Medical Students pakistan

INFECTIOUS DISEASE

medicalpk — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 11:47:54 +0000

An infectious disease is a clinically evident disease resulting from the presence of pathogenic microbial agents, including pathogenic viruses, pathogenic bacteria, fungi, protozoa, multicellular parasites, and aberrant proteins known as prions. These pathogens are able to cause disease in animals and/or plants. Infectious pathologies are usually qualified as contagious diseases (also called communicable diseases) due to their potential of transmission from one person or species to another.^[1] Transmission of an infectious disease may occur through one or more of diverse pathways including physical contact with infected individuals. These infecting agents may also be transmitted through liquids, food, body fluids, contaminated objects, airborne inhalation, or through vector-borne spread.^[2]

The term infectivity describes the ability of an organism to enter, survive and multiply in the host, while theinfectiousness of a disease indicates the comparative ease with which the disease is transmitted to other hosts.^[3] Aninfection however, is not synonymous with an infectious disease, as an infection may not cause important clinical symptoms or impair host function.

Classification

Among the almost infinite varieties of microorganisms, relatively few cause disease in otherwise healthy individuals.^[4] Infectious disease results from the interplay between those few pathogens and the defenses of the hosts they infect. The appearance and severity of disease resulting from any pathogen depends upon the ability of that pathogen to damage the host as well as the ability of the host to resist the pathogen. Infectious microorganisms, or microbes, are therefore classified as eitherprimary pathogens or as opportunistic pathogens according to the status of host defenses.

Primary pathogens cause disease as a result of their presence or activity within the normal, healthy host, and their intrinsic virulence (the severity of the disease they cause) is, in part, a necessary consequence of their need to reproduce and spread. Many of the most common primary pathogens of humans only infect humans, however many serious diseases are caused by organisms acquired from the environment or which infect non-human hosts.

Organisms which cause an infectious disease in a host with depressed resistance are classified as opportunistic pathogens. Opportunistic disease may be caused by microbes that are ordinarily in contact with the host, such as pathogenic bacteria or fungi in the gastrointestinal or the upper respiratory tract, and they may also result from (otherwise innocuous) microbes acquired from other hosts (as in Clostridium difficile colitis) or from the environment as a result of traumatic introduction (as in surgical wound infections or compound fractures). An opportunistic disease requires impairment of host defenses, which may occur as a result of genetic defects (such as Chronic granulomatous disease), exposure to antimicrobial drugs or immunosuppressive chemicals (as might occur following poisoning or cancer chemotherapy), exposure to ionizing radiation, or as a result of an infectious disease with immunosuppressive activity (such as with measles, malaria or HIV disease). Primary pathogens may also cause more severe disease in a host with depressed resistance than would normally occur in an immunosufficient host.

One way of proving that a given disease is “infectious”, is to satisfy Koch’s postulates (first proposed by Robert Koch), which demands that the infectious agent be identified only in patients and not in healthy controls, and that patients who contract the agent also develop the disease. These postulates were first used in the discovery that Mycobacteria species cause tuberculosis. Koch’s postulates cannot be met ethically for many human diseases because they require experimental infection of a healthy individual with a pathogen produced as a pure culture. Often, even diseases that are quite clearly infectious do not meet the infectious criteria. For example, Treponema pallidum, the causative spirochete of syphilis, cannot be cultured in vitro – however the organism can be cultured in rabbit testes. It is less clear that a pure culture comes from an animal source serving as host than it is when derived from microbes derived from plate culture. Epidemiology is another important tool used to study disease in a population. For infectious diseases it helps to determine if a disease outbreak is sporadic (occasional occurrence), endemic(regular cases often occurring in a region), epidemic (an unusually high number of cases in a region), or pandemic (a global epidemic).

Transmission

An infectious disease is transmitted from some source. Defining the means of transmission plays an important part in understanding the biology of an infectious agent, and in addressing the disease it causes. Transmission may occur through several different mechanisms. Respiratory diseases and meningitis are commonly acquired by contact with aerosolized droplets, spread by sneezing, coughing, talking, kissing or even singing. Gastrointestinal diseases are often acquired by ingesting contaminated food and water. Sexually transmitted diseases are acquired through contact with bodily fluids, generally as a result of sexual activity. Some infectious agents may be spread as a result of contact with a contaminated, inanimate object (known as a fomite), such as a coin passed from one person to another, while other diseases penetrate the skin directly.^[5]

Transmission of infectious diseases may also involve a vector. Vectors may be mechanical or biological. A mechanical vector picks up an infectious agent on the outside of its body and transmits it in a passive manner. An example of a mechanical vector is a housefly, which lands on cow dung, contaminating its appendages with bacteria from the feces, and then lands on food prior to consumption. The pathogen never enters the body of the fly.

In contrast, biological vectors harbor pathogens within their bodies and deliver pathogens to new hosts in an active manner, usually a bite. Biological vectors are often responsible for serious blood-borne diseases, such as malaria, viral encephalitis,Chagas disease, Lyme disease and African sleeping sickness. Biological vectors are usually, though not exclusively, arthropods, such as mosquitoes, ticks, fleas and lice. Vectors are often required in the life cycle of a pathogen. A common strategy used to control vector borne infectious diseases is to interrupt the life cycle of a pathogen by killing the vector.

The relationship between virulence and transmission is complex, and has important consequences for the long term evolution of a pathogen. Since it takes many generations for a microbe and a new host species to co-evolve, an emerging pathogen may hit its earliest victims especially hard. It is usually in the first wave of a new disease that death rates are highest. If a disease is rapidly fatal, the host may die before the microbe can get passed along to another host. However, this cost may be overwhelmed by the short term benefit of higher infectiousness if transmission is linked to virulence, as it is for instance in the case of cholera (the explosive diarrhea aids the bacterium in finding new hosts) or many respiratory infections (sneezing and coughing create infectious aerosols).

Preventing transmission

One of the ways to prevent or slow down the transmission of infectious diseases is to recognize the different characteristics of various diseases. ^[6] Some critical disease characteristics that should be evaluated include virulence, distance traveled by victims, and level of contagiousness. The human strains of Ebola virus, for example, incapacitate its victims extremely quickly and kills them soon after. As a result, the victims of this disease do not have the opportunity to travel very far from the initial infection zone. ^[7] Also, this virus must spread through skin lesions or permeable membranes such as the eye. Thus, the initial stage of Ebola is not very contagious since its victims experience only internal hemorrhaging. As a result of the above features, the spread of Ebola is very rapid and usually stays within a relatively confined geographical area. In contrast, Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) kills its victims very slowly by attacking their immune system. ^[6] As a result, a lot of its victims transmit the virus to many others before even realizing that they are carrying the disease. Also, the relatively low virulence allows its victims to travel long distances, increasing the likelihood of an epidemic.

Another effective way to decrease the transmission rate of infectious diseases is to recognize the effects of small-world networks. ^[6] In epidemics, there are often extensive interactions within hubs or groups of infected individuals and other interactions within discrete hubs of susceptible individuals. Despite the low interaction between discrete hubs, the disease can jump to and spread in a susceptible hub via a single or few interactions with an infected hub. Thus, infection rates in small-world networks can be reduced somewhat if interactions between individuals within infected hubs are eliminated (Figure 1). However, infection rates can be drastically reduced if the main focus is on the prevention of transmission jumps between hubs. The use of needle exchange programs in areas with a high density of drug users with HIV is an example of the successful implementation of this treatment method. ^[6] Another example is the use of ring culling or vaccination of potentially susceptible livestock in adjacent farms to prevent the spread of the foot-and-mouth virus in 2001. ^[8]

General methods to prevent transmission of pathogens may include disinfection and pest control.

[edit]Diagnosis and therapy

Diagnosis of infectious disease sometimes involves identifying an infectious agent either directly or indirectly. In practice most minor infectious diseases such aswarts, cutaneous abscesses, respiratory system infections and diarrheal diseases are diagnosed by their clinical presentation. Conclusions about the cause of the disease are based upon the likelihood that a patient came in contact with a particular agent, the presence of a microbe in a community, and other epidemiological considerations. Given sufficient effort, all known infectious agents can be specifically identified. The benefits of identification, however, are often greatly outweighed by the cost, as often there is no specific treatment, the cause is obvious, or the outcome of an infection is benign.

Specific identification of an infectious agent is usually only determined when such identification can aid in the treatment or prevention of the disease, or to advance knowledge of the course of an illness prior to the development of effective therapeutic or preventative measures. For example, in the early 1980s, prior to the appearance of AZT for the treatment of AIDS, the course of the disease was closely followed by monitoring the composition of patient blood samples, even though the outcome would not offer the patient any further treatment options. In part, these studies on the appearance of HIV in specific communities permitted the advancement of hypotheses as to the route of transmission of the virus. By understanding how the disease was transmitted, resources could be targeted to the communities at greatest risk in campaigns aimed at reducing the number of new infections. The specific serological diagnostic identification, and later genotypic or molecular identification, of HIV also enabled the development of hypotheses as to the temporal and geographical origins of the virus, as well as a myriad of other hypothesis. The development of molecular diagnostic tools have enabled physicians and researchers to monitor the efficacy of treatment with anti-retroviral drugs. Molecular diagnostics are now commonly used to identify HIV in healthy people long before the onset of illness and have been used to demonstrate the existence of people who are genetically resistant to HIV infection. Thus, while there still is no cure for AIDS, there is great therapeutic and predictive benefit to identifying the virus and monitoring the virus levels within the blood of infected individuals, both for the patient and for the community at large.

[edit]Methods of diagnosis

Diagnosis of infectious disease is nearly always initiated by medical history and physical examination. More detailed identification techniques involve the culture of infectious agents isolated from a patient. Culture allows identification of infectious organisms by examining their microscopic features, by detecting the presence of substances produced by pathogens, and by directly identifying an organism by its genotype. Other techniques (such as X-rays, CAT scans, PET scans or NMR) are used to produce images of internal abnormalities resulting from the growth of an infectious agent. The images are useful in detection of, for example, a bone abscessor a spongiform encephalopathy produced by a prion.

Mortality from infectious diseases

The World Health Organization collects information on global deaths by International Classification of Disease (ICD) code categories. The following table lists the top infectious disease killers which caused more than 100,000 deaths in 2002 (estimated). 1993 data is included for comparison.

**Worldwide mortality due to infectious diseases**^[11]
Rank	Cause of death	Deaths 2002	Percentage of all deaths	Deaths 1993	1993 Rank
N/A	All infectious diseases	14.7 million	25.9%	16.4 million	32.2%
1	Lower respiratory infections^[12]	3.9 million	6.9%	4.1 million	1
2	HIV/AIDS	2.8 million	4.9%	0.7 million	7
3	Diarrheal diseases^[13]	1.8 million	3.2%	3.0 million	2
4	Tuberculosis (TB)	1.6 million	2.7%	2.7 million	3
5	Malaria	1.3 million	2.2%	2.0 million	4
6	Measles	0.6 million	1.1%	1.1 million	5
7	Pertussis	0.29 million	0.5%	0.36 million	7
8	Tetanus	0.21 million	0.4%	0.15 million	12
9	Meningitis	0.17 million	0.3%	0.25 million	8
10	Syphilis	0.16 million	0.3%	0.19 million	11
11	Hepatitis B	0.10 million	0.2%	0.93 million	6
12-17	Tropical diseases (6)^[14]	0.13 million	0.2%	0.53 million	9, 10, 16-18
Note: Other causes of death include maternal and perinatal conditions (5.2%), nutritional deficiencies (0.9%), noncommunicable conditions (58.8%), and injuries (9.1%).

The study of infectious disease

medicalpk — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 11:33:25 +0000

history about infectious disease

Abū Alī ibn Sīnā (Avicenna) discovered the contagious nature of infectious diseases in the early 11th century. He introducedquarantine as a means of limiting the spread of contagious and infectious diseases in The Canon of Medicine, circa 1020.^[24] He also stated that bodily secretion is contaminated by foul foreign earthly bodies before being infected, but he did not view them as primary causes of disease.^[25]
When the Black Death bubonic plague reached al-Andalus in the 14th century, Ibn Khatima and Ibn al-Khatib hypothesized that infectious diseases are caused by “contagious entities” which enter the human body.^[25] Such ideas became more popular in Europe during the Renaissance, particularly through the writing of the Italian monk Girolamo Fracastoro.^[26]
Anton van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723) advanced the science of microscopy by being the first to observe microorganisms, allowing for easy visualization of bacteria.
Louis Pasteur proved beyond doubt that certain diseases are caused by infectious agents, and developed a vaccine for rabies.
Robert Koch, provided the study of infectious diseases with a scientific basis known as Koch’s postulates.
Edward Jenner, Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin developed effective vaccines for smallpox and polio, which would later result in theeradication and near-eradication of these diseases, respectively.
Alexander Fleming discovered the world’s first antibiotic Penicillin which Florey and Chain then developed.
Gerhard Domagk developed Sulphonamides, the first broad spectrum synthetic antibacterial drugs.

ABOUT SIALKOT MEDICLE COLLEGE

medicalpk — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 09:03:15 +0000

CM announces restoring Sialkot Medical College

SIALKOT, July 28: Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has announced restoring the project to establish a medical college here and forming a special committee consisting of elected representatives and renowned businessmen to monitor the project.

He was addressing local businessmen and notables at the Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) on Monday during the first leg of his two-day visit to the district after becoming the chief minister.

SCCI President Dr Khurram Anwar Khawaja, secretaries of 18 provincial departments and prominent businessmen and representatives of local trade bodies were also present.

The chief minister announced a number of development schemes for the area, particularly for the uplift of the city. On the pressing demand of the local business community, the chief minister announced restoring the otherwise shelved Sialkot Medical College project.

He also announced ensuring early release of a special matching grant of Rs408.6 million under the Sialkot City Development Package, which was to be carried out in collaboration with local business community, but was frozen or abandoned subsequently.

During his first stint as chief minister nine years ago, Sharif had announced this grant during his visit to the SCCI on June 1, 1999.

He also announced immediate establishment of intensive care units (ICUs) and orthopaedic units each at Allama Iqbal Memorial DHQ Hospital and Sardar Begum Memorial Hospital.

He also announced construction of two bridges over Nullah Aik in the city, one near Nekapura and the other near Douburji Malhiyaan, besides constructing another flyover or underpass to streamline traffic throughout the city. He also announced laying new sewerage pipelines in the city.

The chief minister said the provincial government would soon sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the business community of Sialkot under which special monitoring committees would be formed to look after all the (above-mentioned) development projects.

The chief minister also ordered immediate dualisation of Sialkot-Gujranwala and Sialkot-Eimenabad roads besides early completion of under-construction Sialkot-Wazirabad Road.

The chief minister assured the business community that effective and positive economic and trade policies would continue to strengthen national economy and to promote sustainable trade activities.

He said the local business community had set a golden example of completing several mega projects on self-help basis, persuading others to follow it.

He also hailed the local export culture and marvellous socio-economic and human resources development, again chiefly on self-help basis.

He said the government was making all out efforts to bring a revolution of industrial development by revamping the SMEs sector.

Sharif said the government was fully aware of the problems being faced by the businessmen and was trying to remove all bottlenecks hindering trade activities.

Earlier, DCO Capt Atta Muhammad Khan (retired) gave a detailed briefing about ongoing development schemes in the district.

The chief minister directed the officials concerned to expedite these projects besides ensuring consumption of quality materials and their timely completion.

Later, addressing an open court in Pasrur, Sharif pledged to weed out corruption from all government departments to ensure cheap and speedy justice to the people.

He said the government was trying to control ‘skyrocketing’ price-hike caused by the wrong policies of the previous regime.

Sharif said all promises made to the people, including the restoration of superior courts judges, supremacy of the Constitution, stability of democracy and solution of national issues, would be honoured and working relationship with allied parties would be maintained at the federal as well as provincial levels without compromising on principles.

Later, addressing a meeting of party workers at Anwar Club Auditorium here, Sharif, who is also the president of the PML-N, said his party would take solid steps to resolve political, economic and administrative problems being faced by the country and would not disappoint the masses.

Earlier, talking to reporters, the chief minister said the party’s stand on the restoration of judges reflected the aspirations of 160 million people of the country and the PML-N would stick to its stance.

He said that all possible cooperation would be extended to allied parties to solve national issues and viable proposals would be given to ensure civilian’s rule instead of any dictator’s.

He said that party leaders, office-bearers and elected representatives should maintain a close liaison with the people to resolve their problems.

Expressing concern over a lack of coordination among the government and its coalition partners, the PML-N president urged the government to take on board all component parties of the alliance prior to taking key decisions on national issues otherwise it could grow weaker and weaker.

Sharif said that inordinate delay in announcing the impeachment of President Pervez Musharraf and reinstatement of the deposed judges was enhancing the gravity of political crisis.

The chief minister will visit Daska on Tuesday (today). He will inspect Daska’s THQ Hospital besides holding an open court at Civil Rest House.

medicalpk — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 18:43:54 +0000

Top position holder of 2009 Punjab Medical Entry Test

top student

List of Medical Colleges in Pakistan

medicalpk — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 18:32:04 +0000

In this article you can find a complete list of Medical Colleges in Pakistan.

Abbottabad International Medical College
http://www.aimc.edu.pk/
Opposite CMH (Family Wing) Mansehra Road
Abbottabad
Tel: +92 992 341439, Fax: +92 992 331716

Aga Khan University, Faculty of Medicine *
http://www.aku.edu/medicalcollege/
P.O. Box 3500, Stadium Road, Karachi 74800
Tel: +92 21 493 0051, Fax: +92 21 493 4294

Bahuddin Zakaria University, Nishtar Medical College
http://nmc.paklinks.com/
Nishtar Road, 60000 Multan, Punjab
Tel: +92 61 725 147

Baqai Medical University, Faculty of Medicine
http://www.freeyellow.com/members5/baqai/
51 Deh Tor Road, Baqai Chowk, P.O. Box 2407, Karachi 18
Tel: +92 21 635 0433, Fax: +92 21 661 7968

College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan, Karachi
http://www.cpsp.edu.pk/
7th Central Street, Defence Housing Authority, Karachi 75500
Tel: +92 58 928 0110, Fax: +92 58 875 13

Frontier Medical College, Abbottabad
http://www.fmc.edu.pk/
P.O. Public School, Abbottabad
Tel: +92 922 381 027, Fax: +92 992 381 053

Gandhara Institute of Medical Sciences, Peshawar, Kabir Medical College
http://www.gandhara.edu.pk/medical.html
57 Gul Mohar Lane, University Town, Peshawar
Tel: +92 91 844 429, Fax: +92 91 277 010

Hamdard University, Hamdard College of Medicine and Dentistry (HCMD)
http://www.hamdard.edu/hamdard/hcmd/
Madinat al Hikmah, Muhammad Bin Qasim Avenue, Karachi 74600
Tel: +92 21 690 0000, Fax: +92 21 699 6002

Islamia University, Quaid-e-Azam Medical College
http://www.qmc.edu.pk/
Circular Road, Bahawalpur
Tel: +92 621 884 289, Fax: +92 621 875 677

Islamic International Medical College, Rawalpindi
http://www.iimc.edu.pk/
Old Supreme Court Building
274 Peshawar Road, Rawalpindi
Tel: +92 51 556 5981-6, Fax: +92 51 556 7527

Isra University, Margalla Institute of Health Sciences Margallah Medical College
http://www.margalla.com/
Pitrus Bokhari Road, H-8/1, Islamabad 44000, Hyderabad
Tel: +92 51 443 0260, Fax: +92 51 443 0264

Karachi Medical & Dental College
http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Campus/6582/
F.B. Area Block 16, Karachi 75950
Tel: +92 21 632 0020

People’s Medical College
Nawabshah

Quaid-e-Azam University, Army Medical College
http://amcollege.cjb.net/
Abid Majid Road, Rawalpindi 46000
Tel: +92 51 584 780, Fax: +92 51 581 085

Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre
http://www.shaukatkhanum.org.pk/
Lahore

Shifa College of Medicine
http://www.shifacollege.edu/
Sector H-8/4, Islamabad
Tel: +92 51 446 801 ext. 3367, Fax: +92 51 446 879

Sir Syed College of Medical Sciences for Girls
http://www.sscms.edu.pk/
ST-32, Block-5, Boating Basin
Clifton, Karachi
Tel: +92 21 583 5682, Fax: +92 21 583 8682

University of Balochistan, Bolan Medical College
http://uob.cjb.net/
BMC Brewery Road, Quetta, Balochistan 87300

University of Karachi, Dow Medical College
http://www.dmc.edu/
Baba-e-Urdu Road, Karachi 74400
Tel: +92 776 0202, Fax: +92 772 4322

University of Karachi, Jinnah Medical and Dental College
http://jmc.edu.pk/
2223 Shaheed-e-Millat Road, Karachi
Tel: +92 21 493 18034, Fax: +92 21 493 8035

University of Karachi, Sindh Medical College
http://www.geocities.com/dr_dragon2000/
Rafique H.I. Shaheed Road, Karachi 75510
Tel: +92 21 519 006

University of Peshawar, Ayub Medical College
http://www.amc.8k.com/
Abbottabad-Manshera Road
Abbottabad 22040

University of Peshawar, Khyber Medical College
http://www.angelfire.com/fl/jahangiri/KMC.html
University Campus, Peshawar
Tel: +92 52 184 1425, Fax: +92 52 184 1598

University of Sindh, Chandka Medical College
399 Larkana, Sindh

University of Sindh, Liaquat Medical College
http://www.lmc.edu.pk/
Jamshoro, Sindh
Tel: +92 22 177 1239, Fax: +92 22 177 1303

University of Sindh, Nawabshah Medical College For Girls
Nawabshah, Sindh

University of the Punjab, Allama Iqbal Medical College
http://www.iqbalians.com/
6 Birdwood Road, Lahore

University of the Punjab, Fatima Jinnah Medical College For Women
http://welcome.to/fjmc/
Shahrah-e-Fatima Jinnah, Lahore 54000
Tel: +92 42 636 9469, Fax: +92 42 636 6058

University of the Punjab, King Edward Medical College
http://www.kemc.edu/
Nelagumbad, Anarkali, Lahore
Tel: +92 11 14554

University of the Punjab, Punjab Medical College
Sardogha Road, Faisalabad
Tel: +92 41 760 470, Fax: +92 41 762 846

University of the Punjab, Rawalpindi Medical College
http://www.rmc.edu.pk/
Tipu Road, Rawalpindi 46000
Tel: +92 51 552 819, Fax: +92 51 502 148

Women Medical College Abbottabad
http://www.wmc.edu.pk/
Murree Road, Nawanshehr, Abbottabad
Tel: +92 992 390 221

Ziauddin Medical University *
http://www.zmu.edu.pk/
4/B Shahra-e-Ghalib, Block 6
Clifton, Karachi 75600
Tel: +92 21 586 2939, Fax: +92 21 586 2940

* denotes schools that have confirmed contact information by completing and returning our survey of medical schools, located here.

An important website for Medical students

medicalpk — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 18:28:32 +0000

http://www.uhs.edu.pk/

University of Health Sciences (UHS) Lahore is a vibrant, internationally recognized student – centered research university with 73 colleges and institutes affiliated and about 26,000 undergraduate and 2600 postgraduate students registered.

UHS is focused on delivering high-quality instruction in basic medical sciences, revitalizing the neglected fields of nursing and other allied health sciences, pioneering courses in biomedical engineering, medical education, bio-informatics, genetics and behavioral sciences, and fostering significant on-campus and off-campus research activities.

UHS campus was inaugurated by the President of Pakistan – who is also its patron – on October 02, 2002. Its building has a commanding domed elevation and it houses spacious class rooms, high-tech labs, dining halls, staff offices, senate hall, library and 500-seater Shams Auditorium, which collectively create a perfect academic ambience.