R. P. Deolankar

Sudhatai MurthyInformation specialist

Ranitai BangDisease specialist

Prerequisite Lecture no. 37141: Assessment of Holistic (Wholistic) Health and

Fitness, Disease Informatics. February 17, 2010 Lecture no. 36261: Disease Informatics: Living in the Toxic World,

November 6, 2009 Lecture no. 35791: Disease Informatics: The burden of disease,

September 11, 2009 Lecture no. 34141: Disease Informatics: Brush up the terms describing

techniques and resources, February 19, 2009 Lecture no. 34011: Disease Informatics: Terms and Jargon to begin

with, February 1, 2009 Lecture number -31981: Disease Informatics: ICD-11 at the doorstep,

February 26, 2008 Lecture number-30331: Disease Informatics: Phytates driving from the

back-end to Influenza, Encephalitis, Hepatitis, Anemia at the front-end, July 10, 2007

Lecture number-28921: Disease Informatics: Host factors simplified, February 07, 2007

Lecture number-25381: DIG for Disease Informatics group; Part-II, November 07, 2006

Lecture number-25371: DIG for Disease Informatics group; Part-I, November 07, 2006

Viral Outbreaks

Viral outbreaks make sensational news Where the bug comes from? Is it testing

of biological warfare? Which company harvests most of the profit as a result of an outbreak?

There is also confusion between virus and disease

Interesting People 1st type will provide you minutiae of

information on virus and will get you convinced that bug is really difficult to win over

2nd type will provide you simple solutions like taking sunbath for prevention of flu and will give you adequate explanation

3rd type will give you solutions but shall confess that to explain the science of cure in modern terms is beyond their capacity

Common Cold Story

It is said that “Common Cold” will be relieved within one week if treated, and within seven days if not treated

On the other hand people in various parts of the world experienced that spicy Indian curries could relieve common cold

What is the truth? Let us discuss and find it out

b4tea.com

(W) Holistic Thinking

Virological approach to treat the disease means to eliminate the virus. In terms of cricket, you must clean bowled the batsman (disease) and see the wickets (virus) dropped. But this is incomplete cricket

Catch, run-out, lbw etc (modulating host and environmental factors) are permitted in complete cricket

Disease is a process

The disease causing factors (component causes) summarized as host factors, environmental factors and etiologies interact or work together

The process results in providing sets of disease causal mechanisms known as sufficient cause or causes

Pathogenesis The mechanisms drive the individual from

a state of health to the disease through a series of events typically described as Disease Causal Chain (DiCC) or web

Picture of DiCC comprising of events and driving factors, depicting past, present and prediction is the complete definition of diseaseDefinition of a disease based on a single component cause is not an accurate one. Better definition of disease is provided by knowing more number of component causes

Prof. Paolo VineisProf. David Kriebel

One cause one effect! “Common cold” is a definition of a disease

based on a single component cause that is virus

The school that believes in one cause one effect has no alternative but to believe that virus causes the disease

The disease can be diagnosed by detecting the virus or viral forensics and can be treated by antiviral drugs or prevented by vaccination

Viruses and Disease Viruses infect susceptible individuals Replicate only inside the living cells Can be seen through electron microscope Specific as compared to other pathogens

due to limited genetic information Although several diseases have been

defined after viruses, and several viruses have been named after diseases, in reality, viruses could only be component causes of the disease

Virus Exposure

On getting exposure to virus, some individuals get infection

Most of those who get infections get better without treatment

This is the reason why doctor usually does not need to have a laboratory identify the specific virus involved

Continued…

Many viral infections are so distinctive that a doctor can diagnose them based on their symptoms

Sometimes infection of one virus builds paraspecific immunity to several other viruses. It is understood that pox viruses are good paraspecific immunity builders

HIV; a chronic infection and AIDS A person carrying HIV virus is HIV+ve CDC definition: AIDS is CD4+ T cell count below

200 per µL of blood or 14% of all lymphocytes in HIV+ve individuals;

(reversed whenever the count goes up the limits) World Health Organization defines AIDS in terms of

conditions in HIV+ve individual;

(reversed if conditions are reversed although HIV+ve status might not turn HIV-ve)

Malnutrition induced by HIV (also by other viral infections) Sulphur metabolism is disturbed as

evidenced by loss of sulfur (Cysteine and glutathione) in AIDS patients

Could be due to virus or drug However, some simple solution to the AIDS

treatment, through nutraceutical or functional food, could arise if this aspect is investigated

Malnutrition concept applies to several other viral diseases

Nutraceuticals for AIDS The nutrient-related metabolic abnormalities in HIV

infection regarding antioxidants, selenium, sulfur, tryptophan and niacin are interrelated

The OSINS (oxidative stress-induced niacin sink) model: guide the design of nutraceutical regimens for HIV/AIDS

Prof. Ethan Will Taylor

[PMID: 19857540].

Lifestyle also matters Systematic review suggests that massage therapy

may have a positive effect on immunological function of people with HIV/AIDS

Aerobic exercise also appears to be safe and may be beneficial for adults living with HIV/AIDS

Apparently, there are various tools available to reverse AIDS

[PMID: 20091636], [PMID: 15846623]

Popular view on HIV/ AIDS HIV is not the sufficient cause of AIDS Nobel laureate Prof. Luc Montagnier, who

discovered the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) also held this view

In this case viral as well as non-viral targets are appreciated

Prof. Luc Montagnier

HIV and AIDS hypothesis HIV is the sole cause of AIDS: vaccine and

antiviral drugs are the only solutions Hypothesis is profitable for pharmaceutical and

vaccine companies Companies promote the social, educational and

research projects in this direction, talk least about alternative/ complementary strategies

Robert Gallo

Michael Latham, Cornell University says…in his article ‘The great vitamin A fiasco’ Just as there is big business and big

science, there is big aid. International aid programmes are not driven simply by science. With any politically-influenced policy, evidence is part of the mix, but it may be interpreted recklessly

The main aid policy drivers are first of all, the national interests of the major bilateral donors, mainly governments of Northern countries

Prof. Michael Latham

Latham M. The great vitamin A fiasco. World Nutrition May 2010; 1, 1: 12-45. Also available at: www.wphna.org

Continued…

In the case of overseas development assistance, the biggest donor in absolute terms is, far and away, the USA, particularly thorough the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

By federal law, USAID programmes, however beneficial to recipients, must further the interests of the USA, as interpreted by the US governments of the day.

Continued…

The second driving force is industry, which in the case of food aid is the big agriculture and food companies, and in the case of VAC is Big Pharma – the giant pharmaceutical companies that manufacture synthetic nutrients

The third influence is culture. However sympathetic nationals of rich countries are with nationals of impoverished countries, without extensive field experience and residence in the community in such countries, they are unlikely to understand their needs

Denial of HIV and AIDS hypothesis Third view is denial of the hypothesis wherein

vaccine and antiviral drugs could harm rather than help

The drugs themselves could be contributing cause AIDS like disease can be seen in HIV-ve persons

also The proponents feel that the focus of treatment

should be non-viral targets only

Peter Duesberg

Denials continued…

Denialists believe that organizations funded liberally cannot solve the real problem because their policy is corrupted by the commercial people

The personnel from health departments have been provided perks to fulfill their personal ambition to make policy in favor of some commercial organizations

Coming back to Indian curry Indian curry is a functional food May have antiviral chemical or may not

have Shows beneficial effect in common cold-

like disease Some people think that it has value in

prevention and treatment of flu

If one understands the disease process completely then he or she would also modulate some factor lying within the sphere of host factors or environmental factors to treat the disease

Public Health Approach Definitions of diseases for public health purpose

are usually component cause definitions Big figures are produced in favor of a component

cause This is also convenient for commercial firms; get a

patent for one factor and turn it to big business

However, two patients may have same disease as per public health approach of defining a disease could be treated differently by the intelligent doctor depending on individual features

Doctor’s Approach Doctor who is not a family doctor has to spend

either more time per patient to understand all the components of the disease and apply more of his or her clinical skills or else take public health short-cut in naming the disease

Two patients could have different set of component causes to make a sufficient cause

Hence, visit to a family doctor is strongly recommended rather than self medication based on public health disease propaganda

Acute Infections An acute infection sets rapid onset of

disease, has relatively brief period of symptoms, and resolves within days

It is responsible for precipitation of epidemics involving millions of individuals each year

Most of these are seasonal; and a pre-seasonal immunity building program is an appropriate solution rather than making several vaccines

Japanese Virus Japanese Encephalitis Virus causes

encephalitis in one case out of approximately 500 exposure cases

Hence, in this case, name of the virus should be Japanese virus and name of the disease should be Japanese Virus Encephalitis

Wrong nomenclature creates lot of confusion

Acute Encephalitic Syndrome Acute Encephalitic Syndrome is current

name to cover the disease as several other viruses have been associated with similar disease

Some kind of endocrine disruption is also probable in disease case

Reversing the acute inflammation is the key of treatment

Zinc Deficiency x Virus Interaction Zinc deficiency is the fifth leading risk

factor for disease in the developing world, aggravated due to diarrhea depleting zinc, weakens blood brain barrier, very common in Terai soils and soils of Gorakhpur

Improvement in zinc nutrition could minimize hypozincemia cases and thereby Acute Encephalitic Syndrome could be thus the additional hypothesis

Treatment with poxvirus factors Some poxvirus factors initiate robust

adaptive immune response Treatment with poxvirus immuno-

modulatory proteins targeting key innate pathways such as interferons, chemokines, inflammatory cytokines, complement, and the toll-like receptor (TLR) family of pattern recognition receptors could be hypothetical solution for Acute Encephalitic Syndrome

Adverse events due to smallpox vaccination Smallpox vaccine is less safe than other

vaccines routinely used today The vaccine is associated with known adverse

effects that range from mild to severe Mild vaccine reactions include formation of

satellite lesions, fever, muscle aches, regional lymphadenopathy, fatigue, headache, nausea, rashes, and soreness at the vaccination site

Serious adverse events included death, progressive vaccinia, eczema vaccinatum, postvaccinial encephalitis, and generalized vaccinia

Virus x Nutrient Interaction Keshan disease (KD) is characterized

by endemic juvenile cardiomyopathy found in China

KD is linked to the interaction of deficiency of selenium or vitamin E and Coxsackievirus B virus

Specific host nutritional deficiency alters viral genotype and makes it more virulent

Continued…

Antioxidant nutrients could be best preventive measures against several viral diseases

Recently, it is shown that nutrient x genome interaction could be used as therapy for Hepatitis C Virus Hepatosteatosis; beta-carotene, vitamin D2, linoleic acid, arachidonic acid (AA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) are nutrients of interest

Zoonotic Infections

Rabies virus is transmitted from dog (an animal) to human

The so called Japanese Encephalitis Virus is also transmitted from animal to human by mosquito

These are known as zoonotic infections Several viruses are zoonotic

Reye’s Syndrome Characterized by inflammation and

swelling of the brain and degeneration of the liver attributed to Aspirin that interacts with viruses like influenza or chickenpox

It is believed by naturopaths that antipyretic treatment prolongs the illness and suppression of acute disease leads to chronic or severe disease

Asthma morbidity after the short-term use of ibuprofen in children has been reported

Drug x Virus Interaction It can be hypothesized that some drugs that

are used in the initial phases (like fever) to treat the ‘disease associated with virus’ could extend the disease causal chain by playing the role of component cause of the severe disease (like encephalitis)

Role of drug treatment for fever and bodyache in the initial phase of the viral infection progressing to the development of Acute Encephalitic Syndrome is not adequately studied

Post-viral Diseases A post-viral cough is a cough that lingers

following an infection, such as a common cold or flu

It could last for more than two months Post viral cough could be resistant to

treatment Post-viral fatigue syndrome is

characterized by fatigue following a viral infection

Antiviral Drug

Antiviral drugs are toxic to human cells Only a limited number of metabolic

functions can be targeted for development of antiviral drugs as viruses replicate inside cells using the cells' own machinery

Moreover, viruses are capable of developing resistance to antiviral drugs

Oseltamivir

CNS suppressive action of Tamiflu (oseltamivir phosphate), a drug used in influenza treatment, has been associated with sudden death and several neuropsychiatric disorders in children

Resistance to Tamiflu is also being reported

Bacteriotherapy Several intestinal infections (A00 to A09 of

ICD-10) as well as non-infective causes (K52 of ICD-10: colitis associated with Toxins, allergies etc.) lead to diarrhea

Bacteriotherapy reverses certain diarrhoeas associated with viruses, non-viral infections, and due to non-infectious etiologies also

So the (viral) diseases could also be named after prevailing dysbiotic conditions that could be rectified by Bacteriotherapy

Nervous Treatment for Diarrhoea Several diarrheas can also be treated

with anti-secretary drugs like Acetorphan (Racecadotril) that modulate the functioning of the nervous system without reducing gut motility at a prescribed dose

So the (viral) diseases could also be named after down regulation of enkephalinase or malfunctioning of nervous system.

Hepatitis b and Aflatoxins Some of the cases of Hepatocellular

carcinoma have been attributed to the interaction or working together of Hepatitis b virus and aflatoxins

Hepatitis b strategy (vaccination) is a way to prevent diseases associated with hepatitis b while aflatoxin strategy would prevent the cancer and several other problems created by the toxicities

Milwaukee Protocol Unorthodox Coma Therapy (Milwaukee protocol)

helps patient to survive rabies without a preventive vaccine

A cocktail of drugs is given to suppress brain activity

The suppressed brain provides time for immune system to produce the antibodies to fight off the virus

Rodney Willoughby Jrhttp://graphics2.jsonline.com

Nonviral Targets

Protections offered by vitamin D in diseases like flu, selenium in viral cardiomyopathy, probiotics in diarrhea, spicy Indian curry in common cold or flu etc are indications that prevention and treatment of viral diseases could have nonviral targets

Innate immunity Innate immunity protects the individual

from several infections. It is built through proper nutrition and appropriate lifestyle. Some of the strategies to built innate immunity are taking regular exercises in fresh air and expose skin to Sun, reduce stress, maintain healthy microbiota in and on the body, consume lot of antioxidants and functional nutrients like omega-3 fatty acids obtained through food that emulates the food of a hunter gatherer.

Pediatrics and innate immunity Acute viral infections are rampant in infants

and children Provide value added breast feeding and

appropriate weaning Exposure of an individual having strong

innate immunity actually helps in development of specific and paraspecific immunity

Prevention of exposure to the viruses, acquiring specific immunities -- actively or passively -- through a series of vaccinations or immunoglobulins, treatment with interferons are just alternatives

Diagnosis provided by virologist If comprehensive disease definitions are

not provided for an individual patient then doctors are missing several targets to treat the diseases that are associated with viruses

It is very much required that virological diagnosis should not be dominated by clinician’s diagnosis

Otherwise one may miss simple solution like “Indian curry” and go for less efficacious and toxic antiviral drugs

Translation of Research Performing research with incomplete

disease definitions could result in outcomes that can not be translated

If translation is the mantra then comprehensive picture of the disease should be clear to the investigator

If outcome of virus research is not solution to the disease then research policy needs to be evaluated critically

There should be initiative to form Disease Informatics Group where doctors/ health workers, epidemiologists, information engineers work together to compile all the disease related information, update it regularly, and develop software tools required for defining the disease as described in this presentation. The definition of the disease for a particular patient should be with least error, should be in the form of Disease Causal Chain, should identify most of the targets – viral as well as non-viral – to combat (or prevent) a cluster of diseases and design a holistic treatment.