Lassa Outbreak in Nigeria..Months and counting

Medic-ALL (01-25-2016) DISEASE

by Kayode Kuku

Just less than 2 years after the Ebola virus hit the Nigeria and other countries in the West African region, Lassa fever, another viral hemorrhagic fever, with similar symptoms as Ebola broke out in the country.

Lassa fever is an acute viral illness first discovered in Nigeria in 1969 when 2 missionary nurses died from the disease. The virus was subsequently named after the town in Borno State, Nigeria where the first cases occurred. The virus belongs to the virus family, Arenaviridae, a single stranded RNA virus which is animal borne and usually associated with rodent transmitted diseases in humans.

It is endemic in parts of West Africa including Sierra Leone, Gambia, Liberia and Nigeria notably but the risk is spread throughout the region where the disease vector, the multimammate rat (Mastomys Natalensis) is distributed.

Lassa virus is transmitted to humans by contact with excreta or urine of infected rats.

Lassa virus is transmitted to humans by contact with food or household items which have been contaminated with excreta or urine of infected rats. Since the disease is endemic in rodent population, it tends to affect communities with poor sanitation and crowded living conditions the most. Hence it is sometimes referred to as a "disease of the poor".

The present outbreak of Lassa Fever broke out in Nigeria, August 2015 and reports show that it has claimed up to 63 lives as at the January, 24, 2016  out of over 200 suspected cases spread across 17 states in the country including the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Nigeria's Health Minister, Professor Isaac Adewole, stated that 212 suspected cases have been reported in the last 3 months.

While the world's most populous black nation was praised for its prompt containment of Ebola in 2014, things appear a little more complicated in the case of Lassa , as many stakeholders including specialists have raised concerns ranging from ignorance of the disease among the vulnerable communities, leading to under-reporting of the cases and under-mining the scale of the outbreak  , and even the capacity of the country's healthcare system to deal with the outbreak at this time.

These are valid concerns, considering the "skeletal" state of the country's primary health care system and the lack of access to adequate health care in the vulnerable regions. The country reported 112 deaths and over 1700 cases of Lassa fever in 2012, yet in a population of over 170 million people, there is only one research center in the country to cater for Lassa fever research.

As far as comparison with Ebola goes, Lassa fever is not necessarily as deadly, but it spreads faster.

Meanwhile, while Lassa fever has exposed the level of preparedness of the nation's health care system to cope with such outbreaks, the WHO and US CDC are working with Nigeria Health Ministry in containing the outbreak.

Medic-All Inc. 2016

Refs: CDC, Punch Nigeria

Nigeria Kicks Out Polio!

Medic-ALL(09:28:2015) GLOBAL HEALTH

In what has been described as a historical achievement for global health by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, Nigeria was last Friday declared free of Polio by the World Health organization and subsequently removed from the Polio-Endemic List, leaving Pakistan and Afghanistan as the two countries in the world that have never been free of the disease. (Read Polio: The "PAN" and the"PAIN").

Nigeria has not reported a case of wild poliovirus since 24 July 2014, and all laboratory data have confirmed a full 12 months have passed without any new cases. Health officials have described this as a major victory in the fight to rid the world of polio. The World Health Organization records show that as recently as 2012, Nigeria accounted for more than half of all polio cases worldwide.

Since then however , there appeared to be collaborative effort by all levels of government, civil society, religious leaders and tens of thousands of dedicated health workers which resulted in one of the world's most populous nations successfully stopping the disease. More than 200 000 volunteers across the country repeatedly immunized more than 45 million children under the age of 5 years, to ensure that no child would suffer from this paralysing disease. Innovative approaches, such as increased community involvement and the establishment of Emergency Operations Centres at the national and state level, have also been pivotal to Nigeria’s success.

In a statement by Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa “Stopping polio in Nigeria has been a clear example that political engagement, strong partnerships and community engagement are the engines that drive the momentum of public health programmes, enabling them to achieve great things. I would like to congratulate everyone, particularly political, religious and community leaders in Nigeria and across Africa, for reaching a year without cases of wild polio.”

Certainly the victory over Polio in Nigeria would not have been possible without the support and commitment of donors and development partners. Such continued support, along with continued domestic funding from Nigeria, will be essential to keep Nigeria and the entire region polio-free, keeping in mind the vulnerable nations in the region( See Polio:The "PAN" and the "PAIN").

The World Health Organization, through her Director-General, Dr. Margaret Chan praised the commitments and efforts that got Nigeria off the Polio-Endemic list whilst reiterating the need for supportive efforts to be rendered to Pakistan and Afghanistan.


Eradicating polio will be one of the greatest achievements in human history, and have a positive impact on global health for generations to come. Nigeria has brought the world one major step closer to achieving this goal and it’s critical that the world seizes this opportunity to end polio for good and ensure future generations of children all over the world are free from this devastating disease.

Source: WHO Media Centre

See Also  Polio:The "PAN" and the "PAIN"

Medic-ALL.Inc 2015

NOT IN VAIN! The Ice Bucket Challenge

Medic-ALL (08:21:2015) MEDICAL BREAKTHROUGHS

About this time last year, a whole lot of people from all works of life voluntarily bathed with ice-containing buckets in what was popularly known as the "Ice Bucket Challenge" all in  a bid to raise awareness and money for research the medical condition Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis A-L-S , also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. A year and over $220 million donations later we have dividends to show.

Scientists at Johns Hopkins , who took the challenge themselves and got soaked, say they've made a major breakthrough in A-L-S research, and they credit it largely to the massive influx of public interest and the funds raised through the movement.

Jonathan Ling and Philip Wong, researchers at John Hopkins say they have discovered how a brain protein called TDP-43 linked to A-L-S works and with it, have developed a potential treatment for the disease.

About a decade ago, researchers discovered people with A-L-S often had clumps of TDP-43 protein outside the nucleus of their brain cells. But it was unknown whether it was the cause or the result of the degenerative disease.

In experiments using mice, they made a protein to mimic TDP-43 and put it into the nerve cells, or neurons.The cells came back to life, indicating the protein problem is at least part of the reason the nervous system slowly dies off in A-L-S. This sparked interest that the treatment could be used to slow down or halt the progression of the condition. The team of researchers at Hopkins already have funding to put their protein into human trials, all because so many people were willing to get wet.

 In spite of the the overwhelming rave on social media about the disease, thanks to the "Ice Bucket Challenge", A-L-S is a relatively rare disease , with about 7000 deaths in the United States  from the disease each year. According to the ALS Asssociation website, about 15 people are newly diagnosed of the disease on  daily basis  and more than 5,600 yearly. It was partly surprising to find hundreds of celebrities, politicians and personalities "gladly" get caught up (and drenched) for the cause. The campaign helped the ALS association raise $115 million last year.

The average life expectancy in persons  with ALS is two to five years from the time of diagnosis.  However, with recent advances in research and improved medical care, many patients are living longer and with more productive lives. Half of all those affected live at least three years or more after diagnosis.  About 20 percent live five years or more, and up to ten percent will survive more than ten years. 

Ref: abcnews, BostonGlobe, ALS Association

See also ALS and the Ice Bucket Challenge

 Medic-ALL.Inc 2015!.

New Virus discovered in the U.S!

Medic-ALL (02:21:2015) DISEASE

The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC said on Friday, February 20 that the mysterious death of a man in Kansas, U.S last year appears to have been caused by a previously unknown virus.

Naming it the Bourbon virus after the county where the man had lived, researchers from the CDC, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, and the University of Kansas classified the agent as a new member of the Thogotovirus genus, others of which are known to cause human disease.

The middle aged man had presented in the late spring of 2014 with fever and fatigue. Laboratory examinations revealed thrombocytopenia (low level of platelets) and leukopenia( low level of white blood cells). He reported numerous tick bites in the days prior to falling ill. He was consequently treated with doxycycline, but there was no improvement and he shortly developed multi-organ failure, dying of cardiopulmonary arrest 11 days after symptom onset.

His blood was tested for known tickborne diseases ( Lyme's , Rocky Mountain spotted Fever) but these were negative. However, the investigators reported, "testing of a specimen for antibodies against Heartland virus indicated the presence of another virus."

Electron microscopy revealed virus particles unlike those of known tickborne pathogens in the U.S.; the research team classified them as within the Orthomyxoviridae family, and with further study as a previously unknown Thogotovirus.

The researchers indicated that they would now look to see if Bourbon virus has been present in other human infections. They also plan to "explore its potential geographic distribution and confirm tick as been the vectors.

The discoveries of Bourbon virus, Heartland virus, and similar tickborne diseases in recent years "suggest that the public health burden of these pathogens has been underestimated," the researchers concluded.

Via Mepage Today
Edited by Kayode Kuku for Medic-ALL blog 

Medic-ALL Inc 2015

Ebola: West African Nation Declared Free

Medic-ALL (01:18:2015) Healthcare News-

Ebola virus stopped in yet another West African Country

The Government of the West African nation, Mali today declared the country free of the deadly Ebola virus following a 42-day period without a new case of the disease.

Mali's Health Minister Ousmane Koné declared this in a statement in which he thanked the country's health workers and international partners for their work which helped to see a halt to the outbreak.

Countries must report no new cases for 42 days - or two incubation periods of 21 days - to be declared Ebola-free.

Mali recorded a total of seven deaths caused by the Ebola outbreak that began just over a year ago

According to World Health Organization (WHO) data the worst epidemic of the viral haemorrhagic fever on record has killed more than 8,400 people, mostly in neighbouring Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

At least 21,296 people have so far been infected with the virus worldwide.

Mali's last infected patient recovered and left hospital early last month. At one point health officials had been monitoring more than 300 contact cases.

Mali became the sixth West African country to record a case of Ebola when a two-year-old girlfrom Guinea died in October. It was close to being declared Ebola free in November before a second wave of infections.

The country now joins other West African countries Nigeria and Senegal who had been declared Ebola-free in the last couple of months.

Medic-ALL.Inc 2015

Ref: BBC, WHO

Flu Deaths hit Epidemic threshold

Medic-ALL (01-04-2015) via MedPage Today's Michael Smith

The year 2014 ended with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC reporting the onset of the dreaded flu season, with the proportion of deaths attributed to pneumonia and influenza reaching the epidemic level.

In the week ended Dec. 20, 6.8% of all deaths observed through the agency's 122 Cities Mortality Reporting System were attributed to pneumonia and flu.

That matches the epidemic threshold for week 51 of 2014, calculated to be significantly higher than a seasonal baseline that uses data for the same week in the previous 5 years, the CDC reported.
At the same time, the rate of influenza-like illness, reported as a percentage of outpatient visits, is elevated both nationwide and in all 10 of the CDC's surveillance regions, the agency said in its weekly flu report.
The proportion of respiratory specimens testing positive for the flu was 28.1% nationally, with a range from 11.3% to 35.9%.

As well, the CDC said, there were four pediatric deaths associated with the flu in week 51, leading to a cumulative total of 15 since the week ending Sept. 28.
Most of the circulating flu is influenza A (H3N2), with a small amount of A (pH1N1) -- the strain responsible for the 2009-2010 pandemic. Only 2.7% of tested samples are influenza B.

Within the 2,023 influenza A samples that were subtyped in week 51, all but one were H3N2, the agency reported.

Flu seasons in which H3N2 virus predominates are usually more severe, and the CDC has previously noted that most of the H3N2 flu that is circulating does not match the H3N2 component of the seasonal vaccine. That continued to be the case in week 51, the agency said.

Those two factors could combine to make this an unusually harsh flu season, but, on the positive side, all of the tested samples, regardless of subtype or strain, were susceptible to neuraminidase inhibitors such as oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza).

Medic-ALL.inc 2015
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Ebola Response On Track -WHO

Medic-ALL (19:12:2014) Via MedPage Today

The response to the Ebola epidemic is on track to meet U.N. targets, the World Health Organization said in a mildly optimistic midweek situation report.
By New Year's Day, the agency said, the three hardest-hit countries will likely have the capacity to isolate and treat all cases and to bury all Ebola victims "safely and with dignity."

Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone all now have more available beds than reported patients, the WHO said, although they are not distributed evenly and some regions still have "serious shortfalls." By the same token, each country has enough safe burial teams to handle all people known to have died from Ebola; however, some regions might lack enough capacity.

The U.N. goals are to have 100% of new patients under treatment by Jan. 1 and all known Ebola victims buried safely. Isolating patients breaks the chain of transmission, while safe burials -- avoiding unprotected contact with the highly infectious body of an Ebola victim -- avoid an important risk factor for new cases.
The agency also had a brighter picture of the incidence of cases, suggesting there are signs that the epidemic in Sierra Leone might be starting to slow -- even though the country reported 327 new confirmed cases in the week ending Dec. 14.
Most of the cases are in the western part of the country, with the capital, Freetown, accounting for 125 of the new cases. Teams began house-to-house searches in Freetown yesterday, seeking hidden Ebola patients, according to the BBC.
The searches are part of the so-called Western Area Surge, which aims to get Ebola patients into treatment and also to raise the number of available beds in the capital, the WHO said.

In Guinea, there has been no evident pattern in recent weeks, with the number of new confirmed cases each week fluctuating between 75 and 148. For the week ending Dec. 14, there were 76.
In Liberia, on the other hand, incidence is falling, with only six districts reporting new confirmed or probable cases in the week ending Dec. 14, although data are missing for much of the week.
The cumulative Ebola toll worldwide, to Dec. 14, is 18,603 confirmed, probable, and suspected cases in five affected countries (Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Sierra Leone, and the U.S.) and three previously affected countries (Nigeria, Senegal, and Spain), the agency said.

The U.S. has not had a new Ebola case since Craig Spencer, MD, was reported to be be cured Nov. 9; the country can be declared free of the disease Sunday, which will be 42 days after Spencer tested negative.
Mali also appears to have controlled the disease; all of the contacts of the country's eight confirmed and probable Ebola patients (six of whom died) have now passed the 21-day incubation period without developing the disease.


The last patient tested negative for the disease Dec. 6.

The WHO also reported, for the first time, population-based Ebola rates for Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone:

In Guinea, there have been 22 reported cases and 14 deaths per 100,000 people, with a cumulative total of 2,416 cases and 1,525 fatalities.

Liberia has had 197 reported cases and 83 deaths per 100,000 population, with a total of 7,790 cases and 3,290 deaths.

And Sierra Leone has had 145 cases and 36 deaths per 100,000 people, for a total of 8,356 cases and 2085 deaths.

Meanwhile, researchers are reporting that laboratory tests show that 53 existing and approved drugs have the effect of blocking ebolavirus entry to target cells.

The list includes a wide range of drug classes: microtubule inhibitors, estrogen receptor modulators, antihistamines, antipsychotics, pump/channel antagonists, anticancer drugs, and antibiotics, according to Adolfo Garcia-Sastre, PhD, of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, and colleagues.
But more experiments will be needed to understand how useful any of the compounds might be, Garcia-Sastre and colleagues cautioned in Emerging Microbes and Infections.

The work is a positive step, commented Ben Neuman, PhD, of England's University of Reading, who was not part of the study.
The research "extends the list of drugs that are safe to use in people, and have been shown to interfere with Ebola in the lab," he said. But, he added, "it takes a lot to stop Ebola and none of the drugs identified in this study has been shown to protect an experimental animal yet."

"We now have a longer list of things that might work, but the list of things that definitely will work still unfortunately stands at zero," Neuman said.
Indeed, there is little evidence of efficacy even for the drugs that have been used experimentally during this current outbreak, according to the European Medicines Agency, which is conducting a continuing review of them.

The agency is looking at such medicines as brincidofovir, favipiravir, TKM-100802, and ZMapp -- all used to treat one or more patients -- but there is nothing to be said so far about their efficacy, according to an interim report.
"Treatments for patients infected with the Ebola virus are still in early stages of development," an agency spokesman said in a statement. "We encourage developers to generate more information on the use of these medicines in the treatment of Ebola patients."

Ref: World Health Organization
Photo Credits
Medpage today
in.pharmatechnologists.com
seattletimes.com

Chikungunya: Yet Another Virus!

Medic-ALL  (24:10:2014) by Kayode Kuku MB;BS

At a time when the world is agog with the now very popular but deadly "Ebola virus disease", its outbreak in parts of West Africa and recent spread to the United States and Spain, some other parts of the world are having to contend with "Yet Another Viral" disease without a known cure.

The Chikungunya (pronunciation:/ chi-ken-gun-ye: meaning, that which bends over in the "Makonde" language of Tanzania and Mozambique) disease is caused by a mosquito-borne virus (meaning it is transmitted to people by mosquitoes).

The chikungunya virus was documented for the first time, last December in the islands of St Martin in the Caribbeans, even though it is believed to have existed in parts of Africa, Europe and Asia-Pacific regions for decades. The major symptoms of the disease include fever (usually over 39°C) and severe joint pain (causing infected persons to bend over), others may include muscle pain, headache, joint swelling, nausea, fatigue or rash. Occasional cases of eye, neurological, heart and gastrointestinal complications have been reported.

According to Dr Lyle Petersen of the Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC), the virus has an incubation period (time between exposure to manifestation of first symptom) of about 3-7 days, with a range of about 2-12 days. The acute symptoms could resolve within 7 to 10 days but some patients could develop complications in the coming months.

Nearly 800,000 people have been infected with the Chikungunya virus in the Caribbeans, majority in the Dominican Republic. Jamaica declared a state of emergency last weekend with estimated reports of about 60 percent of the country's population down with the virus and almost 200 persons are documented to be infected with the disease in Canada according to Canadian Health officials. The United States recently reported its first locally-acquired case of the disease in a man in Florida.

                                                Distribution map of Chikungunya in the Americas

As of October 17, 2014, local transmission have been identified in 36 countries or territories in the Caribbeans, Central America, North America and South America, with a total of 759,742 suspected and 14,035 laboratory-confirmed cases have been reported from these areas (Updated data from Pan-American Health Organization).

The fear is that the disease may likely continue to spread throughout the Americas through infected people and mosquitoes as the mosquito which carries the virus in found in many parts of the region including the United States. Moreso, the chikungunya virus is new to the continent and many are not immune to it.

Furthermore, as has been the case with the "traveling Ebola" there is definitely the risk of the virus been imported to new areas by infected travelers. There is presently no vaccine nor medicine to prevent or treat the chikungunya virus disease. Travelers are advised to protect themselves when traveling to countries with the virus by preventing mosquito bites with use of insect repellents, insecticide-treated nets, wearing of long sleeves and pant and stay in places with air-conditioning or that use window or door screens.

Though it is estimated that up to 72%-97% of persons infected with the Chikungunya virus will develop clinical symptoms, Mortality is rare, except in older patients with underlying conditions!....not necessarily "Good" news ,but "Better" news.

Refs:
1.Centre for Disease Control and Prevention
2.CBC News

Resource: Dr. Patience Akahara

Ebola Response: Slowed by a "Perfect Storm" of Setbacks

Via Medpage Today (09:09:2014)

WASHINGTON -- The world was taken by surprise by the West Africa Ebola outbreak and has been scrambling ever since to catch up, with many setbacks and only a few bright spots in the picture, international experts said at the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC).

The Centre for Disease Control (CDC)'s initial response was based on years of experience with Ebola, according to Barbara Knust, DVM, of the agency's National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases.

In March, the agency dispatched 20 staff to do what the CDC has often done before -- help control an Ebola outbreak with such things as data management, contact tracing, and epidemiology, she told reporters.

It seemed to work, and in May the agency pulled its staff back, satisfied -- as was the World Health Organization (WHO) -- that the worst would soon be over.

But in the following months it became clear that a "perfect storm" of factors was at work, combining to push what had been a localized outbreak into a widespread and deadly epidemic, she said.

Those factors included a very mobile community that was sometimes angrily opposed to the outbreak control measures -- adequate infection control and safe burial practices, for instance -- that had always worked in the past.

The result was an outbreak that has grown so swiftly that "those measures still need to be put fully into effect," she said.

Currently, the CDC has some 90 people on the ground in the affected countries -- Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria -- and is planning to send teams to nearby nations to help them get ready in case of further spread.

Knust was among three speakers added to the ICAAC program at the last minute to fill in the Ebola picture. The others were Aneesh Mehta, MD, of Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta and Gary Kobinger, PhD, of Canada's National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Mehta was part of the 100-strong medical team that cared for two American medical missionaries who came down with the virus and were airlifted to Atlanta for treatment.

Both recovered and Mehta said he and colleagues gleaned some "clinical pearls" from their experience that might help future patients including those in West Africa.

Among them, he told MedPage Today, was the ability to swiftly correct specific electrolytes, to switch intravenous fluids quickly to match changing patient needs, and to give high-quality liquid nutrition to help repair the immune system.

"One of the things that we learned was the power of close monitoring and high-level nursing care," he added, something that both patients commented was absent in the African setting.

Although the caregivers initially had no idea what to expect, the two patients were very similar to other seriously ill people, Mehta said, and responded to similar interventions.

One advantage the American team had was daily on-site lab work which is not available to African doctors. But he said the American team also used point-of-care devices to monitor blood chemistry, which could also be used in the African setting.

The epidemic has now caused more than 3,700 cases and almost 1,850 deaths, according to WHO, and the treatment for Ebola is some form of the supportive care that Mehta discussed.

But several vaccines and therapeutics are in the pipeline and might be ready in time to have some impact on the epidemic, Kobinger said.

In particular, it's just possible that the two vaccines now entering phase I safety trials will pass that hurdle in time to be of some help.

But the process of getting such drugs into the clinic in a hurry is not an easy one, he said.

"It's easy to say let's do a clinical trial, but it's very complex, especially in the current situation where the focus is really on the outbreak response," he said.

On the other hand, if the vaccines are shown to be safe and effective, they could assist the public health response by persuading more healthcare workers to take part, Kobinger stated.

"If you could just protect them, you would have a tremendous impact on the response," he said, "because more people would go."

In the long run, the availability of drugs and vaccines might change the face of Ebola. "I'm hoping this will be the last large outbreak," he said.

ALS & The Ice Bucket Challenge

Medic-ALL (24:08:2014):

The "Ice-bucket challenge" for some weeks has being making the waves in the social media world. From athletes to movie-stars to politicians and millions of ordinary people all over the world, no one has been left out of this initiative to raise money for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) research and awareness. 

In case you have been on some deserted island and away from the internet in the past few weeks the Ice bucket challenge involves pouring a bucket of ice water over their heads and challenging others to do same. When challenged by a friend or colleague to take up the task, you have 24 hours to either donate $100 to the cause or post a video showing yourself donating a bucket of ice on your head. You then in turn challenge 3 other people. A Former President of the United States, George W.Bush despite having said in a preamble to his video that the "task" was "not presidential" soon had a bucket of ice water dumped on his head by his wife, Laura Bush. He then went on to challenge his presidential predecessor, Bill Clinton.

Millions in Donation

The ALS Association credits Pete Frates, 29, a former Boston College baseball captain who has lived with ALS since 2012, for launching the viral sensation some 3 weeks ago. Frates and his family have been fundraisers and advocates for the ALS Association Massachusetts Chapter for a number of years.

Unfortunately, Frates' friend, Corey Griffin, 27, who was instrumental in having the ALS challenge go viral, died in a diving accident in Nantucket, MA. The accident occurred early in the morning of Aug. 16, when Griffin dove off a two-story building into the harbor. According to news reports, It happened only hours after he had raised $100,000 for the cause.

About ALS

There is no doubt that the condition deserves all the social media attention it's getting at this time, let's take a closer look at the disease ALS:

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also often referred to as "Lou Gehrig's Disease," is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Motor neurons reach from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the muscles throughout the body. The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS eventually leads to their death. When the motor neurons die, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost. With voluntary muscle action progressively affected, patients in the later stages of the disease may become totally paralyzed.

A-myo-trophic comes from the Greek language. "A" means no or negative. "Myo" refers to muscle, and "Trophic" means nourishment–"No muscle nourishment." When a muscle has no nourishment, it "atrophies" or wastes away. "Lateral" identifies the areas in a person's spinal cord where portions of the nerve cells that signal and control the muscles are located. As this area degenerates it leads to scarring or hardening ("sclerosis") in the region.

As motor neurons degenerate, they can no longer send impulses to the muscle fibers that normally result in muscle movement. Early symptoms of ALS often include increasing muscle weakness, especially involving the arms and legs, speech, swallowing or breathing. When muscles no longer receive the messages from the motor neurons that they require to function, the muscles begin to atrophy (become smaller). Limbs begin to look "thinner" as muscle tissue atrophies.

FACT: ALS is not contagious. 

It is estimated that ALS is responsible for nearly two deaths per hundred thousand population annually.

Although the cause of ALS is not completely understood, the recent years have brought a wealth of new scientific understanding regarding the physiology of this disease.

While there is not a cure or treatment today that halts or reverses ALS, there is one FDA approved drug, riluzole, that modestly slows the progression of ALS as well as several other drugs in clinical trials that hold promise. 

Importantly, there are significant devices and therapies that can manage the symptoms of ALS that help people maintain as much independence as possible and prolong survival. It is important to remember that ALS is a quite variable disease; no two people will have the same journey or experiences.  There are medically documented cases of people in whom ALS ‘burns out,’ stops progressing or progresses at a very slow rate. 

ALS Association

This is a United States based association committed to leading the fight to treat and cure ALS through global research and nationwide advocacy while also empowering people with Lou Gehrig's Disease and their families to live fuller lives by providing them with compassionate care and support. 

Barbara J. Newhouse, president and chief executive officer of the ALS Association, in a statement said that ALS Association are extremely grateful for the generosity of these donors, and for the actions of several people who initiated and spread this incredible viral effort she also states that the additional funds will help the association "think outside the box" in the fight against this disease. 

Ref: ALS Association

      :WebMD

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