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January 2016 | Read this issue and more at www.healthandwellnessmagazine.net |
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Sponge Syringe to Plug
Bullet Wounds Now
Available to Public
Syria Overcome with
Flesh-Eating Skin Disease
Because of ISIS
Syrians are not just battling the
Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL)
but also the skin disease Leishmaniasis,
which causes disfiguring lesions. “As a
result of abominable acts by ISIS that
included the killing of innocent people
and dumping their corpses in streets,
this is the leading factor behind the
rapid spread of Leishmaniasis disease,”
Dilqash Isa, head of the Kurdish Red
Crescent, told Kurdish Rudaw news.
The flesh-eating virus is transmitted
by parasites that feed on corpses. The
rarely deadly disease was not seen in
Syria prior to ISIS’ influence in Syria,
according to Kurdish fighters. It first
started appearing in war-torn parts of
Syria. The parasites multiply and then
bite and infect living people. Syria’s
health care system has almost completely
collapsed after four years of conflict.
More than half of the public hospitals
in the country are unable to provide
full services, and in ISIS-controlled
areas, hospitals are understaffed as
many health care workers have fled for
their lives. International aid agencies
have extreme difficulty delivering vital
medical supplies. More than 13 million
Syrians are in need of humanitarian
assistance, according to the WHO.
XSTAT 30, a sponge-filled syringe
for field dressing bullet wounds, is
now available for use in the general
population, according to the Food and
Drug Administration. XSTAT 30 was
previously only approved for military
use. Now ambulances will be able to
dress a bullet wound in 15 seconds.
The syringe is filled with 92 tablet-sized
sponges that are injected deep into
the wound. The sponges absorb blood
and expand in the wound to create a
temporary barrier to stop bleeding.
One XSTAT 30 syringe can absorb
about a pint of blood, and its dressing
can be used for up to four hours. Blood
loss causes 30 percent to 40 percent of
traumatic injury deaths according to the
United States Army Institute of Surgical
Research.
‘Suicide Gene Therapy’ Kills
Prostate Cancer Tumors
Researchers at Houston Methodist
Hospital created a vaccine to attack
cancer cells. The vaccine starts with
the patient’s own cancerous cells that
are genetically modified to signal the
patient’s immune system to attack
them. This “suicide gene therapy,”
used in conjunction with radiotherapy,
has shown a 20-percent improvement
in survival rates. The results were
published in the Journal of Radiation
Oncology.
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