood, though initially may be benefited, is in risk of having many diseases.

In a research conducted in our country, 22 percent of the professional donor was found having Syphilis and 29 percent having Hepatitis-B. A study conducted in BSMMU showed that 60.1 percent of the patients suffered from hepatitis, who got transmitted unscreened blood from professional donors.

Again, many patients fail to get any kind of blood, not from voluntary donors, not from professional donors even. Voluntary donors’ safe blood and professionals’ unsafe blood collectively fail to fulfill the yearly requirements of Bangladesh.

If only 1% of the population donate blood once a year (though a healthy donor can donate blood 3 times a year safely), the yearly collection stands a satisfactory number which may fulfil the requirement smoothly.

Mathematically it is an easy task but it does not happen in reality. We all need come forward to save thousands of lives dying due to the shortage of blood.

With the advent of Valentine’s Day on this Sunday, millions of people are planning to give special gifts to their beloved. People sent flowers, red hearts, anonymous cards and offer a candle-lit dinner to surprise their valentines. On this Valentine’s day, you can make an exception by giving the greatest gift — a healthy heart that lasts forever. With little changes in your lifestyle that keep your heart healthy you can offer the big gift.

Research has shown that the leading cause of heart disease is related to behavioural choices such as eating habits, exercise, tobacco use, alcohol consumption and stress.

Maintaining a healthy body weight is crucial for the prevention of coronary heart diseases. Physical exercise even walking is good for heart. Blood pressure should be checked at regular interval and focus on lowering pressure by decreasing salt and low calorie diet. Alcohol, tobacco products and secondary exposure to tobacco smoke are important driving force behind heart diseases. We should make pledge to avoid it on this very occasion.

Following a heart healthy diet rich in vegetables, fruits and whole-grains are equally important. Consume fish, especially oily fish, at least twice a week. Limit your intake of saturated fat and minimise your intake of beverages and foods with added sugars.

On this Valentine’s Day, you can make the outstanding decision to change your lifestyle to give your beloved one, a healthy heart that creates love for life time.

The recent outbreak of H1N1 influenza epidemic which is better familiar as swine flu is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A influenza virus that causes regular outbreaks in pigs.

The human outbreak has created panic in the people due to some fatality. People are in a fix due to some reasons which include the disease is relatively new, healthcare setup is not completely equipped with adequate resources, medical professionals are not quite skilled handling the disease and so on.

When there was first outbreak of dengue haemorrhagic in Bangladesh, people were so worried similarly. But it is no longer a disease of panic.

To deal with the H1N1 influenza, we need keeping in mind several things. The best way to keep from spreading the virus through coughing or sneezing is to limit contact with other people as much as possible. Sick people should avoid work place and children should not go to schools. Concerned authority should be reluctant in this regard.

When coughing or sneezing, mouth and nose should be covered with tissue which should be discard immediately. If tissue is not available, hands are enough which must be washed afterwards. There is serious bad habit spitting and not covering mouth or nose while coughing or sneezing. Use of civic sense and simple courtesy can contribute a great deal here.

Most of the cases are self limiting and personal hygiene is of great value.

People with H1N1 influenza are potentially contagious as long as they are symptomatic with a ceiling of up to seven days following illness onset. Kids, especially younger children, might potentially be contagious for longer periods.

There is a dilemma about using the masks. Usually three types of masks are used — facemask, surgical mask and N95 mask. The N95 mask is effective in protection of H1N1 virus whereas surgical and facemask have almost no contribution for protection. But wearing facemask or surgical mask is of no harm. At least it protects others from spreading the disease. Sometimes, experts opt for double layered mask for resource poor settings.

Since the virus easily spread in crowded places, children are recommended to abstain from their schools where large outbreak occurs. Otherwise, only sick children are recommended to stay home to avoid spreading illness. Children also should not be brought to crowded places unnecessarily like shopping complexes, cinema halls etc.

Treatment is available in Bangladesh now and soon medical professionals will be used to hand H1N1 cases. Suspected cases should stay home and take home management. In case of developing warning signs or complications, individuals should seek emergency medical care in hospitals.

Antiviral drugs (Oseltamivir), which are available in the market can be stored at home for safety purpose, but it should not be readily taken without any clinical judgement or without prescription of physician, as it may develop resistance.

Fatality occurs due to misdiagnosis of the disease and accompanying other serious/chronic medical conditions — not as the disease is virulent too much. Early intervention with medication can cure the disease as usually.

The novel H1N1 influenza A virus spreads four times faster than other viruses and creates much panic all over the world. The rising number of cases every day and increase in death rate in some countries made it a serious concern. But experts in influenza and infectious disease are still saying the exact level of danger from the virus is still far from certain.

In most cases, the disease manifestation is just regular influenza. It is something that happens every year. It is self limiting and most people recover soon without any medication. H1N1 is a major concern for people with chronic diseases like diabetes, cancer and also for children and extreme aged.

The scientists who study outbreaks say that A(H1N1) is not the deadliest strain out there. The case-fatality (the percentage of people who got the disease and did not survive) is still very low. While case fatality for severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) reached more than 15 percent, bird flu reached higher to 60 percent, but it is only about 1 percent worldwide with a maximum fatality in Mexico is about 10 percent.

Moreover, we have drugs (Oseltamivir and Zanamivir) in our hand now to fight in the initial phase that we did not have in the previous large flu outbreaks.

Although there are positive reasons not to panic, we should be concern deeply with the risk and potential danger of H1N1 that may occur in near future. If we track back to Spanish influenza, we see that it began as a mild strain, and then turned horrifically virulent, killing 20 million to 100 million people in 1918-19.

The risk could be reduced or eliminated by exercising personal control like hygiene practice. It is worth remembering that worry itself is a risk, a stress that can undermine health and happiness. We need not to be panicked but always have to take these things seriously.

In order to protect the crops from the insects, pests etc, chemical pesticide are used. But many producers as well as consumers are not fully aware of the ill effects of the pesticides.

Pesticide has the ability to kill living cell. As it kills the pest, it can kill the human cells as well. Many germs have developed defense or resistance against the pesticides. Some new types of disease have emerged those are very difficult to treat. Peoples are facing uncommon physical disorders as well as mental problems.

Vegetables and fruits sold in the market seems to be very attractive and fresh. People often become biased to purchase theses so called disease free foods. But they do not know that behind the freshness there are potential health consequences.

Due to the consumption of this sorts of food, the chance of developing several disease like cancer, diabetes, heart disease, hair fall, skin disease etc. increased. Some pesticide has a long residual effect. In many places in Bangladesh, farmers use pesticide indiscriminately during growing stage of crops. This cause much harm in the long run.

We are very much concerned about our health but we are not properly aware of what are eating and feeding. So we have to have alert about our food and create awareness among the people. We observe that some law enforcers have become active to ensure formalin free fish, stop adulteration of restaurants food, melamine free powder milk etc. But pesticide used during growing vegetables and others agricultural products are under focused.

Instead of chemical pesticide, farmers can grow crops with the help of other methods like pheromone trap, light trap, manually control of pest etc. Government should take initiative to implement other methods to produce pesticides free agricultural commodities that are not harmful to human health.

A huge number of people develop foot pain in their 60s. Usually they think that foot pain is a part of the aging process and accept it walking with pain. But it can start as early as the 20s and 30s as well. With simple measures like proper footwear and regular exercise can play an important role in preventing foot problems.

On an average, healthy people walk the equivalent of three times around the Earth in their lifetime. That is a matter of enormous wear and tear on the 26 bones, 33 joints and more than 100 tendons, ligaments and muscles that make up the foot.

Excessive weight, diabetes and circulation problems can contribute to foot pain. The most common foot conditions that occur with age are arthritic joints, thinning of the fat pads cushioning the soles, plantar fasciitis (inflammation of the fibrous tissue along the sole), bunions (enlargement of the joint at the base of the big toe), poor circulation and fungal nails. The following questions will help you assess whether you should take more preventive action as you age.

Are you overweight? The force on your feet is about 120 percent of your weight. It can lead to plantar fasciitis and heel pain and can worsen hammertoes and bunions. It is also a risk factor for diabetes, leading to the next question.

Are you diabetic? Being farthest from the heart, the feet can be the first part of the body to manifest complications like poor circulation and loss of feeling, both of which can lead to poor wound healing and amputation. Diabetics should have their feet examined annually by a doctor and avoid shoes that cause abrasions and pressure.

Do you have poor circulation? If you suffer from peripheral artery disease — a narrowing of veins in the legs — your feet are more susceptible to problems. Smoking also contributes to poor circulation.

Do your parents complain about their feet? Family history is probably your biggest clue to potential problems.

Do your shoes fit? Feet flatten and lengthen with age, so if you are clinging to the shoe size you wore at age 21, get your feet measured (especially mothers — pregnancy expands feet).

Do your feet ever see the light of day? Fungus thrives in a warm, moist environment. Choose moisture-wicking socks (not cotton), use antifungal powders and air out your toes at home.

Do you walk? Putting more mileage on your feet is the best way to exercise the muscles and keep them healthy.

– Dr Md Rajib Hossain –