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EZ 61 (2), Medicines & Sciences, Vol 33

Fungi: Another human threat alert!

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Fungi make for one of the three major microorganisms behind human diseases. They are not commonly tested in this part of the world merely because this region is not a fungi disease-endemic area. When we are sick, the common tests to go for over here are either for viral or bacterial diseases.

With increasingly attractive travel deals and cheaper airlines, international travelling has become a common leisure in today’s contemporary living. If you are a frequent traveller, has it ever crossed your mind that you could possible be the unlucky one to acquire something alien from a foreign country like fungi, especially if you feel sick after travelling? And if you are a physician, have you ever considered those diseases that are endemic in regions where your patients have travelled to as the most probable cause of a disease?

There are many common diseases contained to selected regions in the world that are not commonly known to other parts of the world. Some are not fatal, but the illness can take a long time to get diagnosed and treated just because it is not something common outside the country of its origin. There are many such cases that are being misdiagnosed and mistreated, with the patients failing to get better under the name of having an unknown disease. It may start with harmless symptoms like a common cold or flu in the early stage.

There are many common diseases contained to selected regions in the world that are not commonly known to other parts of the world.

Valley Fever is one of those diseases haunting Southwestern United States and parts of Mexico, Central America and South America. Coccidiodes is a fungus in the soil that causes Valley Fever. Inhaling in one spore can cause lifelong infection, turning your life upside down. It is often mis-diagnosed as bacterial pneumonia, tuberculosis or cancer.

You could acquire one or more of these conditions when the spores disseminate in your body; hydrocephalus (having harmful spinal fluid pressure on the brain), verrucose ulcers (wart like outgrowths on the surface of organs and skin), arthralgias (joint pains), myalgias (muscle pain), otomycosis (fungal infection of the external ear canal), hypercalcemia (extra calcium in the blood that can be fatal) and other terrible conditions.

Anyone can get Valley Fever, including children. It is most common among elderly above 60. Other high risk groups include Asians, African Americans, women in their third trimester of pregnancy and people with weak immune systems.

If you love travelling and especially love to explore exotic places like Arizona, be warned. Get to know their exotic threats and be prepared.

Breathing Space, EZ 33

Up, Up and Away!

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Gliding through the clouds is not novel, but venturing beyond the stratosphere is.

Imagine watching the ground fall away at your feet as you climb higher and higher into the azure blue sky, protected by a luxurious capsule with five other passengers and two crewmembers. Above you is an enormous helium balloon, expanded to the size of a football field that pulls you further and further away from the ground, until the blue sky dissolves into the blackness of space. Behold, the marvelous curved expanse of planet Earth greets your eyes.

Such a scene could soon be a reality as a start-up company of Tucson, Arizona commercialises high-altitude ballooning, an activity normally restricted to astronauts. World View Enterprises offers an accessible and affordable way to take passengers into space for an experience similar to human spaceflight through suborbital quests. No special training is required; all you need is USD75,000 for a reservation. The sum is quite reasonable when compared to Virgin Galactic’s USD250,000 price tag for a trip to space. Moreover, it is safer than space exploration ventures such as those by Virgin Galactic because participants of high-altitude ballooning experience far less cosmic radiation which has been documented to cause cataracts in astronauts.

A World View Venture lasts for approximately six hours from lift-off to landing. The journey from launch pad to the zenith is a gentle ride in the pressurised gondola suspended by a helium balloon which gradually expands as it floats further away from Earth. For the next two hours as the balloon hovers over the stratosphere, passengers can see the curved horizon of the planet framed against the backdrop of the cosmos. The magnificent view can spark off the ‘overview effect’, a concept coined by space philosopher Frank White to describe the inexplicable euphoria one has when seeing the world from space.

The NASA veterans and Biosphere 2 designers who lead World View Venture’s expeditions are experts in high-altitude ballooning, human spaceflight as well as environmental control and life support systems. The company’s partner and vehicle developer, Paragon Space Development Corporation is reputed for the manufacture of life support equipment designed for hazardous and extreme environments. If you are part of the voyage, be at ease knowing that dire situations depicted in the film Gravity are unlikely to unfold as their projects have been successful for decades. Just relax at the refreshment bar and share the magnificent view of your home planet on social media in real time through the gondola’s built-in internet access, documenting the memories of a lifetime.

Image courtesy of World View Enterprises, Inc.