An emerging infectious disease is defined as any disease that has seen new incidences in the past 20 years and seems likely to increase in the future. In most cases, they are caused by a newly strain of a known microorganism or a newly identified microorganism that carries the disease. In other cases, the re-emergence is due to drug resistance of the agent or the interaction with other factors that can lead to its development. The mechanisms of re-emergence are many ranging from microbial adaption as is the case with the Influenza A virus to poverty as is seen in the case of tuberculosis that primarily re-emerges in low-income areas.

A number of emerging infectious diseases are caused by a genetic drift. A gene variant occurs in a population after a certain frequency over time. The changes due to genetic drift are however not driven by adaptive or environmental pressures. This effect is larger in small populations and is felt much lower in large populations. In small populations with a much higher relative frequency, this occurrence can happen in just a few generations. Given time though, the outcome is nearly inevitable for populations of any size.

The Spanish Influenza is the worst infectious disease epidemic in history. Each year brings us closer to another pandemic. The only question is when. According to the journal Emerging Infectious diseases of April 2005, “Optimists once imagined that serious infectious diseases threats would be conquered.” However, the magazine continues to say, “Infectious diseases have continued to emerge and reemerge.” Emerging infectious diseases claim about 15 million lives every year. There is no way of knowing exactly where the next infection will come from. It could be from animals to humans, humans to animals and a reversal to occur.

This is not surprising and emerging infectious diseases like the H5N1 could mutate and develop to the point of becoming another influenza epidemic. First spotted in poultry markets in 1997, the virus kills as many as 80% of those who catch it. The problem with these new emerging infectious diseases is that science may not have an immediate answer to cause of a disease or how it is spread and before long it can wreck havoc. Most of the infectious diseases strike indiscriminately and on a worldwide scale. One question that remains is whether the world will be ready for the next pandemic.

November is Breast Cancer Awareness Month as well as Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month and Diabetes Awareness Month, and it’s also the month for lung cancer awareness. Along with breast cancer, pancreatic cancer and diabetes, lung cancer is also a problematic disease that affects many people—it’s the leading cause of death by cancer in the US for any ethnicity, and it will claim about 437 deaths a day on average. Lung cancer becomes more difficult to treat as its stages advance, so it’s important to spread awareness about this devastating condition so that people can prevent themselves from developing it or seek treatment for lung cancer as soon as possible.

Some of the symptoms of lung cancer include coughing, chest, shoulder or back pain, shortness of breath, coughing up blood, feeling hoarse, face and neck swelling, chronic bronchitis and pneumonia, loss of appetite, and fluid in the pleural cavity, which inhibits breathing. These symptoms are associated with the earlier stages of lung cancer. Other symptoms develop when the cancer has spread to other parts of the body. When lung cancer metastasizes it can affect the bones, liver and brain. Symptoms of lung cancer that affect other parts of the body can consist of bone and stomach pain, jaundice, headaches, seizures, nausea and vomiting. Developing lung cancer is highly associated with smoking—smoking damages the cells of the lungs by exposing them to carcinogens, and about 87% of lung cancer cases have to do with the patient smoking, or having formerly smoked. Other lung cancer causes are exposure to radon and asbestos, toxic substances often found in old houses that were not constructed recently.

There are many types of treatment for lung cancer, and choosing which option to take is a complicated choice that depends on the patient, the stage of cancer, and the location of the cancer in the lungs. Medical treatment for lung cancer consists of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, which are all techniques intended to remove cancer or to kill cancer cells. Sometimes these options don’t appeal or work for cancer patients, so they might look to holistic treatment for lung cancer, which consists of a variety of techniques like altering diet, doing regular exercise, aromatherapy, and much more. More recently researchers are looking into developing drugs that might help control the symptoms of lung cancer. But whichever method patients choose, it’s important that they start treatment right away to fight the cancer more effectively.

Patients might look to alternative treatments for cancer because they are reluctant to undergo standard treatments like chemotherapy, or they’ve already tried standard treatments that don’t seem to be working. Sometimes alternative treatments for cancer appeal to the public because of their reputation for being natural, easier and less intense methods of treating cancer including pancreatic or lung cancer. It’s uncertain whether alternative treatments are better than standard ones—for some people they won’t work, and for other patients they might. Even if alternative treatments are effective, it’s important to remember that they’re alleviating the symptoms of cancer and not necessarily curing it. Doctors recommend not replacing standard treatments for cancer with alternative treatments because they might not be strong enough. Instead, they recommend that alternative treatments for cancer be treated like supplementary treatments that are used in addition to standard treatment. If standard treatment by itself isn’t helping, then the combination of standard and alternative might.

Some alternative treatments for cancer include acupuncture, aromatherapy, meditation, biofeedback (giving patient info about their physiological condition so they can have a sense of control over it), and hypnosis, massage, and relaxation techniques. The treatment suggested can depend on what symptom of cancer is being targeted such as anxiety, fatigue, nausea and vomiting, pain, sleeping problems and stress.

Any treatment is subject to the unique biological makeup of the patient, so different patients will react differently to any of these options. Treatments are also subject to the power of thinking. These days science is more open to the role of the mind in how the body functions and responds to events. For example, stress is now viewed as a valid contributing factor to illness, and the placebo effect suggests that people can get better simply from the belief that they are being treated. Reader’s Digest once covered a couple of patients who had overcome cancer in unusual ways—one of them got rid of cancer after constant prayer, another took a huge amount of vitamin supplements. Many would doubt the efficacy of these methods and a research trial would be potentially unethical and disastrous. Still, there have been many examples, both scientific and anecdotal, in which the way a person thinks can have a big impact on their outcome, even physically. The bottom line is that every patient needs to choose the treatment that’s right for them, and one that they also believe is right for them. Motivation is part of the healing process, and it should be a supplement to whatever treatment is implemented.