Page: << Prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Next >> "They do not flare up in outbreaks with high mortality. They do not grab media headlines. They do not travel abroad or threaten international security," Chan said.
She also noted that these diseases affect populations with low literacy and little political voice, CBC News reported. Pharmaceutical companies have little financial incentive to develop drugs and vaccines for these diseases and poor health care systems hinder the delivery of available drugs, she added.
These "neglected" or "silent" diseases include:
- Lymphatic filariasis -- a parasitic disease that causes swelling in limbs
- Schistosomiasis (snail fever) -- a parasitic disease that leaves people too weak to work
- Trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness) -- a parasitic disease that overwhelms the immune system.
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Case Studies Raise Concerns About Abuse of Alcohol-Based Hand Sanitizers
Concerns about the abuse of alcohol-based hand sanitizers are highlighted in case studies published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine. The alcohol in these products is not the same as the type found in drinks.
One letter to the journal describes the case of a 49-year-old U.S. prison inmate who became intoxicated by drinking alcohol-based hand sanitizer. The letter said the inmate was described as becoming "red-eyed, loony and combative," after he was seen to drink from a gallon container of Purell hand sanitizer, CBC News reported.
A second letter describes a 43-year-old alcoholic with mysterious chest pains who drank hand wash that had isopropyl alcohol from a dispenser in a U.S. hospital washroom.
The authors of the second letter noted that ingesting about 200 milliliters of isopropanol can prove fatal because it depresses the central nervous system and the heart, CBC News reported.
It may be a good idea to change the labels on alcohol-based hand sanitizers, the authors concluded.
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