America is freaking out, all because of the swine flu. News stories are constantly covering information about it, and schools are shutting down. The virus also known as H1N1, is strange due to the fact that it mutated from pigs. The disease has symptoms similar to the flu, yet there are noticeable differences, for example diarrhea and vomiting. Those who work with pigs are at an increased risk of catching swine flu. But one cannot get swine flu form food. Humans can spread the disease to each other through coughing, sneezing and contact after having touched their own moths or nose. The most contagious time of swine flu is within the first five days, although some are contagious for ten days. But how do we prevent swine flu?

By washing your hands with anti-bacterial soap, and social distancing we can prevent the spread of swine flu. Make sure you cover your mouth when talking and washing your hands after sneezing. If you are diagnosed, make sure you see a doctor. They will prescribe you antiviral drugs. This map displays the spread of Swine flu in the United states up to May 23, 2009. While the virus is spreading to the 50 states, America has a good health care system. Therefore the virus is not as dangerous as it would be in other countries. Swine flu is sweeping the nation as more and more people begin to panic. Perhaps we should listen to Jim Carrey, as he said at the MTV movie awards, “There wouldn’t be a swine flu if we treated the pigs better!”

The werewolf’s are alive and real. Myths and scary stories have relied on the wolf man who bites you and in turn you become a werewolf. This part is a legend. Those who suffer from werewolf syndrome or hypertrichosis have abnormal and excessive hair growth. The hair can grow all over the body. Congenital hypertrichosis is rare, with only 50 confirmed cases since the early 1400’s. A flaw occurs during the pregnancy. In a normal pregnancy the fetus is covered with a fine layer of hair that falls off in the eighth month called lanugo. In the deformed pregnancy the hair does not fall off, sometimes the hair becomes colored and remains after birth. There are other versions of this disease also.

Naevoid hypertrichosis is a variation where individuals will have excessive growth on a specific area of the body. Acquired hypertrichosis occurs after the birth and symptoms include non-colored vellus hair or colored terminal hair. The condition is considered a genetic disorder, that can be inherited or through a mutation of genes. One can really only shave regularly or use of depilatories. There really is no cure for this disorder and some suffer from it deeply taking on a “wolf” like form. This article form ABC news discuss’ Danny Ramos Gomez and his rare condition. His brother and him were both part of a circus act and still are. They used to be known as the wolf children, People should not consider them sideshow “freaks” for they suffer from a genetic disorder that they cannot change. Perhaps there will be hope in the future with gene studies, to help the wolf people out

Doppelgangers, imposters and clones. Movies have been playing off of this fear for years. In the 1955 movie, The Body Snatchers, the town’s people are convinced their loved ones have been switched with imposters. This is not just a horror film story. Capgras delusion is mental disorder, in which one believes their loved ones have been replaced by an identical clone or imposter. This syndrome is classified as delusional misidentification syndrome, where people misidentify places, people and objects. Many of these patients are diagnosed with schizophrenia. This condition can hinder people’s lives.

On September 11^th 2007, the New York Times published this article in which a Dr.’s patient had stopped taking her medicine, due to the fact it cause excessive salivation. From being off of her medicine for a period time, she began to relapse and believe her husband, parents and her doctor were all imposters. She had to be hoof life. Hospitalized and begin her medication again. Capgras syndrome can affect people’s quality of life, as they are insecure with the people they love and care for. If someone you know had this disorder make sure they are getting help, so they can live the most normal life possible.

Alice in Wonderlandis a classic story written by Lewis Carroll, of a girl who goes on a messed up adventure. She grows and shrinks, meets crazy characters and almost gets beheaded. Some people suffer from this real life disease, Alice in Wonderland syndrome or Todd’s syndrome. This is a neurological condition that affects perception. They may experience size distortion, micropsia (where objects appear smaller than they are) and macropsia (where objects appear larger than they are). Alice in Wonderland syndrome is a change in perception rather than the eyes malfunctioning. This is often associated with migraines and brain tumors, along with various drugs. Different drugs include dextromethorphan, LSD, Psilocybin Mushrooms or other hallucinogenic drugs. It affects the sufferer’s sense of visual, sensation, touch and hearing. Suffers also suffer from a disturbing body image.

An altered body image is one of the very disturbing symptoms. They are confused at the shapes and sizes of their body parts. While the eyes appear normal, they see objects incorrectly. They also may see items and objects that are not really there. AIWS is also related to delirium tremens, a complication from the withdrawal of alcohol, in which they see small animals or people that are no really there. Medical treatment is required. For AIWS, the treatment is similar to other migraine prophylaxis including antidepressants, calcium channel blockers and a strict migraine diet. While Alice in Wonderland syndrome seems completely unbelievable it is a true disorder that can be caused by drugs. Those curious to whether they have AIWS can go to this forum and discuss there symptoms. The lesson here may be that one should not do drugs, or you’ll be as messed up as Alice.

As children we are prone to falling down, skinning our knees and fixing cuts with the magical band-aids. We feel the pain of these tiny actions and are able to locate and fix the problem. People with CIPA or congenital insensitivity to pain cannot feel this pain. Those with CIPA, also known as congenital analgia or congenital analgesia, are immune to physical pain. This rare inherited disorder to the nervous system causes people with CIPA to be insensitive to pain and extreme temperature changes. For example, in an episode of Grey’s Anatomy Abigail Breslin plays a girl with CIPA. She is tested to see if she can feel the pain in her hand after leaving it in ice water for an extended period of time. She doesn’t feel the pain and claims she is a superhero, as she is a child who doesn’t know any better. One in twenty-five million people are born with CIPA. While some may feel that this superhero like quality is advantageous, it can be the cause of early death.

Patients with CIPA injure themselves in ways that can normally be prevented, when the patient feels pain. They suffer injuries to the arms and teeth and scarring of the tongue if they accidentally bite it. They also can suffer injuries to their lips and gums and suffer form fevers during warm weather, due to their inability to sweat. Due to this inability most children die from before the age of three, because their bodies overheat. There are cases where naloxone, a chemical that reacts with the nervous system by blocking it from the inactions that occur in the cells that receive the message to initiate the feelings of pain, heat, or cold. With only 84 cases of CIPA in the United States, it is extremely rare. http://www.alifewithoutpain.com/ is a website dedicated to the Documentary A Life without Pain directed by melody Gilbert. The documentary follows three children living their lives with CIPA. The documentary was featured on Oprah. Hopefully they’ll find better ways to treat children with CIPA, these real life superheroes don’t deserve to die from minute injuries easily fixed with a band-aid and a kiss.

When visiting the city of Jerusalem, religious feelings tend to be stirred up and brought to the surface. For some though, they begin to have delusions or obsessive ideas after visiting the famous city. Jerusalem syndrome is this mental phenomenon. A person begins to exhibit signs of psychotic behavior relating to religion. This is different from the previously mentioned illness Stendhal syndrome, in which people become dizzy or faint from beautiful artwork, as those are associated with Italy and Jerusalem syndrome is associated with religion and the city of Jerusalem. While Dr. Yair Bar El claims that people who display Jerusalem syndrome, have revealed no past of psychotic tendencies, Dr. Moshe Kalian and Professor Eliezer Witzum say that most of the tourists who have Jerusalem syndrome, have exhibited spontaneous psychosis before their arrival. First described clinically  in the 1930’s, there are three types of Jerusalem syndromes.

 The first refers to those who have already been diagnosed with psychotics. Usually these individuals go to the city because they already have some kind of religious mission on their mind. One may even feel they are a prophet or another type of religious figure and flee to Jerusalem for the coming of the Messiah or the second coming of Jesus Christ. The second type describes those who do not necessarily have a mental illness, but feel the importance of Jerusalem, and obsess over it. The third type is best known. This is where a previously mentally stable person comes to Jerusalem and becomes psychotic after arriving. They tend to be fine after they are removed for a few weeks. The behaviors of the syndrome include anxiety, tension and agitation. Also the desires to explore Jerusalem alone and to be clean and pure are other syndromes. Another is the need to shout bible phrases or psalms in public places, and to deliver a sermon in a holy place. Some are skeptical of Jerusalem Syndrome, contemplating if it is real, and I really can’t tell you because I don’t know. It sounds absolutely absurd but apparently it was reported that between 1980 and 1993 1,200 people had severe Jerusalem Syndrome. I can tell you that if the syndrome, the need to shout bible phrases or psalms in public places is true, than several celebrities have Jerusalem syndrome as they post bible quotes on their twitters.

This next medical fixation is not so much a disease, but one of the coolest surgeries I can think of. I first took notice of it in the season 2 opener of Grey’s Anatomy. Joe, the bartender, collapsed at Emerald City bar, and learned that he had subarachnoid bleeding and an aneurysm which could have killed him. But of course the famous Dr. Shepherd, head of neurosurgery, had the solution. A standstill surgery, also known as hypothermic cardiac standstill. The surgery requires the doctors to cool the body to a state of hibernation at 15 degrees Celsius, where the body has no heartbeat, breathing or brain activity for one hour. Any longer and the patient would die. During this time, doctors drain the blood from the body in order to eradicate blood pressure. The patient is clinically dead during the operation, and doctors fix the damages in the brain. And while this may seem simple and easy on T.V. as Joe walks out of the surgery fine and serving beer to the good doctors the next week, it is still a challenge for doctors today.

While standstill surgeries do show promise as a treatment, patient selection and technique of the surgery are vital. They are reserved for the most critical cases. It can be a matter of life and death. At the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, 10 patients have had the standstill operation, 9 being successful.  In 1990 Donald Rogers was the 10^th patient to have the surgery. Mr. Rogers was only 24 years old when he began to have blinding headaches and garbled speech, which revealed an inoperable aneurism, he knew he was dying. Dr. Solomon of the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center was willing to take the case. He said that without the ability to stop the circulation, he wouldn’t have taken the case. Dr. Eric Raps, who was studying the effects of standstill surgeries on the patients, said that “we are pushing the limits of the human body’s tolerance.” This is a remarkable surgery that is revolutionizing the medical world.

The first type is the more common of the two. Peripheral NF, also known as Von Recklinghausen neurofibromatosis, tends to be mild, but can be incapacitating. It is described as café-au-lait spots and nerve tumors under or even on the skin. This can cause scoliosis or bone defects. Brain tumors, tumors on the spinal cord or cranial nerves can develop, which can lead to brain disorders and disabilities.

The second form of neurofibromatosis, bilateral acoustic NF, is rare compared to the other form; only occurring within 1 in 40,000 births. Tumors can occur in the spinal and cranial nerves, along with the brain and spinal cord. The main difference is that this affects hearing, with tumors on the eighth cranial nerve, which are auditory nerves.

Hopefully a cure will be found for the “elephant man” disease, which hinders so many people in their daily lives.