The Berlin Patient (Timothy Ray Brown) was so far the only person in the world who had been cured of HIV. He underwent a stem cell transplant procedure that successfully cured him of his HIV infection and also made him famous. Now, there seems to be another case of HIV being cured. Stem cells were taken from a person resistant to HIV and transplanted in a patient known as the “London Patient”.
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic disease that affects one’s nervous system, namely the spinal cord, the brain, and the optic nerve. MS compromises the functioning of one’s central nervous system. This leads to a variety of problems caused by poor or non-existent communication between the brain and other parts of the body. MS is caused by the body’s immune system attacking the myelin sheathing that enshrouds the nerve fibres and protects them. MS is hard to live with as it can severely compromise the quality of one’s life. Unfortunately, we still don’t know what exactly causes MS. We do know that one’s age, race, and gender have a role to play in determining one’s chances of afflicting this ailment.
Alzheimer’s is a scary disease that we’ve been fighting with for a very long time now. Up till now, we’ve been unable in successfully tackling this disease. However, a recent finding involving gum disease bacteria might just help us solve the Alzheimer problem at long last. The number of cases involving Alzheimer’s have really gone up in the past decade. This disease is known for its agonizingly slow degradation of one’s mental state. We know that people who have Alzheimer’s experience a degradation in parts of their brain. This inhibits their ability to function and basically ruins their lives.
