Adventure Ausrama Blog

Rheumatoid arthritis is a widespread complaint. It is usually a malady of the elderly, but the young can succumb to it too. About the only treatment available is replacement of joints with artificial ones and analgesics. A team at the University of Queensland has taken a new approach. They have developed a vaccine. Many diseases are caused by the body attacking its own tissue. Arthritis is one of these. If the immune response is suppressed, inflammation decreases. This is how the new vaccine works. All Westerners have high inflammation levels. This may be a good thing to fight injuries. However, continued long term inflammation does damage to the body. Once switched on and the immediate danger solved it needs to be turned off. The new method involves taking a sample of the patient's immune cells which are then modified in the lab. This is injected back into the patient. The immune system no longer sees the modified peptide as foreign. Other problematic...

Ebola is still a world crisis. Though the overall rate of infected people has slowed, some pockets in Africa have increased infections. It could still spread to Europe, Asia and the US.  If it does spread this wide, control will be virtually impossible. Some form of effective treatment has to be found - fast. The blood of survivors has been seen has the most probable source of a vaccine. However, any form of treatment should be examined for its usefulness. In Australia a vaccine tested on monkeys holds out great hope. The Kunjin treatment has been created from engineering the Ebola virus protein. Monkeys were given the vaccine and they showed significant protection from the disease. Seventy five per cent of the monkeys kept their resistance. Much research was based on tests on rodents. Success on them did not mean that vaccines would work on humans, so tests on primates is beginning. Scientists must get a move on to create a successful vaccine. Ninety per...

Smallpox was a serious problem in the 20th century. The World Health Organization declared in 1979 that smallpox was no longer a danger to the world's population. The aim has been to "silence" other diseases. It was hoped that polio could also be eradicated, but a stubborn region for this has remained in Pakistan. More cases were identified in Pakistan than in any other country in 2011. The Edhi Foundation, a major charity, and the Pakistan government are working with the Global Polio Eradication Initiative to target the disease. Cases have fallen so that now Nigeria is the main trouble spot. There are fears that the progress could be short lived and figures could rise again. Polio spreads far more easily than smallpox. The smallpox vaccine lasts for five years and is very effective. For the war on polio to be won, just about every person must be vaccinated. As the disease can only spread from person to person this goal must be achieved. http://www.adventure--aus...