William Penn Life, 1975 (10. évfolyam, 2-4. szám)
1975-04-01 / 2. szám
Cont. from page 11 DEATH OF A DISEASE When a physician named Edward Jenner did the first successful vaccination in 1796, he predicted that eventually smallpox would be wiped out. Little did he dream that almost t80 years would pass between his discovery of the vaccination technique and the annhilation of this dread disease. Now this year his prophesy may come true. While you may not remember a death from smallpox in your life time, for centuries man has feared this disease. Lucky people of every class bore the disfiguring scars; the unlucky ones died in agony of hemorrhages and gangrene. Today, your children benefit from Jenner’s discovery. In some states, smallpox vaccinations are no longer done. However, people in other countries are not quite so fortunate. These people are the concern of the World Health Organization (WHO), the main force behind the elimination of smallpox. The strategy of WHO is simple. Concentrating on the last three countries where smallpox is widespread, Ethiopia, India, and Bangladesh, WHO goes to the sites of outbreaks. In that area, all people are vaccinated. Calling your attention to,this small triumph makes sense in March. March is the month that smallpox reaches its peak. According to the Pennsylvania Medical Society, if the spreading of the disease can be controlled this year, smallpox may soon be gone forever from the earth. How could a disease that rarely breaks out in your country be important to you? Wiping out any disease for the first time in man’s history is an exciting possibility. DREAM ON Do dreams fascinate you? Do you wake up with a vivid memory of the dream you just finished and then wonder — why did I dream that? You dream for a lot of reasons. Some researchers believe people use dreams to exercise their brains and their eyes. When you sleep and dream, your eyes move rapidly. This is called rapid eye movement (REM). The researchers contend that if you were deprived of dreams, you would show signs of mental disturbance; your thinking might deteriorate and you might hallucinate. Not everyone needs dreams, though. New studies show that people already suffering from certain kinds of mental disturbances improve when they don't dream. Even when you can't remember your dreams in the morning, you still dream. Dreams that happen while you are wide awake are day dreams. These dreams are very beneficial to you — even though you may have been told to stop day dreaming when you were a child. People used to believe that day dreaming was a sign of wasting time. Now there is evidence that day dreams help you reorganize your thinking. If you are young, you day dream the most. But, regardless of your age, you day dream. What do people day dream about? Although you might think most people day dream about sex, the most frequent topic of day dreams is problem solving. You probably day dream most about current concerns and interests that are part of your every day life. Just like your night dreams, you may not be able to recall all your day dreams. But day dreaming is just another way to sort out information and creatively reorganize it. So — sweet day or night dreams. COOL, CLEAR WATER It’s possible for you to go without food for long periods of time. But you can't live without drinking water. Perhaps that is a good reason to know more about the health of the water you drink. To make public water safe and tasty for drinking, chemicals are added. Now some scientists are becoming concerned about adding chlorine, the most common purifying chemical, to water. Chlorine is not harmful by itself. But it may combine with other elements present in some water supplies to make carcinogens, or cancercausing compounds. These substances are only suspected of being cancercausing. But the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency wants to make certain that public water is safe for drinking. So, it is conducting a nationwide survey of drinking water in 80 cities across the U.S. Why not just take the chlorine out? Additives like chlorine are necessary to make water pure enough to drink, so just taking it out doesn’t solve the problem. Another way must be developed to purify water. One possibility being studied is to switch from chlorination to ozone treatment of water. Much research is constantly in progress to study the most effective safe way to purify water. You might think of another way to get around the problem. Switch to well water. Even if you prefer well water and have a well, you should know how to protect that supply. Well water should be checked on a regular basis for bacteria levels. In some well water supplies, high bacteria levels can contribute to illness. This is especially true if you have a well and a septic tank close to each other. There is no need to panic. In Pennsylvania, all public water supplies are regulated by the State Department of Enviromental Resources. On the chlorination problem, the Bureau of Water Quality Management of that state department says, "There is no cause for widespread alarm. We are actively involved in conducting studies of water and methods to keep your drinking water safe.” Even private wells can be checked if you make such a request to the State Department of Environmental Resources. THE KISSING DISEASE Today you and your children are immunized againts an assortment of diseases; but can you imagine in the future being immunized against mono? That’s right — mono, or infectious mononucleosis, the kissing disease. Mono was first described in 1920. The main symptoms are a fever, swollen glands, and changes in your white blood cells. Some white blood cells enlarge and have a single nucleus-thus the name mononucleosis. During the 1950s, a physician discovered that a common way of spreading the disease was through prolonged kissing. You can get or give the disease other ways, but kissing is the primary means of spreading it. Scientists in 1958 found the virus that probably causes the disease, and named it EB virus. If you don’t have EB- antibodies and you are exposed to the virus, you could get mono. Few people under 17 get it, that is why mono is associated with young adults. If you, or your teenage child, feels weak, dizzy, has a high temperature, and tender glands, see your physician. It could be infectious mononucleosis. Although mono is infectious, it is not easily communicable. Epidemics do not break out like measles. While mono is nasty, it does not cause permanent damage. Usually you can be back in shape in two or three weeks. Also once you have had it, you are immune. In the event of any symptoms, see your physician and then follow his recommendations for your recovery. Even though the kissing disease may not be so romantic, remember, you can only get it once (unlike romance), when you are all better, kiss away. 12
