Elephantiasis disease results in much psychological distress and suffering to both the person with the disease and family. It also causes embarrassment, shame, sadness, depression, fear and social isolation. This embarrassment is due to the visibility of the swollen parts of the body. A common embarrassing name used to describe the disease is elephant leg. This disease can cause disability and poverty to people due to the enlargement of different body parts. It can enable people to work, and this effects the individual and the society economy, as people from the endemic countries with the disease suffer from poverty because lots of people are affected by elephantiasis and are unable to bring income to their families. This disease affects an …show more content…
Drug companies such as GlaxoSmithkline and Merck & Co. Inc. have donated 230 million drug treatments of albendazole and ivermectin to many poor countries in Africa and South Asia. The drug is estimated to cost approximately $0.25 per person a year, and it was donated for free. The goal is to eliminate the disease which will help reduce poverty due to the disability that the condition causes. In the year 2000 the World Health Organization (WHO) launched a global program to eliminate the causation of Lymphatic filariasis. The goal was to recognize this disease as a global public health problem, and to stop the spread of the infection in endemic countries by using preventative techniques such as victor control. Victors can be controlled by using pesticides, mosquito nests around beds at night and sanitation control. The government of these affected countries supplies these products to these areas. Some countries are still neglected due to the poor living conditions. The programs goals are to eliminate the disease by 2020 (Seppa
There are some wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful than wounds that bleed. Just as all humans, elephants similarly feel emotions whether it is joy or sorrow. In his article “An Elephant Crack Up?” the author, Charles Siebert focuses on the recent strange and bellicose behaviors of elephants and clears up the causes of the behaviors with plenty of informative observations. In “Immune to Reality,” Daniel Gilbert theorizes that the psychological immune system is triggered by large-scale negative events. We also see these negative effects in the passage, “The Mega-Marketing of Depression in Japan,” while Ethan Watters exposes the attempts of Glaxo Smith Kline to convince the Japanese doctors that the Japanese people
From 166 A.D. to 180 A.D., The Antonine Plague spread around Europe devastating many countries. This epidemic killed thousands per day and is also known as the modern-day name Smallpox. It is known as one of deadliest plagues around the world.
AIDS is slowly becoming the number one killer across the globe. Throughout numerous small countries, AIDS has destroyed lives, taken away mothers, and has left hopeless children as orphans. The problem remains that funding for the diseases’ medical research is limited to none. In the country Brazil, HIV/AIDS has been compared to the bubonic plague, one of the oldest yet, most deadly diseases to spread rapidly across Europe (Fiedler 524). Due to this issue, Brazil’s government has promised that everyone who has been diagnosed with either HIV or AIDS will receive free treatment; however, this treatment does not include help in purchasing HIV medications, that “carry astronomical price tags” (Fiedler 525). Generic drug companies have been able to produce effective HIV medications that are not as costly if compared to the prices given by the huge pharmaceutical companies. In contrast, the U.S. government has now intervened with these generic companies hindering them from making HIV medications, which may not be as efficient if made by the pharmaceutical companies. Not only are these drug companies losing thousands of dollars against generic drug companies, but also tremendous profit that is demanded for marketing these expensive drugs as well. “How many people must die without treatment until the companies are willing to lower their prices, or to surrender their patients so generic makers can enter market? (Fiedler 525).” With this question in mind, what ways can we eliminate the HIV/AIDS epidemic across the world? With research, education, testing, and funding we can prevent the spread of HIV to others and hopefully find a cure.
The word achondroplasia means “without cartilage formation.” However, in achondroplasia, the problem is not in forming cartilage but to convert it to bone. Here is Leah’s story; Leah, age four, was at the mall with her mother Charmaine. While at the checkout the lady behind them said, “Oh how cute, everybody loves a midget” the woman reached out to touch Leah’s hand but she had pulled away, knowing it was after all a stranger. The lady then said, “Oh my I see why, she is a dwarf, she must be Grumpy cause if she was Snow White, she would have given me a smile.” (Kay, Raising Leah)
The excerpt from Elephants Know When They Need a Helping Trunk is about the exact procedures and results of the same experiment that Elephants Can Lend a Helping Trunk was about. It contains the precise physical dimensions of every part of the test, and detailed explanations of each step that was followed to preform the test. Little to no opinions, quotes, or even conclusions that could be drawn were included, due to the strict, formal, and informational nature of the passage. The author's purpose was purely to explain all parts of the elephant study, and not at all to entertain or persuade.
Merck was one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Merck was about to lose patent protection of two of its best selling drugs, which had been a significant part of their $2 billion annual sales. Merck began putting millions of dollars into research (up to $1 billion) and within three years, Merck was able to discover four powerful medications. Profits weren’t all that Merck cared about; Merck’s founder believed that "medicine is for people. It is not for the profits." • He also believed that following the “medicine is for people” philosophy would lead to profits and had yet to fail.• River Blindness is caused by parasitic worms, which can be found in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America.• These places are developing, so many citizens are poor. • The worm larvae can enter the body through fly bites, with some people getting thousands a day. • Worms can cause grotesque growths, but the major problem lies in reproduction when millions of progeny are released in the system. •The resulting itching is so intense the infected have committed suicide. • Eventually, the larvae may cause blindness. • Two existing drugs could kill the parasite, but have serious, potentially fatal, side effects. • The only safe combative measure available was insecticides that eventually lose potency with immunity of the flies. • The average drug takes $200 million in research and 12 years time to produce. • In order for companies to stay in business (and ease human pain), they must make complex decisions about which drugs offer the most promise. • Investing time/money into drugs for rare diseases is risky (because the pool of recipients is small). • There are enough people with river blindness ...
The elephant nose fish is a species of weakly electric fish from Africa that produces pulses of electric current from an electric organ in the abdomen. These pulses, referred to as electric organ discharges (EODs), are produced and later picked up by electroreceptors in the “nose” of the fish. These pulses serve as a method of navigation and communication. We recorded the EODs of the elephant nose fish using electrodes fixed to a PVC pipe. It was found that the EODs were variable in interval, as illustrated by the large standard deviation (75.6 ms). It was also found that the duration of each pulse was very short (mean = .84 ms) and punctuated by an average interval of 113.3 ms, approximately 134.9% longer than the duration of each pulse.
The common name is the African Elephant, the scientific name is Loxodonta Africana, the phylum is Vertebrata, the class is Mammalia, the order is Proboscidea, and the family is Elephantidae. The Closest Relatives to the African Elephant are: the Asian Elephant, mammoths, primitive proboscidean (mastodons), sea cows, and hyraxes. Scientists believe that the African Elephant evolved from one of its closest relatives, the Sea Cow. The geographical location and range of the African elephant covers all of central and southern Africa. In Ethiopia there are isolated populations that exist around Lake Chad in Mali and Mauritania. Also in Kenya, Rhodesia, Tanzania, Zambia, Uganda, Zaire, and in National parks located in South Africa, as well as several other countries. African Elephants, originally, were found in all of the Sub-Saharan African habitats except desert steppes. Elephants still occupy diverse habitats such as: temperate grassland, tropical savanna and grass lands, temperate forest and rainforest, tropical rainforest, tropical scrub forest, and tropical deciduous forest despite their drastic decline in numbers. However, their migratory patterns and habitat use have changed, due to the fact that they are restricted to protected areas. The elephant can exist in many types of environments but it prefers places that have many trees and bushes, which the elephant needs both for food and shade. They also like warm areas that have plenty of rainfall.
The Asian Elephant is an endangered species of elephants located in southeastern Asia1,2. The Asian Elephant can be differentiated from elephants found in Africa by their smaller stature and smaller, rounded ears1. Asian Elephants live predominantly in forest environments where grasses are plentiful but are also known to live in grasslands. Asian Elephants generally consume grasses but also consume other plant matter like roots, plant stems, and plant leaves. Asian Elephants are highly social beings and form small groups of elephants lead by the eldest female elephant2. These small groups of elephants occasionally form larger groups, called herds, with other groups of elephants.
Another interesting fact of this African Elephant is its environment, the place which it lives in. This being africa. The land of which this animal lives on is dry, which is why it has a adaptation to dig
A new disease has recently been discovered that is now hindering elephants’ ability to survive even further. This is a major problem because according to Science Magazine, as of 1997, there are only an estimated 291 Asian elephants and 193 African elephants left in North American zoos. Since this survey was conducted, this number has declined significantly. It is now estimated that for every elephant that is born in a zoo, another three die. In the wild, female elephants are constantly pregnant or nursing.
...at researchers are doing to try to eradicate malaria in underdeveloped countries such as Africa.
...vent malaria instead of otherwise non-available vaccine. Therefore there is a need for commitment to combat and eradicate malaria.
Preventing diseases is every countries’ responsibility, whether they are poor or rich. Poor countries lack the knowledge and the money to gain, and expand medical resources. Therefore, many people are not been able to be cured. For wealthy countries, diseases are mutating at incredible speeds. Patients are dying because drug companies do not have enough data to produce vaccines to cure patients. When developed countries help poor countries to cure their people, the developed countries could help underdeveloped countries. Since developed countries can provide greater medical resources to poor countries, people living in the poor countries could be cured. As for the developed countries, they can collect samples from the patients so that the drug companies can produce new vaccines for new diseases. When trying to cure diseases, developed countries and poor countries would have mu...
Malaria is an important public health disease endemic in over a hundred countries globally. About 90% of malaria deaths occur in Africa with a child dying every forty five seconds. Malaria accounts for 16% of child deaths in the Africa (Remme, Binka & Nabarro 2001) and 7% of deaths in children worldwide (WHO 2010). It is a disease of poverty, causing significant constraint to the economic growth of susceptible nations (WHO 2010; Sachs, Malaney 2002). Globally, numerous malaria control programmes have been initiated to eliminate and eradicate the disease. In this context, eradication refers to a reduction in the global incidence of malaria to zero, such that its does not require any further control interventions. Elimination refers to a reduction in the incidence of malaria to a level that doesn’t constitute any significant public health burden, but still requires some form of control and surveillance (Heymann 2006). One limitation towards elimination and eradication of malaria is resistance. Resistance occurs when the efficacy of a control measure is reduced due to prolonged exposure of the malaria parasite and /or vector to sub-therapeutic doses of an intervention (Hemingway, Field & Vontas 2002).