Posted on March 5th, 2009
Cryptosporidium was first pinpointed as a cause of gastrointestinal disease in 1976, and was found in the 1980s to be a common cause of diarrhea in people infected with HIV. Cryptosporidium infection (cryptosporidiosis) is a gastrointestinal disease whose primary symptom is diarrhea. The illness begins when a tiny one-celled parasite enters your body and travels to your small intestine. Cryptosporidium, which means “hidden spore,” then begins its life cycle inside your body — burrowing into the walls of your intestines and then later being shed in your feces. In most healthy people, cryptosporidium infection produces a bout of watery diarrhea and resolves within a week or two. For people with a compromised immune system, it can become life-threatening without proper treatment.
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Posted on March 3rd, 2009
Ataxia describes a lack of muscle coordination during voluntary movements, such as walking or picking up objects. A sign of an underlying condition, ataxia can affect your movements, your speech, your eye movements and your ability to swallow. Persistent ataxia usually results from damage to your cerebellum — the part of your brain that controls muscle coordination. Many conditions may cause ataxia, including alcohol abuse, stroke, tumor, cerebral palsy and multiple sclerosis. It’s also possible to inherit a defective gene that may cause one of many ataxia variants.
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Posted on March 2nd, 2009
Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are infections acquired by sexual contact. You can catch sexually transmitted diseases any time you have unprotected sex with a partner who is already infected. The organisms that cause sexually transmitted diseases may pass from person to person in blood, semen or vaginal fluids.
It’s possible to contract sexually transmitted diseases from people who seem perfectly healthy — people who, in fact, aren’t even aware of being infected. That’s because many sexually transmitted diseases cause no symptoms, at least at first. The symptoms of several sexually transmitted diseases are also easy to mistake for those of other conditions, so the correct diagnosis may be delayed.
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Posted on February 21st, 2009
Syringomyelia is the development of a fluid-filled cyst (syrinx) within your spinal cord. Over time, the cyst may enlarge, damaging your spinal cord and causing pain, weakness and stiffness, among other symptoms. If left untreated, syringomyelia symptoms may worsen, in some cases requiring surgery.
If syringomyelia isn’t causing any problems, monitoring the condition may be all that’s necessary. But if you’re bothered by symptoms, you may need surgery.
In some people, syringomyelia can become a progressive disorder and lead to serious complications. In others, there may be no associated symptoms and no intervention necessary.
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Posted on February 20th, 2009
eart rhythm problems or heart arrhythmias, occur when the electrical impulses in your heart that coordinate your heartbeats don’t function properly, causing your heart to beat too fast, too slow or irregularly. Heart arrhythmias are common and usually harmless. Most people have occasional, irregular heartbeats that may feel like a fluttering or racing heart.
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