Medical tidbits

Posted February 09, 2009 14:55:00

Dr. Philip S. Chua

Cebu Daily News

While many persons, including healthcare professionals, are taking low-dose (81 mg) aspirin a day as a mild blood thinner to help prevent heart attack, as prescribed by their physicians, there are countless people who carry with them, in their purse or pocket a couple of regular (325 mg) aspirin tablets. In the event of a severe chest pain, taking a tablet of regular aspirin might be a lifesaver, by preventing blood clots from totally blocking a coronary (heart) artery that has been narrowed by arteriosclerosis (hardening of the artery), the major cause of myocardial infarction (heart attack). While aspirin is a common household item, some people may not be a candidate for this therapy. If you are over 40, plan ahead and ask your physician now if these two “pre-emptive” strategies (low-dose aspirin for thinning blood and regular aspirin for severe chest pain) are appropriate and safe for you.

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Trichinosis or Trichiniasis is a “worm” infestation caused by eating poorly cooked or uncooked pork, boars, bears, etc., where the Trichinella spiralis larvae from these animals invade the muscles of persons who ate their meat. The larvae become adults in 6-8 days and migrate to other muscles, including the eyelids, heart, etc. These larvae could remain in the body for many years. The symptoms at the first week of infestation could be abdominal cramps, diarrhea, nausea, followed a week or so later with swelling of the face or eyelids, muscles pains, fever, eye pains, photophobia (visual sensitivity to light) and even subconjunctival (eye) hemorrhage. In more severe cases, these larvae could invade the muscles of the heart and cause myocarditis (inflammation of the cardiac muscles), pneumonitis (inflammation of the lungs). Encephalitis and meningitis could also complicate the picture.

Trichinosis can be prevented simply by cooking meat thoroughly at 55 degrees Centigrade (140 degrees Fahrenheit) throughout. Freezing meat at minus 15 degrees Centigrade (5 degrees F) for 3 weeks, or minus 18 degrees C (0 degrees F) for one day, can kill the larvae also. The best way to stave off this possibly fatal infestation is by cooking meat fully well, especially with barbeque (ihaw-ihaw) pork, which is a most common source of Trichinosis.

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If bottled water, filtered and purified by Reverse Osmosis plus UV light exposure, is not available or feasible, boiled tap water has been found to be tolerated and safe, even for visitors from other countries. In this situation, the tap water must be kept boiling for at least 15 minutes. This kills the bacteria and fungi and at the same time allows the mineral sediments to precipitate (as white crystals that look like salt or sugar) and settle at the bottom of the pot, which are to be discarded.

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One of the best and lesser expensive skin moisturizers, even for adults, is the commonly popular “Baby Oil” used for infants and children. It is gentle and soothing to the skin, albeit “oily,” but does the job of preventing dryness and itchiness of the skin. It is mostly hypoallergenic and also provides a thin “shield” to protect the skin. This is best used after a shower.

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