August 2018

www.theasianindependent.co.uk
HEALTH
August 2018
13
Public health dept data: Children form 10
per cent of Maharashtra's leprosy pool
Leprosy is an infectious
disease caused
by mycobacteria
laprae that affects skin
and can lead to
physical deformity
and disfigurement.
Even as the Union Health Ministry's
deadline to eliminate leprosy across the
country by 2018 approaches, in
Maharashtra alone, children account for
10.11 per cent of the state's total leprosy
burden, indicating that the bacterial
infection is still spreading among children.
Leprosy is an infectious disease
caused by mycobacteria laprae that
affects skin and can lead to physical
deformity and disfigurement.
Data from the state public health
department shows that till March 2018,
1,624 children were diagnosed with leprosy,
of the total pool of 16,065 patients
in the state. Of them, in 27 per cent of
the infected children, the disease has
progressed into multi-bacillary, a condition
where there are more than five skin
lesions on the body.
While India declared itself leprosy
free in 2005 - meaning leprosy cases
were less than one per 10,000 people -
in the past few years, the number of
cases have risen across the country. The
World Health Organisation has set a
deadline for 2020 to completely eliminate
deformities due to leprosy among
children. But with newer cases coming
up, experts believe the target may be
hard to achieve for India. Dr Atul Shah,
a plastic surgeon in Nanavati hospital
who treats deformities arising out of
leprosy, said it is necessary for the government
to actively find the hidden leprosy
population. "The disability proportion
has gone up, which means diagnosis
is happening much later," he said.
Shah said he still gets children with leprosy
at a stage when they develop deformity.
"Patients also ignore the lesions
until disability happens," he said.
Dr VV Pai, director at Bombay
Leprosy Project, said: "What we need is
active case finding to prevent late diagnosis
or deformity." In the initial stages,
Midlife fitness may
boost your heart health
A new study states that people with high fitness during their middle
age are less likely to develop or die from heart diseases later in
their lives. The effect of low fitness is real on heart diseases as well
as depression. People with high fitness during their middle ages are
significantly less likely to die from heart diseases in later life even
if they were diagnosed with depression, researchers including one
of Indian-origin suggested.The study, published in the journal of the
American Medical
Association Psychiatry, found
that participants with high fitness
were 56 per cent less
likely to die from heart diseases
following a depression
diagnosis. Depression has
been linked to several other
chronic medical conditions
such as diabetes, obesity and chronic kidney disease, but taking
anti-depressants are likely to help. But according to the researchers,
for patients with these conditions, the more appropriate treatment
may be exercise. The researchers said the reasons behind this may
partly be connected to the general health effects of physical activity,
including the fact that exercise decreases inflammation that may
cause depression. By reducing inflammation, the risk for depression
and heart diseases are lowered, the researchers mentioned.
"The earlier you maintain fitness, the better chance of preventing
depression, which in the long run will help lower the risk of
heart diseases," said co-author Madhukar Trivedi from the
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre in the US. For
the study, the researchers examined database of nearly 18,000 participants
who had their cardio-respiratory fitness measured at an
average age of 50 years.
The researchers used Medicare Administrative data to establish
correlations between the participants' fitness at midlife to rates of
depression and heart diseases in older age. "There is enough evidence
to show that the effect of low fitness on depression and heart
diseases is real. But further study is needed to establish the mechanism
by which this effect happens," Trivedi noted.
the disease is identified as paucibacillary,
with less than five skin lesions on
body. In Maharashtra, 1,182 children
have been identified with paucibacillary
leprosy, forming 16.2 per cent of total
paucibacillary burden in Maharashtra
and 442 children (five per cent) have
more than five lesions termed as multibacillary.
"In Mumbai, deformity cases
are low. We found only six children with
Eating food
that heals from
within JAMUN
Research is underway to develop various
sources for stem cells, as well as
to apply stem-cell treatments for neurological
disease and chronic diseases
like heart disease and diabetes.
The search for novel treatments
for diseases, longevity
and wellness is far more than
ever before. Be it acupuncture,
naturopathy, massage,
homoeopathy, biofeedback,
Ayurveda or even stem cell therapy
and many others, they are
not integrated into orthodox
medicine. Most do not get
approved by FDA. Rather they
represent what is called alternative
or complementary therapies.
According to recent reports in
the US, a more open view is
being considered for stem cell
therapy. Stem cell therapy is the
use of stem cells to treat or prevent
a disease or condition. Stem
cells are a class of undifferentiated
cells that are able to differentiate
into specialised cell types.
Commonly, stem cells come
from two main sources: Stem
cells from the bone marrow are
the most widely used in stemcell
therapy, but some therapies
use stem cells from umbilical
cord blood.
Research is underway to
develop various sources for stem
cells, as well as to apply stemcell
treatments for neurological
disease and chronic diseases like
heart disease and diabetes. Other
potential areas of use include
arthritis, stroke, lung disease,
sports injuries, hair loss and skin
problems with ageing like wrinkles.
Stem-cell therapy has become
controversial. This controversy
is often related to abortion politics
and to human cloning. While
these issues will continue to be
researched, the good news is that
grade I, and three with grade II disability
in the city at our centre. The deformity
cases are much higher in tribal
regions of Thane and Palghar," Pai said.
His NGO has treated 866 leprosy
patients between 2003 and 2017 and of
them 55 were children. An 11-year-old
from Dombivali, now undergoing a
multi-drug therapy at the centre, was
diagnosed after a year-long delay in
2017 with clawed hands and skin
lesions on her face, stomach, arms,
thigh and hip. While her mother also
had leprosy and was undergoing active
treatment, she failed to identify her
daughter's symptoms.
"Her nerve damage was controlled
but the lesions were huge on her body.
Diagnosis was very late" Pai said. It
takes six months to one year for a
patient to develop deformities in the
form of clawed hands and feet.
Across Maharashtra, the Directorate
of Health Services has recorded 1,181
cases of disabilities among leprosy
patients until March.
A slight dip in the number of children
getting diagnosed with disabilities is
encouraging. But doctors claim that
screening programs need to be regular.
From 2016-17 to 2017-18, number of
leprosy cases among children dipped
from 11 to 10.11 per cent. In 2014-15,
2,045 children, in 2015-16, 1,764 children
and in 2017-18, 1,624 children
have been diagnosed with leprosy in
Maharashtra. Rati Mishra, who is
attached to the National Centre for
Promotion of Employment for Disabled
People, said there are 119 provisions
under various acts in the Constitution
that are discriminatory against leprosy
patients. "The funding for the program
is low. We need more human resources
to screen patients door-to-door as the
social stigma demotivates patients from
coming forward," she said.
one can use one's own food to
activate our body's own dormant
stem cells.
A viable alternative to stem
cell transplantation is to design
approaches that stimulate
endogenous stem cells to promote
healing and regenerative
medicine. Many natural compounds
have been shown to promote
healing. A research published
in 2006 demonstrates
effects of several natural compounds;
phytonutrients in green
tea, berries and vitamin D in
combination act to promote healing
via an interaction with stem
cell populations. These are commonly
consumed foods like our
very own jamun or black berry,
spirulina and Japanese seaweed.
Jamun fruit and seeds have a
history of use as a hypoglycaemic
agent in treating diabetes
in traditional medicine in India
which has been validated by several
scientific studies. Not only
diabetes, many studies are
demonstrating its cancer-fighting
qualities. It has phytonutrients,
among them glycosides.
Recent preliminary studies show
they guide our stem cells to produce
more red blood cells and
thereby can potentially benefit
people suffering from heart failure.
These are new areas of
research and offer potential in
treating disease. However, till
more information is available,
including these simple foods in
our diet can certainly help in
repairing and healing our bodies
from inside without any side
effects.