Ulcerative Colitis

Ulcerative Colitis, a chronic disease of unknown cause in which the lining of the colon and rectum becomes severely inflamed and eventually wears away, forming shallow sores known as ulcers. Frequently the colon is permanently damaged. Ulcerative colitis, together with a related condition called Crohn’s disease, are generally referred to as inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs).

Most people with ulcerative colitis have inflammation in their descending colon, the section of the large intestine stretching from the left side of the abdomen to the pelvis, and in the sigmoid colon, the section of the intestine that is joined to the rectum. Some people have inflammation and ulceration in all of the large intestine. The disease does not affect the small intestine.

Most people have only mild or moderate forms of the disease, with symptoms that include rectal bleeding, diarrhea, and feces that contains mucus, all of which are easily controlled with medication. People with a more severe form of the disease have extensive diarrhea, stomach pain, and fever, and they also tend to suffer from such problems as arthritis, liver problems, and leg ulcers. Patients with ulcerative colitis involving the whole colon that has lasted for more than ten years are at major risk for cancer.

Tumor

Tumor, broadly interpreted, any abnormal local increase in size of a tissue or organ. Medical research at the microscopic level, however, has made clear that swelling can be due either to the infiltration of cells from another part of the body or to the proliferation of cells originating within the affected site itself; only the latter circumstance is called a tumor.

Tumors are classified as either benign or malignant, although the benign-malignant distinction is not universally useful. The most important property rendering a tumor malignant is the ability to invade nearby or distant tissues; this spread to distant tissues is called metastasis, and it usually occurs by means of the blood or lymph vessels. Some so-called benign tumors can kill without metastasizing. Chief among these are brain tumors called gliomas, which can grow large enough to exert substantial pressure on nearby brain structures and destroy respiratory function. A liver tumor can kill by destroying the vital functions of that organ, even without metastasis. Cells in malignant tumors are also sometimes said to have lost their characteristic function, but blood cells form tumors, called myelomas, in which the cells retain the ability to form antibodies. Tumors of the uterus, called hydatidiform moles, are benign, but they can be forerunners of the cancer called choriocarcinoma. The clearest cases of benign tumors are skin moles and warts.

Trypanosomiasis

Trypanosomiasis, also sleeping sickness, endemic, and sometimes epidemic, chronic disease caused by a protozoan blood parasite, genus Trypanosoma. In cattle and other animals, which serve as the reservoir for the protozoa, the disease is called nagana. Two variations of the disease occur in central and western Africa, both of them transmitted in the salivary glands of infected tsetse flies. The most common is caused by T. brucei gambiense, whereas a more local version is caused by T. brucei rhodesiense.

African sleeping sickness begins with a chancre at the site of the insect bite, an accelerated heartbeat, an enlargement of the spleen, and rash and fever. Over the next few months the nervous system is attacked, with accompanying mood changes, sleepiness, lack of appetite, eventual coma, and, frequently, death. Chagas' disease, which more frequently attacks children, also involves fever and damage to the spleen and nervous system, as well as to the liver and the heart muscles. It is also sometimes fatal. In early stages, African sleeping sickness can be alleviated by the administration of various antiparasitic drugs; treatment in later stages with arsenic-containing drugs is less likely to be effective.

Encephalitis is also sometimes called sleeping sickness.

Trench Mouth

Trench Mouth, acute infectious disorder of the mucous membranes of the mouth and throat, so called from its prevalence among World War I soldiers. It is characterized by painful ulcerations. Predisposing factors for infection include poor oral hygiene. The main causative organisms are the bacillus Fusiformis dentium and the spirillum Borrelia vincenti. Painful and bleeding gums are the chief symptoms, and they are usually accompanied by malodorous breath and an unpleasant taste in the mouth. Treatment consists of relieving the painful symptoms of the acute bacterial state and correcting local and systemic predisposing causes of the disease. Antibiotics are usually effective in controlling the infection.

Toxic Shock Syndrome

Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS), rare disease associated with strains of the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus, a common inhabitant of the skin, oral cavity, and vagina. Under certain conditions the bacterium produces a toxin that apparently attacks the immune system through the bloodstream, in turn permitting more toxin to be produced. Liver function is also altered, resulting in liver and kidney damage. Symptoms of TSS include rash, high fever, lowered blood pressure, diarrhea, and vomiting. TSS has caused death in about 3 percent of reported cases. The disease can be treated with antibiotics.