Future Health
Delivering care in the new virtual world…
Measles – The Reappearing Vanquished Disease – Never did I think we would see measles outbreaks again! While there was a small bump in the number of cases worldwide in 2014 (= 667), it nothing compared to the problem today. In the US, we’ve seen outbreaks in California, New York, Georgia and a few other states. And, these outbreaks have been linked to travelers who brought measles back from other countries such as Israel, Ukraine, and the Philippines, where larger measles outbreaks are occurring. But the reasons for the outbreaks are different. In the US, the outbreaks are derived from inaccurate information splayed about on social media and the lack of adherence to our public health strategies which solved these problems in the past (i.e. requirements for immunizations). If people (especially children) were immunized – we would not be having measles outbreaks in the US. For other places, however, like Madagascar which is facing one of its largest measles outbreaks in history with more than 120,000 cases, the issue is more about economics and resources. Unlike the US, the people in the countries where insufficient economic development is the core source of outbreaks, resistance to vaccinating children is not the driving force behind the rise. The irony is that those countries want to protect their children but the challenges of insufficient resources looms large. So, to all of my medical colleagues – be assertive when it comes to immunizations. We need a concerted effort to fight the dirge of inaccurate social media. It’s not just about visits to the office anymore…
Beyond The Algorithm – How About A New Heart? – Researchers at Tel Aviv University in Israel announced a game changer where they “printed” a heart from cells derived from a patient’s stem cells. While the heart was only the size of a rabbit’s heart, it had come with blood vessels, heart chambers and ventricles. Due to its size the heart was not useable – today. However, tomorrow is just ahead so stay tuned. It would not be surprising to hear that a fully developed human heart is available within a couple of years. Given that heart disease is the leading cause of death – we should assume that self-derived heart replacements are just around the corner…
