Week 8: Blog post 2c: Africa: Uganda : Volcanic Minerals, Not Worms, Caused Disease Outbreak in Uganda

 According to the article titled "Volcanic Minerals, Not Worms, Caused Disease Outbreak in Uganda" in The New York Times, the cause of an outbreak of crippling elephantiasis -legs so swollen that they resemble those of an elephant was first thought to be some kind of worm but scientists found that it is not, eventually figuring out that the real cause was the volcanic soils which were displaced by migratory farmers. In most affected countries, elephantiasis is mostly caused by worms spread to humans by mosquito bites that nest in lymph nodes, preventing the lymph fluid from being pumped so the scientific investigators' working assumption was that the worms had reached local mosquitoes. However, blood tests for worms came up negative, some reported that they had the symptoms since 1980, most had swelling in both feet while the worms tend to affect one leg, and most lived above 4,000 feet where mosquitoes are not quite common so the researchers realized that worms are not the cause of this illness. The victims were found to have podoconiosis, a disease caused by walking barefoot in volcanic soils which contain alkaline mineral crystals that cause itching and trigger inflammation and the volcanic soils were tilled by some migratory farmers when they tried to grow crops, exposing minerals deposited after a volcanic eruption 2.5 million years ago. This article talks about investigating the cause of a leg swelling disease in the process of supposing a worm, finding out that they were wrong, and confirming the cause as the contact of volcanic soils. 

 I had been sick badly because of what I ate once in middle school and once in high school which made me picky about the hygiene when eating food. I ate lunch in the cafeteria as usual and more than 250 students in our school including me suffered from food poisoning, vomiting and having diarrhea all night and I was put on an IV because the symptoms were severe. In high school, I was curious how almond oil can dissolve chewing gum so I tested by eating them together, ended up with enteritis - a bowel disease - and later realized that the products after the reaction were poisonous. I am not sure if these experiences are the main reason why my digestive system is not working properly but it gave me the instinct to spit out food that seems to have gone bad, even when I'm not sure about it. I had some experience of suffering from illness in middle school cafeteria and high school and I learned how to keep my body from bad food.

Mcneil, Donald G. "Volcanic Minerals, Not Worms, Caused Disease Outbreak in Uganda." The New York Times. The New York Times, 10 Apr. 2017. Web. 03 May 2017.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/10/health/volcanic-minerals-uganda-elephantiasis.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fafrica&action=click&contentCollection=africa&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=13&pgtype=sectionfront