Vitamin D is crucial in human immune response to tuberculosis

Medical Xpress reports that Vitamin D is crucial in human immune response to tuberculosis. The researchers "found that T-cells, which are white blood cells that play a central role in immunity, release a protein called interferon-gamma that triggers communication between cells and directs the infected immune cells to attack the invading tuberculosis bacteria. However, this activation requires sufficient levels of vitamin D to be effective."

This important finding stirs very mixed emotions in me. In childhood and adolescence I suffered repeated bouts of pulmonary tuberculosis, after which time I was advised by health professionals to avoid exposing my skin to sunshine in case it reawakened the dormant TB germs. Vitamin D is known as the 'sunshine vitamin'. Clearly, in the light of this research finding (published online today,Oct. 12, in the peer-reviewed journal, Science Translational Medicine) the advice that I was given was completely wrong, and since I followed that advice for a long time, it cannot but have compromised my health. More and more, researchers are reporting the many health benefits that vitamin D bestows on us, and the many disbenefits that are caused by inadequate levels of vitamin D.

Cheap air travel 'is spreading deadly infectious diseases'

Cheap air travel 'is spreading deadly diseases' - Telegraph

Extract:

"People are at greater risk of contracting potentially lethal infectious diseases because of the boom in international air travel, the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned today.

New diseases are emerging at the "historically unprecedented rate of one per year", and failures in international co-operation are putting lives at risk, according to a new report.

Centuries-old threats such as influenza, malaria and tuberculosis are thriving due to mutations and rising resistance, while deadly new diseases threaten worldwide epidemics.

"It would be extremely naive and complacent to assume that there will not be another disease like AIDS, another Ebola, another SARS, sooner or later," the report warns.

The WHO is calling on countries to report potentially dangerous health emergencies more quickly, and be more willing to share scientific knowledge of new infections.

The report highlighted two recent failures of international intelligence sharing that could have put lives at risk.

Earlier this year, American officials tracked the movements of a US lawyer believed to have a highly dangerous form of tuberculosis as he travelled around Europe, but failed to inform the WHO or the countries he visited."

Strengthen your immune system and lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better! - How to Lose weight!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html
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Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

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The government is failing to act on a plan to tackle tuberculosis as cases of the disease increase.

Ministers accused of failing to act as TB cases grow - Guardian

Extract:

"The government is failing to act on a plan to tackle tuberculosis amid evidence that cases of the disease are rising, according to medical experts. They claim that officials are failing to give priority to controlling the potentially fatal disease in spite of a promise in October 2004 from the chief medical officer that he would aim to cut the number of cases within three years.

In 2005, there was an 11% rise in TB in the UK compared with 2004. In 2006 there was a further increase of 2%, with a total of 8,500 cases. In London, which has the highest number of infections each year, TB cases increased by 11.2% last year. Britain is the only country in western Europe experiencing a sustained rise in TB cases. The British Thoracic Society says nine out of 10 TB specialists believe the number of cases is likely to rise over the next five years. It is demanding that the Department of Health "takes more leadership on this issue".

About 400 TB patients die each year in the UK, mainly due to late diagnosis or complications of other illnesses. It usually affects the lungs, but sometimes other parts of the body, and can be spread when somebody with the infection coughs or sneezes. It cannot be caught by sharing items such as towels and cups or through someone spitting, and it cannot be passed on genetically. Symptoms include fever and night sweats, a persistent cough, losing weight and coughing or spitting blood. Just over 10% of people exposed for long enough to an infectious person will go on to develop the disease."

You can strengthen your immunity to infectious disease by cutting down on your salt intake. This improves your health in many other ways too.

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk and
http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/conditions.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)