Universal Medicine

Pollution Climate change and carbon emissions have deviated much of our attention away from an underlying immediate problem: pollution. Contributing to over 40,000 early deaths each year, this is certainly an overlooked issue. The sources range from outdoor pollution caused by vehicular emissions and factories, to poor circulation and exchange of the air indoors. Vitally then, we need to raise the awareness towards this present problem in order to make a difference for the long term. Sources of pollution o    Vehicular emissions – primarily CO 2 & NO x o    Industrial emissions – mainly CO 2 & SO x o    Tobacco smoke, especially in poorly ventilated areas o    Mould and mildew in closed plus unventilated areas o    Scents and sprays chemically reacting to produce secondary pollutants o    Poorly maintained gas appliances Reducing pollution Increasing levels of awareness has led to great...

The Zika virus The outbreak of the Zika virus has caused enormous trauma in areas within Africa, Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands. However, the virus is predicted to spread very heavily and it will not be easy to locate where this virus will, next, strike. But how much is actually known about this virus? This week Universal Medicine will be exploring the history, causes and the symptoms of Zika virus.   The history of the Zika virus Firstly, the Zika virus isn't something which appeared all of a sudden- in fact the Zika virus was discovered a while back. In 1947, the Zika virus was found in Uganda; the term "Zika" translates to "Overgrown" in Luganda (this is the common language spoken in Uganda). A group of scientists placed a certain species of monkey, Rhesus macaque, within the Zika forest located in Uganda. Later, it had seemed that the monkey had developed a fever in which researchers expressed as the Zika virus. Since the primary encount...