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Stelara is a prescription medicine that can be useful for treating moderate to severe psoriasis in adults and children over 12 years old. It can also treat Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Psoriasis is a skin disorder that causes skin cells to multiply up to 10 times faster than normal. This results in bumpy red patches covered with white scales. Stelara is a monoclonal antibody drug and is administered the first time intravenously and following that through self-injections. Monoclonal antibodies are man-made proteins that act like human antibodies in the immune system. Each type of monoclonal antibody targets a specific antigen.

Stelara works by blocking IL-23 and Il-12, proteins involved in psoriatic arthritis. In blocking these two interleukins, Stelara may help reduce the inflammation that causes both the joint and skin symptoms. Live vaccines may interact with Stelara. There are many side effects to administering Stelara however, these include: injection site reactions like bruising, itching, pain, redness, swelling, and hardening as well as cold symptoms, headaches, fatigue, diarrhea or skin rashes. Stelara can result in an immunocompromised patient which lowers the body’s ability to fight infection. 

MABs are effective and have a variety of different application in various diseases. Monoclonal antibodies have seen great challenges in advancements but currently they are used to treat many diseases such as cancer, leukemia, asthma, macular degeneration, arthritis, etc. There are so many different advancements that can be made in the medical field if only there was unlimited funding and staff. 

On a very different note: I am done writing blogs and you are done grading them!

There are two types of tests currently being used to determine if a person is positive for COVID-19. The first, what is being referred to as “PCR” detects the genetic information, RNA, of the virus which would only be possible is someone is infected. PCR is more commonly used and they detect the presence of an antigen, rather than the presence of the body’s immune response (antibodies). The second test, a serological test, is used to measure the amount of antibodies or proteins present in the blood after an infection like COVID-19. In more common terms, this test is used to determine the body’s immune response to a pathogen as opposed to the pathogen itself.

Antibodies are formed to combat antigens. The IgM antibody is the first class produced during the primary response to a pathogen which you would see during the initial infection of COVID-19. IgG antibodies provide the longest protection since its half life is also long.  IgG would be made once the B cell has received both signals and class switches meaning both antibodies would be present in the blood. Only IgG antibodies would be found after the person has recovered from the virus but if they were infected again after recovery. 

I think in the beginning of this entire pandemic I will admit that I was not as concerned as I should have been and quite honestly I thought that the scariest part was the publics reaction and not the virus itself. Now however, I have friends infected and in quarantine, the grocery stores are still empty of staples and I haven’t left my own house in a month. I go in between feeling as if i have nothing to do all day and wanting to start 100 projects to feeling completely overwhelmed by the amount of work my professors are dishing out. Online classes are honestly not great in my opinion either. I find it hard to keep track of everything and I’m only in 4 classes. I even found myself missing a couple classes because i would lose track doing something completely unrelated 

T cells originate in bone marrow but mature in the thymus and protect the body from pathogens by activating immune cells to fight infection. Recently, there have been advancements in T cell (CAR T) therapy to treat adults suffering from lymphoma. T cell therapy involves using a person’s own T cells but adding a protein called CAR, or chimeric antigen receptor, whit helps the cell find and kill cancerous cells. The NCI team remodeled CAR to make it safer and more effective for human use. For example, they swapped a protein fragment found in mice for a similar one found in in humans but like the original, CAR still targets a molecule that studs the surface of lymphoma cells called CD19. 

CAR T cell therapy works by removing T cells from the body through a process called leukapheresis which takes three to four hours. Leukapheresis works by removing blood through an IV, separating T cells using a machine and returning the remaining blood to the body. The T cells are then genetically engineered with the addition of CAR to target  specific proteins on the patient’s lymphoma. The CAR T cells are frozen and transported to the treatment center. Prior to the infusion of CAR T cells, a low-dose of chemotherapy is received to suppress the immune system slightly in order to give the CAR T cells a fighting chance. Two or three days after the chemotherapy, CAR T cells are infused which takes about an hour. After infusion, the CAR T cells begin multiplying and attacking the lymphoma. 

CAR T cell therapy does have intense, sometimes fatal, side effects including speech problems, tremors, delirium, and seizures. These side effects are exacerbated as the CAR T cells begin to multiple to fight because they cause massive amount of cytokines to be released into the blood. Along with the above side effects, there can be dangerously high fevers and low blood pressure in the days following treatment. I think that new treatments for cancer is groundbreaking. So many people suffer from months and even years of chemotherapy that the potential side effects of CAR T cell therapy would be enough to deter them from treatment.

Conspiracy theory time: the government has covered up the cure for cancer because the cancer industry generates too much money. To validate this theory, the cost for a one-time treatment of CAR-T therapy can be as much as $375,000. This cost is completely outrageous for the average American especially because it does not include hospital stays or other related expenses. 

Covid-19 has essentially turned my world upside down. My mother closed our family restaurant because the sales after the NC governor required restaurants only be open for take-out and drive-thru were not enough to sustain the cost of staying open. This was a bittersweet moment in my life for quite honestly I was exhausted throughout high school from waking up at 5 am to work mornings and contributing on weekends and after school which continued in the same pattern over my extended spring break. Aside from my mother closing, my father, the sole provider of my home, has lost many hours at his job leaving me to look for any kind of work in an attempt to subsidize household bills. The almost complete loss of income has put intense stress on my family which has left us fighting over little, unimportant things. 

On top of monetary stress, my grandmother has a horribly compromised immune system and her and my grandfather refuse to stay in their apartment and in turn spend time running errands and exposing themselves. Also, online classes are kind of horrible and I’ve spent the last week trying to organize all of my assignments in order to make sure I can complete them all. It has gotten to the point that I have seen pretty much every movie on every streaming platform known to man. My household is almost never calm but I have started painting again in an attempt at relaxation. 

On the bright side of everything happening I was accepted into the nursing school. This has pushed me to do better in classes in order to maintain my position and hold my acceptance. I also, get to spend a lot of time with my family, which I don’t normally get to do. I am offered the opportunity to spend most of the day with my large collection of animals. Another positive is that I can go to online classes without leaving my house or even my bed – which can be viewed as a good thing. The cherry on top which sounds pretty sappy is that my boyfriend can be quarantined with me during this time and act as a buffer between me and my family.

An endemic is a rapid rise in the number of cases of a disease beyond normal expectation in a geographical area. Covid-19, a strain of coronavirus, began in Wuhan, China. The first occurrence can be traced back to November 17th, 2019. Since its increase in China, Covid-19 has spread across the world, making it a pandemic as a result of travel. If we look at in one country however, we can see that Covid-19 has been declared an endemic in places including Italy, China and the United States. Here, in the United States, there has been at least 32,722 cases of infection, 416 have died and those numbers continue to rise. 

The rise in cases in the United States is only exacerbated by my generation who is not taking this threat serious and traveling for spring break, often to states such as Florida which was one of the first states to declare a state of emergency. I think it is absolutely insane that other people my age do not consider the chance that they can transmit Covid-19 to their elderly grandparents and parents. While visiting other states, these college students are going out to bars and exposing themselves to so many people while risking exposure. Although the cases of death as a result of this disease in young adults is smaller in comparison to the elderly, recovered patients of all ages are experiencing diminished lung capacity which can be exacerbated by the use of vapes – a common occurrence for college students. Another thing that young adults are looking over is that self-quarantining is not only for the benefit of those partaking, but is a method used to reduce the intense influx of hospital patients. 

Aside from the health implications and risks, United States citizens are going insane. There is a mass shortage of toilet paper and the odds that you’re going to find milk, bread, or eggs in any grocery store (at least in my home town) is approximately 0%. However, he American people could continue suffering greatly. The United States government has released a response plan outlining that the pandemic could last over 18 months. Senators already predicted that however, as we can determine from the millions of dollars in stocks dumped right before the outbreak. 

Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are infections often- but not always- spread by sexual intercourse with an infected person. The symptoms range from genital warts or blisters in HPV and Herpes to flu-like symptoms as seen in HIV. I’m sure “the talk,” if your parents did have one with you, is engrained in your brain just the same as everyone around you. Now you can probably think back to the sex education class your high school forced you through during the awkward, right-after puberty years. Now, even though we were put through uncomfortable speeches and an entire semester of class, the problem with the rising rates of STDs in the United States stems from lack of education. 

Most schools are not correctly informing their students about the risks of STDs and how to prevent contraction. If you took a poll of any college classroom (which we did in my very informative Education 181 class) the majority of students would tell a horrific story about how bad their school was at relaying information about sexual safety. The sad reality for most teenagers is that they learned their information on the internet or from a very unsafe experimental experience and their friends. The lack of sexual education is also disproportionate across states because each state makes its own laws concerning sex ed and even worse, there are also disparities among races. African American and Latinx pregnancy rates are double or triple the rate of White American rates in Texas.

The rise in STDs is directly correlated with the amount of sex education received, with higher rates being in states that do not require sex education classes at all or those that use fear-based tactics like the abstinence only techniques to teach. In the last 5 years, the rates of gonorrhea, chlamydia, and syphilis have risen consistently and currently they are at an all time high in the United States. I think the best way to slow down the rise in rates of STDs is to encourage medically accurate education, which is currently only mandatory in 17 states. STDs in the United States are completely preventable with the use of protection but the lack of education and openness for questions is leading to teenagers having sexual intercourse without protecting themselves. The STD endemic shows no signs of abating as seen by statistics in recent years but with proper education, some in the younger generations may be saved from the pain and humiliation of contracting an STD. 

Superbugs are antibiotic resistant bacteria and fungi that are difficult to control and treat. There has been recent rise in emerging superbugs due to a variety of circumstances including the over-prescription of antibiotics, misuse by the general public and natural evolution of germs. Antibiotic resistant bacteria may be more present in areas that require regular sterilization, such as hospitals and other healthcare facilities. There are many steps that can help reduce the use of antibiotics including only taking them when necessary, using the shortest effective treatment and NOT using antibiotics for VIRAL infections. The CDC released a report outlining the superbugs impending serious threats, ranked by risk including the highest risk germs, germs that can pose serious threats to health and often have drug-resistant versions, and a watch list of pathogens that have the potential to become resistant. 

If we lose the ability to use all antibiotics, the risk of disease and death from previously treatable germs will sky-rocket and there is no hope for protecting the young, old, or immunocompromised. However, there may still be hope for the future. Optimistically, the first 2-5 products out of the 252 being developed in the pre-clinical pipeline may become available in the next 10 years. Even more hopefully, we leave the worlds problems up the the brightest. Using a machine-learning algorithm that screens more that a hundred million chemical compounds in a matter of days MIT researchers have identified a powerful new antibiotic compound. This new compound eliminated many of the most problematic disease-causing bacteria, some strains resistant to all known antibiotics. It also cleared infections in 2 different mice. 

There are two reason as to why the general public is missing antibiotics. The first: they are expensive and with a lack of universal healthcare, depending on insurance companies (or lack of) they may be unaffordable resulting in the public seeking antibiotics from their friends, neighbors, etc. Also, they are misinformed on what the effects of not taking a full course of antibiotics are resulting in them stopping dosage too early and saving the extras. So, conceptually, this is an easy fix. Have the US government supply citizens with universal healthcare offering everyone the opportunity to receive medical care without personal cost (i.e. exactly what Bernie Sanders wants to do) and ensure that when prescribing antibiotics, healthcare professionals are sure that the illness can be treated with them but also outline the effects of not taking the full course, on schedule.

Pertussis, also known as whooping cough is a violent and highly contagious respiratory disease caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis. Known for its uncontrollable cough and the characteristic “whooping” sound caused when those infected need to take deep breaths after a coughing fit, the best way to protect against it is by getting vaccinated. Pertussis can infect people of all ages but is most serious and even deadly for infants under a year old. There are two type of vaccines in the United States to protect against whooping cough: DTaP (administered to those under seven) and Tdap (for adolescences and adults). Both of these vaccines also provide protection against tetanus and diphtheria.

These current vaccines have been widely used since 2000 and target three specific antigens in the pertussis bacterium. They were widely effective in Australia until the epidemic that lasted from 2008 to 2012 where there were reportedly more than 140,000 cases. It was then that revealed the rise of evolving, vaccine resistant strains. Despite Australia’s high vaccination rates, the head researcher, Dr. Laurence Luu, has found that the strains are evolving to improve their survival regardless of whether a person was vaccinated or not by producing more nutrient-binding and transport proteins, and fewer immunogenic proteins which are not targeted by the vaccine. 

The vaccine should work by exposing the body’s immune system to tiny amount of proteins found on the bacteria which allows for the formation of antibodies. Regardless of the new strains developing, it is still extremely important for everyone to be vaccinated if possible. This goes across the board so not just vaccinated for pertussis but all those recommended and available because having some kind of protection is better than having none at all. Currently, there is a large debate on whether or not religious exemption from vaccines should be allowed, and most states have determined that religious exemption is not a valid reason for not vaccinating children. I believe this is the right outcome given that by not vaccinating your children, you are not helping them out regarding their health in the long run and also putting those around in danger. 

The anti-vaxxing movement has been gaining momentum since Andrew Wakefield’s claim that vaccines are linked to autism. Although his paper has been completely debunked and retracted the prevalence of people not vaccinating their children is raising at alarming rates. Provisional date from the World Health Organization indicates that in the first six months of 2019, there were more measles cases reported worldwide than in any year since 2006. This giant leap in outbreaks is a substantial step from its once former declaration of eradication in various countries. Countries retracting their “measles-free status” include the UK, Albania, the Czech Republic, and Greece. 

The decrease in vaccination numbers have taken the hardest toll in Europe. There were 84,000 cases of measles in 2018 a striking difference from the 5,000 cases in 2016. Andrew Wakefield’s false publication has been given more attention and induced more fears among parents in the UK, maybe because that was where his idea initially began. A survey of 2,600 parents concluded that 21% of parents in the UK believe that vaccines may cause unwanted side effects and nearly 10% of those surveyed did not vaccinate their children. Some may believe that their children will be protected by “herd immunity” however, in order for it to be effective 90-95% of the population must be vaccinated, and that is not the case anymore. It does not help that the measles are extremely contagious, with 9 out of 10 unprotected people getting infected. 

I think it is absolutely insane what people will believe without doing actual research. If those choosing not to vaccinate their children did one quick internet search they would find that the link that Andrew Wakefield outlined was completely falsified and there was no scientific evidence to back any of his claims up. They would have also found a study of over 650,000 children in Denmark, some of which were high-risk for autism, concluded that there was no evidence of a connection between the measles vaccine (or MMR) an autism. Aside from the obvious reasons that people should vaccinate their children, vaccination is also promoted by the NHS and WHO. It really comes down to, in my opinion that there is blind ignorance to the world of vaccines and people will believe anything put in front of them, as long as it’s a good story.