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Thursday, March 26, 2009

WARNING: DISTURBING IMAGES. Squeamish do not proceed scrolling downward.






Actually I’ve heard this story told verbally to me years ago and later I stumbled upon the video on YouTube. One of the video description really intrigued me to search the real explanation behind this phenomena. I owe it to myself because I am not just going to blindly believe the story. In most of the people when they couldn’t find the real explanation to such phenomena, they will creatively made up such story to best explained it. Some of the story told with motive to suggest moral value and edify our religious beliefs. But this noble cause should never undervalue the truth. I believe as a man of science we should help people to best understand the case rather than be consumed with awe and astonishment.

Below is the caption that came with the video:





Ceritanya berlaku kat hospital Makkah. Ibu malang ini telah mempunyai 2 orang anak perempuan dan mengandungkan anak ketiganya yang menurut kata doktor anak itu juga seorang perempuan. Memandangkan ibu itu sudah mempunyai 2 anak perempuan jadi dia teringin pula anak lelaki. Oleh kerana doktor mengatakan anak yang dikandungnya adalah perempuan, dia merasa sedih dan setiap kali orang tanyakan kandungannya lelaki ke perempuan (semasa dia mengandung) dengan berseloroh dia menjawab dia mengandungkan anak ular. Tiba hari yang ditentukan dia melahirkan bayi di dalam kandungannya itu, maka dia telah melahirkan anak yang menyerupai wajah ular.

ANALYSIS

Also known as harlequin ichthyosis, ichthyosis congenita, Ichthyosis fetalis or keratosis diffusa fetalis

Introduction

Categorized under genetic disease for occurence and later as dermatology for course of treatment.

Harlequin ichthyosis is a severe genetic disorder that mainly affects the skin. Infants with this condition are born with very hard, thick skin covering most of their bodies. The skin forms large, diamond-shaped plates that are separated by deep cracks (fissures). These skin abnormalities affect the shape of the eyelids, nose, mouth, and ears, and limit movement of the arms and legs. Restricted movement of the chest can lead to breathing difficulties and respiratory failure.

The skin normally forms a protective barrier between the body and its surrounding environment. The skin abnormalities associated with harlequin ichthyosis disrupt this barrier, making it more difficult for affected infants to control water loss, regulate their body temperature, and fight infections. Infants with harlequin ichthyosis often experience an excessive loss of fluids (dehydration) and develop life-threatening infections in the first few weeks of life. It used to be very rare for affected infants to survive the newborn period. However, with intensive medical support and improved treatment, people with this disorder now have a better chance of living into childhood and adolescence.

Prevalence
Harlequin ichthyosis is very rare; its exact incidence is unknown.

Gene
Mutation
Mutations in the ABCA12 gene cause harlequin ichthyosis. The ABCA12 gene provides instructions for making a protein that is essential for the normal development of skin cells. This protein plays a major role in the transport of fats (lipids) in the outermost layer of skin (the epidermis). Some mutations in the ABCA12 gene prevent the cell from making any ABCA12 protein. Other mutations lead to the production of an abnormally small version of the protein that cannot transport lipids properly. A loss of functional ABCA12 protein disrupts the normal development of the epidermis, resulting in the hard, thick scales characteristic of harlequin ichthyosis.

Inheritence Pattern

This condition is inherited in an autosomal recessive pattern, which means both copies of the gene in each cell have mutations. The parents of an individual with an autosomal recessive condition each carry one copy of the mutated gene, but they typically do not show signs and symptoms of the condition.

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Monday, March 23, 2009




MEDICAL FAUX PAS #2: Sushi Worm versus Myiasis

I am quite that certain that everybody have received the email below. This is one story that creatively written based on two gruesome pictures of a man scalp infested in a way they call Brain Worm Parasite. Let us do some investigation about this. Below is the full excerpt of that viral email.

"This is a true case of a Japanese man from Gifu Prefecture who complains incessantly about a persistent headache. Mr. Shota Fujiwara loves his sashimi and sushi very much to the extent of trying to get them as "alive and fresh" as can be for his insatiable appetite.

He develops a severe headache for the past 3 years and has put it off as migraine and stress from work. It was only when he started losing his psychomotor skills that he seeks medical help. A brain scan and x-ray reveals little however. But upon closer inspection by a specialist on his scalp, the doctor noticed small movements beneath his skin. It was then that the doctor did a local anaesthetic to his scalp and discovered the cause when tiny worms crawled out. A major surgery was thus immediately called for and the extent of the infestation was horrific. See the attached pictures to the scene that one thought only a movie could produced:

Remember, tapeworms and roundworms and their eggs which abound in all fishes fresh or saltwater can only be killed by thorough cooking and/or freezing the fish to between 4 - 0 degree Celcius. The eggs of these parasites can only be killed if it is cooked or frozen to the said temperatures for a week or more. Think twice about that raw dish next time... or you might get a headache."

ANALYSIS:
Let us learn about Myasis a little bit.

Definition
Myiasis (pronounced /ˈmaɪəsɨs/ or /maɪˈaɪəsɨs/) is an animal or human disease caused by parasitic dipterous fly larvae feeding on the host's necrotic or living tissue. Colloquialisms for Myiasis include fly-strike and fly-blown.

Classifications
Two different classifications of myiasis can be adopted:
  • The classical classification describes the myiasis by the infected area of the host. This is the classification used by ICD-10. For example: dermal, sub-dermal, cutaneous (B87.0), nasopharyngeal (B87.3), ocular (B87.2), intestinal/enteric (B87.8), or urogenital (B87.8).


  • Another classification is based on the relationship between the host and the parasite and provides insight into the biology of the fly species causing the myiasis and its likely effect. Thus the myiasis is described as either obligatory or facultative or accidental.
The story featuring Mr. Fujiwara, the alleged sushi fanatic who contracted "brain worms" by eating raw fish, it is quite simply preposterous. Though there are precedents in the medical literature to support the claim that certain species of tapeworm or roundworm can infect the human digestive tract when ingested in raw or undercooked fish, I could find no indication that these particular parasites (in contrast, say, to the pork tapeworm, which is capable of causing a much wider and more serious array of symptoms) can migrate to other organs, such as the brain. In documented cases where pork tapeworm larvae have been found in the brain, they were embedded, cyst-like, in the neural tissue. They would not be capable of crawling around around freely, nor of boring outward through the patient's skull to emerge through the scalp.

Lastly, to set the record straight on one final medical matter, maggots can infest the human brain, evidently, and so can certain types of tapeworm larvae. But these conditions are fairly rare, and -- in spite of what you are likely to hear through the Internet grapevine -- they don't result from ignoring ingrown hairs or binging on sushi.


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