Dena Aruta

The following topic is very near to my heart. I have been mourning the loss of several friendships and family members to the bane of drug addiction. It does not matter the drug of choice, the verdict is the same. They have all told me they were clean, but in the end gave in to its callings. They had nice families, beautiful homes, nice cars and every other amenity they wanted or needed. Unfortunately, their addictive personalities led them astray each and every time.

The rehabs and then the slide back to addiction happened with so much frequency that families and friends eventually cut off contact. It is the family, especially the children whom are hurt most. I have seen it way too much just in my personal life.

And, it’s not just the addiction that kills. There are many infectious disease complications such as HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, cellulitis and blood-borne infections.

Many states and even the federal government prohibit the healthcare system to distribute sterile syringes to IV drug users. What do you think? Would handing out clean needles perpetuate the drug use cycles? Or would it help prevent the needless spread of infectious diseases, especially to spouses/partners and their children. Did you know that an infection as innocuous as chicken pox can kill a child quickly with HIV/AIDS? So, do we give the pregnant mother a clean needle to shoot up so that she does not pass on to her fetus the many infections she will come into contact with?

This is a dilemma which definitely needs more thought and debate.

When I was in my early teens, I developed severe acne, cystic acne.  It was painful and my face was perpetually inflamed.  That does not go over well at that age.  I was teased and bullied because I did not ‘look like everyone else’.  On top of that, there was no treatment at the time for it.  The only thing that we had at the time were tubes of Clearsil that made your face look like you had been sunbathing.  Everyone knew if you used it.

There have been many advancements in the dermatological treatment of acne since that time.  And, there are many causes including hormonal fluctuations during the teenage years, medication and certain diseases such as polycystic ovary syndrome.  People have different reactions as to the extent that it controls their lives.  Acne can be mild and can occur on the face, neck, chest and back.  It typically occurs in teens due to the hormonal changes that happen during that time.  It can occur as blackheads, whiteheads and pimples and in its most extreme form, as painful cysts that can become infected.

There are over the counter medications containing benzoyl peroxide and salicylic acid that can control mild acne if used as detailed on the package.   For the more severe condition, there are prescription medications that can help.

For myself, I am in my mid-forties and still get acne around my menstrual cycle.  I thought it was supposed to be alleviated by the time I got gray hair, but apparently not.

There has been a long standing controversy around the whole issue of vaccinating our children.  Some argue that vaccines are the leading cause of autism even though there has been no scientific grounds for the claim.  In fact, the Autism Science Foundation has done studies with children receiving vaccines versus those who do not, and they found no difference in the neurological development of these children.

The controversy over vaccination has been there since the first vaccines for smallpox.  Throughout history, vaccines have become feared as well as coveted.  Today, vaccines keep not only the child receiving them but the entire community from developing epidemics of childhood diseases.  It just takes a few unvaccinated children to start an epidemic which seriously effects young children and the elderly.

When we talk about polio, influenza, measles, we take for granted that children in the US will never develop these life-threatening illnesses.  And, we take them for granted because we have never had to deal with them in our lifetime.

So, children entering kindergarten must have documentation of vaccination, but there are loopholes such as religious beliefs, personal beliefs and medical illness such as cancer and other immune deficient diseases.  The question is then, do we make vaccinations compulsory for everyone with the exception of those with medical illness?  And, how would we enforce it?  There are many more questions that have to be answered.  Please post here, your views on this topic.

In this era, we have not had to deal with the scourges of infectious diseases that were prevalent 100 years ago such as polio, measles, mumps, yellow fever and even influenza.  These diseases caused many, many deaths, a large amount being children.  We have become content and complacent in our attitudes toward infectious diseases in this country.  Influenza or ‘the flu’ has become a household word, but without the fear that it long ago stirred up.  How would we deal with an influenza epidemic, a strain of the influenza virus that mutated and has become especially virulant?

Each year, scientists and researchers try to predict how the virus will mutate based on the year before.  What if their predictions are wrong and the virulence is something that they are not prepared for?  And, what if the influenza vaccine is ineffective?

Let me know where you stand about our current complacency over a huge infectious disease epidemic.