Health Watch

Dengue spreads again

Nadira Gunatilleke

These days water is everywhere and it is impossible to get rid all the water collect outside your home all the time. Bay of Bengal is always changing moods these days and as a result our home gardens are full of water. This is a time that you can receive a deadly gift from your neighbour or your employer! May be it is you who give it to them! It is Dengue.

Dengue was a hot topic during the past and it was used most by local politicians to sling mud during election times. Some electronic media just lived days and weeks using various topics and incidents related to dengue.

But dengue is still in Sri Lanka and people dying from dengue no matter how hard the health authorities work to control it. Discussing most crucial facts will help to the public to save their lives from this deadly disease.

The dengue mosquito does not fly to your home from the garbage dump located one kilometre away from your home or the abandoned lake located one and half kilometres away from your home. It does not fly to your home from the water tank which is located just 750 metres away from your home.

The dengue mosquito fly to your home from a place located just within a radius of 500 metres. Therefore look carefully for the possible mosquito breeding places (where fresh water is getting collected) located within a radius of 500 metres from your home. May be it is located inside the garden of your neighbour who is also your best friend!

Certain trees that you grow in your garden such as banana trees, bromeliads, cut bamboo, fallen palm fronds and tree haloes are excellent breeding sites for dengue mosquitoes.

May be you are growing bromeliads to add beauty to your garden or may be you grow them to sell and make money. But at the same time you earn dengue for your children and the children living around your home. So you have to destroy them or add a insecticide to the place the plants harbour water.

You have to inform the PHI if your best friend who is also your neighbour keeping bromeliads. You have to decide between the life of your child and the friendship of your neighbour!

How about your office air conditioners and flower pots/vases? Are there any mosquitoes inside your fully air conditioned and cleaned office? Do your employer not interested in maintaining the machines properly? If so don’t keep your mouth shut and take dengue fever with you when you go home after work. He cannot punish you for requesting a safe and healthy working environment!

Go and check your child’s school environment. Your child deserves a safe and healthy school environment to study.

School authorities should make sure that your child study in an environment that is free from dengue mosquitoes. Blaming your child’s school when he or she gets affected with dengue is wrong if your child spend his or her evenings in tuition classes! It is your responsibility to go and check all the tuition classes your child attends and make sure that no dengue mosquito breeding site near them.

What is the point of crying beside your child’s body and blaming health officials through a television channel enabling it to sell your agony and earn millions of rupees?

The other fact is taking a good care of your child who is suffering from fever. It can be dengue. May be the child is not in the hands of a perfect health staff.

Your attention and enthusiasm is very much needed during such occasions. Don’t forget that it is housewives and school children who get infected with dengue often.

What is the reason behind this? It is homes, home gardens and schools which harbour most of the dengue mosquito breeding sites. Just tell your husband, brother or father who is just watching the cricket match at home to clean your home and garden and make sure that there are no places where water can get collected.

Do not wait for someone else to take care of your life. Do it yourself. Clean your home and environment. Do not turn a blind eye to the mosquito breeding site located inside your neighbour’s garden and in your work place. Act now and be safe.

BACK CARE:

Getting rid of those back pains

Nilakshi KASILINGAM

We often see our friends, family & colleagues complain of backache, “I was just lifting this small box and heard this snap on my back”, “I was bending down to pick up my pencil from the desk since then my back is not normal”, or “I always have this nagging pain in my back which I used to ignore but it keeps getting worse”…

How many do you think go for proper treatment? It’s always a gel or high dose of pain killers, until it’s too late and the surgeon tells you to go for a surgery or complete bed rest for weeks to months. It doesn’t have to be that way; back pain is considered the most common condition resulting in lost working days and college days. It affects all age groups in both genders.

Why do we get back pain? Our back works constantly during our daily chores. You bend and twist it a number of times to get your workload done. Due to bad habits our back gets more strain than it should bear while there is no strengthening of the back muscles.

We don’t exercise the muscles to become stronger but we take work from these muscles more than it should bear.

Which are the reasons active youths and children don’t complain backache as their back muscles are stronger to bear the stress put on those muscles.

* Bad body mechanics - bending and twisting your back

* Bad posture in sitting, standing and sleeping

* Weak back and abdominal muscles

* Sudden jerky movements e.g.: sudden braking of the vehicle

* Too much stress on back muscles e.g.: lifting a heavy load with your bent back

* Unequal weight bearing How can we treat back pain? Back pain identified and taken proper measures in early stages will be more effective than ignoring the early signs & wait till it get worse to seek medical/surgical management.

* Best home remedy is hot water fermentation

* Along with few back stretching exercises.

* Few yoga poses also help to relieve back pain * Then strengthens back and abdominal muscles to avoid recurrent back aches.

* Avoid pain killers, look for the cause and treat it.

* Consult with your doctor or physiotherapist before it’s too late.

Danger signs of back pain

* Increased back pain with bending and twisting

* Back pain radiating to your legs

* Back pain during coughing, sneezing and other activities

* Unable to get up from bed, bend your back or limit your daily activities.

You may need further management than exercises or hot water fermentation. Consult a doctor immediately if these symptoms present.

Prevention is better than cure Check your daily routine and keep a track record of activities which cause you back pain. Try to avoid such activities or adjust yourself with alternatives.

* Practice good posture

* Practice good body mechanics

* Bend your knees not your back

* Turn with your whole body, do not twist your back to turn

*Maintain physical fitness

* Sleep on a firm mattress

* Avoid high heels

* Watch your weight

* Carry weights equally on both hands or shoulders

* Take help to carry heavy weights

* Wear both shoulder straps of the bags all the time

* Do exercises during pregnancy and after delivery to strengthen your back muscles

* Carry out lifting movements smoothly avoid sudden jerky movements

* Keep changing your position i.e. Do not sit or stand for long time

The writer is a Physiotherapist working as a HOD in Navageevana Rehabilitation Centre, Tangalle

Malignant growth

Bhagya Senaratne

This is what they call it; a canker that is. The ordinary man probably might not know what this is. This growth, but we all know it can be deadly if not treated on time.

I had to visit the cancer hospital in Maharagama the other day. No, it was not to make a generous contribution of something. I went to see a patient, my aunt. This is not the first time there. Once before I had to visit my uncle who received treatment for cancer and who later, passed away.

Initially, going to the hospital was a bit - what can I say - ‘weird’? I had heard a great deal about how depressing the place was from persons who had visited it before. Therefore I was not too keen on going.

The only thing that did was the wish to see my uncle. This time, however, it was different. I knew the place was not bad as it is known to be. I now know the hundreds of people seeking treatment within the cancer hospital get the best attention and medical treatment that can be given to them.

My uncle smoked tobacco and thus harmed himself to the point that one of his lungs started to liquefy. Yes, he was in pain in the latter stages of his life. It is this pain that got him to the hospital. By that time, it was too late. Even though he was advised-medically - that quitting this habit could save his life, early on, he never listened. He continued to torture his already damaged lungs by smoking.

From this I relearned something, that smoking does in fact kill people! It does not only cause growths inside a person, it also takes away parts of the human, even the entire being, in the worst case scenario. My uncle in not heeding medical advice and continuing this bad habit, killed him-literally. This I would call, inflicting death upon oneself.

My aunt on the other hand, had a growth in her body, which she has had for the past so many years, I am told. She didn’t know she had a growth in her until it caused her pain. Even then, she sought to take some pain killers and relieve the pain. She is to be operated and the growth areas are to be removed from her body. Let’s see how that goes.

What really worries me is that with all the modern day awareness that takes place with regard to cancer, she didn’t attempt to get this ‘pain’ checked. We, as her family were shocked beyond words to hear that the cancer has been growing in her for so many years and without her knowledge.

I suppose this calls for more self awareness with regard to diseases such as cancer. We need to know our body and be familiar with it. There are different ways and means to get tested and to screen oneself in Sri Lanka. We, as individuals need to keep check of ourselves.

This is because it is us who will be suffering both physically and mentally if we are to go through something like this, and we also bring pain to those around, who love us. I merely thought we should be aware of this ‘growth’ and go on to take the correct steps medically to help one and those around us, who share and face the pain with us.

Learn to recognize Cancer’s danger signals • Any sore that does not heal • A lump or thickening in the breast or elsewhere • Unusual bleeding or discharge • Any change in a wart or mole • Persistent indigestion or difficulty in swallowing • Persistent hoarseness or cough • Any change in normal bowel habits If you notice any of the above indicators please consult your doctor immediately.

Treating lung diseases:

Australian scientists announce breakthrough

CANBERRA, June 17 (Xinhua) — An Australian research team on Thursday announced that they have discovered a type of cell in human placentas that could be used to treat lung diseases by reducing inflammation and scarring.

Researchers from the Lung Institute of Western Australia and the Monash Institute of Medical Research said in a statement that their discovery could lead to treatments for lung diseases such as emphysema, severe asthma and abestosis.

“What we found is that in the human placenta there are cells that develop from the embryo, that are not part of the embryo, that are then passed into the placenta and form part of the placenta.

These cells seem to have properties whereby they can differentiate into lung cells, not completely but show that type of property or phenotype,” the study’s lead researcher, Associate Professor Yuben Moodley told ABC radio.

The scientists successfully tested the treatment on mice and published the results of their study this month in the American Journal of Respiratory of Critical Care Medicine.

When asked that potentially how far away are the scientists from seeing the results on mice as a possible treatment in humans, Moodley said: “Given that there is no ethical issues, that the cells are freely available from discarded placenta and that they could be easily grown and injected, it would be a near term issue rather than a long term issue.”

“But I do think we also need to understand the diseases that we are trying to treat better, I think that’s also a critical step.” The study concluded that use of the placenta cells offered promise as a cellular therapy for reducing lung inflammation and fibrosis.