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Acute: The acute form is a sudden onset of the disease at full-force. Symptoms include high fever, anemia (due to the breakdown of red blood cells), weakness, swelling of the lower abdomen and legs, weak pulse, and irregular heartbeat. The horse may die suddenly.
Subacute: A slower, less severe progression of the disease. Symptoms include recurrent fever, weight loss, an enlarged spleen (felt during a rectal examination), anemia, and swelling of the lower chest, abdominal wall, penile sheath, scrotum, and legs.
Chronic: The horse tires easily and is unsuitable for work. The horse may have a recurrent fever and anemia, and may relapse to the subacute or acute form even several years after the original attack.
A horse may also not appear to have any symptoms, yet still tests positive for EIA antibodies. Such a horse can still pass on the disease. According to most veterinarians, horses diagnosed EIA positive usually do not show any sign of sickness or disease.
EIA may cause abortion in pregnant mares. This may occur at any time during the pregnancy if there is a relapse when the virus enters the blood. Most infected mares will abort, however some give birth to healthy foals. Foals are not necessarily infected.
Studies indicate that there are breeds with a tolerance to EIA.
Recent studies in Brazil on living wild horses have shown that in the Pantanal, about 30% of domesticated and about 5.5% of the wild horses are chronically infected with EIA.
Equine infectious anemia or equine infectious anaemia (EIA), also known by horsemen as swamp fever, is a horse disease caused by a retrovirus and transmitted by bloodsucking insects. The virus ("EIAV") is endemic in the Americas, parts of Europe, the Middle and Far East, Russia, and South Africa. The virus is a lentivirus, like human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Like HIV, EIA can be transmitted through blood, milk, and body secretions.
Transmission is primarily through biting flies, such as the horse-fly and deer-fly. The virus survives up to 4 hours in the vector (epidemiology). Contaminated surgical equipment and recycled needles and syringes, and bits can transmit the disease. Mares can transmit the disease to their foals via the placenta.
The risk of transmitting the disease is greatest when an infected horse is ill, as the blood levels of the virus are then highest.
An estimated 60% of people infected with the fungi responsible for coccidioidomycosis have minimal to no symptoms, while 40% will have a range of possible clinical symptoms. Of those who do develop symptoms, the primary infection is most often respiratory, with symptoms resembling bronchitis or pneumonia that resolve over a matter of a few weeks. In endemic regions, coccidioidomycosis is responsible for 20% of cases of community-acquired pneumonia. Notable coccidioidomycosis signs and symptoms include a profound feeling of tiredness, fever, cough, headaches, rash, muscle pain, and joint pain. Fatigue can persist for many months after initial infection. The classic triad of coccidioidomycosis known as "desert rheumatism" includes the combination of fever, joint pains, and erythema nodosum.
Nearly 3% to 5% of infected individuals do not recover from the initial acute infection and develop a chronic infection. This can take the form of chronic lung infection or widespread disseminated infection (affecting the tissues lining the brain, soft tissues, joints, and bone). Chronic infection is responsible for most of the morbidity and mortality. Chronic fibrocavitary disease is manifested by cough, sputum, fevers, night sweats and weight loss. Osteomyelitis, including involvement of the spine, and meningitis which may occur months to years after initial infection. Severe lung disease may develop in HIV-infected persons.
After "Coccidioides" infection, coccidioidomycosis begins with Valley fever, which is its initial acute form. Valley fever may progress to the chronic form and then to disseminated coccidioidomycosis. Therefore, "Coccidioidomycosis" may be divided into the following types:
The prodromal symptoms are fever, headache, and myalgia, which can be severe, lasting as long as 24 hours. After 1–5 days, typically, these are followed by diarrhea (as many as 10 watery, frequently bloody, bowel movements per day) or dysentery, cramps, abdominal pain, and fever as high as 40 °C (104 °F). In most people, the illness lasts for 2–10 days. It is classified as invasive/inflammatory diarrhea, also described as bloody diarrhea or dysentery.
There are other diseases showing similar symptoms. For instance, abdominal pain and tenderness may be very localized, mimicking acute appendicitis. Furthermore, "Helicobacter pylori" is closely related to Campylobacter and causes peptic ulcer disease.
Complications include toxic megacolon, dehydration and sepsis. Such complications generally occur in young children (< 1 year of age) and immunocompromised people. A chronic course of the disease is possible; this disease process is likely to develop without a distinct acute phase. Chronic campylobacteriosis features a long period of sub-febrile temperature and asthenia; eye damage, arthritis, endocarditis may develop if infection is untreated.
Occasional deaths occur in young, previously healthy individuals because of blood volume depletion (due to dehydration), and in persons who are elderly or immunocompromised.
Some individuals (1–2 in 100,000 cases) develop Guillain–Barré syndrome, in which the nerves that join the spinal cord and brain to the rest of the body are damaged, sometimes permanently. This occurs only with infection of "C. jejuni" and "C. upsaliensis".
Cryptococcosis, also known as cryptococcal disease, is a potentially fatal fungal disease. It is caused by one of two species; "Cryptococcus neoformans" and "Cryptococcus gattii". These were all previously thought to be subspecies of "C. neoformans" but have now been identified as distinct species.
Cryptococcosis is believed to be acquired by inhalation of the infectious propagule from the environment. Although the exact nature of the infectious propagule is unknown, the leading hypothesis is the basidiospore created through sexual or asexual reproduction.
Cryptococcosis is a defining opportunistic infection for AIDS, and is the second-most-common AIDS-defining illness in Africa. Other conditions that pose an increased risk include certain lymphomas (e.g., Hodgkin's lymphoma), sarcoidosis, liver cirrhosis, and patients on long-term corticosteroid therapy.
Distribution is worldwide in soil. The prevalence of cryptococcosis has been increasing over the past 20 years for many reasons, including the increase in incidence of AIDS and the expanded use of immunosuppressive drugs.
In humans, "C. neoformans" causes three types of infections:
- Wound or cutaneous cryptococcosis
- Pulmonary cryptococcosis
- Cryptococcal meningitis.
Cryptococcal meningitis (infection of the meninges, the tissue covering the brain) is believed to result from dissemination of the fungus from either an observed or unappreciated pulmonary infection. Often there is also silent dissemination throughout the brain when meningitis is present. "Cryptococcus gattii" causes infections in immunocompetent people (fully functioning immune system), but "C. neoformans v. grubii", and "v. neoformans" usually only cause clinically evident infections in persons with some form of defect in their immune systems (immunocompromised persons). People with defects in their cell-mediated immunity, for example, people with AIDS, are especially susceptible to disseminated cryptococcosis. Cryptococcosis is often fatal, even if treated. It is estimated that the three-month case-fatality rate is 9% in high-income regions, 55% in low/middle-income regions, and 70% in sub-Saharan Africa. As of 2009 there were globally approximately 958,000 annual cases and 625,000 deaths within three months after infection.
Although the most common presentation of cryptococcosis is of "C. neoformans" infection in an immunocompromised person (such as persons living with AIDS), the "C. gattii" is being increasingly recognised as a pathogen in what is presumed to be immunocompetent hosts, especially in Canada and Australia. This may be due to rare exposure and high pathogenicity, or to unrecognised isolated defects in immunity, specific for this organism.
Many allergens such as dust or pollen are airborne particles. In these cases, symptoms arise in areas in contact with air, such as eyes, nose, and lungs. For instance, allergic rhinitis, also known as hay fever, causes irritation of the nose, sneezing, itching, and redness of the eyes. Inhaled allergens can also lead to increased production of mucus in the lungs, shortness of breath, coughing, and wheezing.
Aside from these ambient allergens, allergic reactions can result from foods, insect stings, and reactions to medications like aspirin and antibiotics such as penicillin. Symptoms of food allergy include abdominal pain, bloating, vomiting, diarrhea, itchy skin, and swelling of the skin during hives. Food allergies rarely cause respiratory (asthmatic) reactions, or rhinitis. Insect stings, food, antibiotics, and certain medicines may produce a systemic allergic response that is also called anaphylaxis; multiple organ systems can be affected, including the digestive system, the respiratory system, and the circulatory system. Depending on the rate of severity, it can cause a skin reactions, bronchoconstriction, swelling, low blood pressure, coma, and death. This type of reaction can be triggered suddenly, or the onset can be delayed. The nature of anaphylaxis is such that the reaction can seem to be subsiding, but may recur throughout a period of time.
Allergies, also known as allergic diseases, are a number of conditions caused by hypersensitivity of the immune system to something in the environment that usually causes little or no problem in most people. These diseases include hay fever, food allergies, atopic dermatitis, allergic asthma, and anaphylaxis. Symptoms may include red eyes, an itchy rash, sneezing, a runny nose, shortness of breath, or swelling. Food intolerances and food poisoning are separate conditions.
Common allergens include pollen and certain food. Metals and other substances may also cause problems. Food, insect stings, and medications are common causes of severe reactions. Their development is due to both genetic and environmental factors. The underlying mechanism involves immunoglobulin E antibodies (IgE), part of the body's immune system, binding to an allergen and then to a receptor on mast cells or basophils where it triggers the release of inflammatory chemicals such as histamine. Diagnosis is typically based on a person's medical history. Further testing of the skin or blood may be useful in certain cases. Positive tests, however, may not mean there is a significant allergy to the substance in question.
Early exposure to potential allergens may be protective. Treatments for allergies include avoiding known allergens and the use of medications such as steroids and antihistamines. In severe reactions injectable adrenaline (epinephrine) is recommended. Allergen immunotherapy, which gradually exposes people to larger and larger amounts of allergen, is useful for some types of allergies such as hay fever and reactions to insect bites. Its use in food allergies is unclear.
Allergies are common. In the developed world, about 20% of people are affected by allergic rhinitis, about 6% of people have at least one food allergy, and about 20% have atopic dermatitis at some point in time. Depending on the country about 1–18% of people have asthma. Anaphylaxis occurs in between 0.05–2% of people. Rates of many allergic diseases appear to be increasing. The word "allergy" was first used by Clemens von Pirquet in 1906.
Wheat allergy is an allergy which typically presents itself as a food allergy, but can also be a contact allergy resulting from occupational exposure to wheat. Like all allergies, wheat allergy involves immunoglobulin E and mast cell response. Typically the allergy is limited to the seed storage proteins of wheat, some reactions are restricted to wheat proteins, while others can react across many varieties of seeds and other plant tissues. Wheat allergy may be a misnomer since there are many allergenic components in wheat, for example serine protease inhibitors, glutelins and prolamins and different responses are often attributed to different proteins. Twenty-seven potential wheat allergens have been successfully identified. The most severe response is exercise/aspirin induced anaphylaxis attributed to one omega gliadin that is a relative of the protein that causes celiac disease. Other more common symptoms include nausea, urticaria, atopy. Gluten sensitivity is not usually classified as a wheat allergy.
Wheat allergies are not altogether different from other food allergies or respiratory allergies. However two conditions, exercise/aspirin induced anaphylaxis and urticaria occur more frequently with wheat allergies.
Common symptoms of a wheat allergy include sacroiliitis, eczema (atopic dermatitis), hives (urticaria), asthma, "Hay fever" (allergic rhinitis), angioedema (tissue swelling due to fluid leakage from blood vessels), abdominal cramps, nausea, and vomiting. Rarer symptoms include anaphylactic shock, anxiety, arthritis, bloated stomach, chest pains, depression or mood swings, diarrhea, dizziness, headache, joint and muscle aches and pains (may be associated with progressive arthritis), palpitations, psoriasis, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), swollen throat or tongue, tiredness and lethargy, and unexplained cough.
Reactions may become more severe with repeated exposure.