Bacterial diseases and preventive medical care
In Preventive medical care new discoveries and inventions make great changes in the human life.
Another important development has been the discovery that death is
really a slow intruder, that diseases do not suddenly spring up full-blown
but often have long scenarios.
In the Korean War, autopsies of young American soldiers revealed
that in 54 percent of these youths, many of whom had only very recently
attained manhood,
coronary heart disease was already starting.
We see- of the
disease germinate in the early years and the ultimate
heart attack is the end result of a long process in time, then here is a
problem that can be combatted, for there is time to combat it. And
there is evidence of what factors are involved, there are mere to fight;
to retard, and perhaps even to prevent it from getting started
Some of the most impressive preventive work recently has been the
result of advances in the understanding of body chemistry-and of
chemical abnormalities that may be inborn. It has now become possible
to detect early in life, even almost immediately after birth, such inborn
errors as
phenylketonuria and
galactosemia.
Detection of diseases
They involve inability to
properly handle certain specific food elements, and simply by avoiding
such elements it has become possible to prevent development of mental
retardation, growth failure, and other serious problems.
Understanding of the chemistry of disease is expanding rapidly, and
there is growing confidence that the principles of early detection and
treatment of diseases due to inborn chemical errors can be extended to
many
common chronic diseases. That 'can make it possible for the doctor
in his practice to have to deal less-with severe complications triggered
while a disease smoulders under the surface before calling attention to
itself with obvious
symptoms, and he can be concerned instead with
The early detection of the still symptom-free but predisposed patient and
correction of the basic problem before complications have a chance to
Develop..
Already, for example, promising work is being done in detecting people with
prediabetes-those who have no symptoms of diabetes but do
have changes in body chemistry that may forecast eventual onset of
overt
diabetes. Early results of treating such patients with antidiabetic
agents are regarded by some investigators as promising, suggesting it
may be possible to prevent the development of diabetes and such complications as visual disturbances,
circulatory disturbances, and increased
risk of coronary heart disease.
As we have noted earlier, kidney machines can be lifesavers for pa-
tients with kidney failure-but it would be far 'better to prevent the
failure. And there is growing hope now that in many cases failure may
be prevented by attention to
asymptomatic bacteria.
Bacteria detection
Asymptomatic bacteria simply means the presence of sizable numbers' of
bacteria in
the
urine without causing symptoms. The condition may occur at any
age and in either sex but is especially frequent in females, affecting 1.2
percent of schoolgirls and 6 percent of pregnant women. There is ovi-
dence that if left
untreated bacteria may eventually cause the kidney
disease pyelonephritis, which in turn may result in kidney failure.
Bacteria can be treated effectively once detected, and newer tests
now make its detection simpler and more practical. Today, as the next
chapter will show, many testing procedures are available to make it
possible for the physician increasingly to anticipate and prevent disca
rather than wait for it to appear.
