Human Health and Disease Test - 8

An enzyme-linked immuno-sorbent assay, also called ELISA or EIA, is a test that detects and measures antibodies in your blood. This test can be used to determine if you have antibodies related to certain infectious conditions. ELISA is diagnostic test for AIDS.

HIV does not spread through "casual" everyday contact between people. It is not transmitted by coughing, or sneezing, or by touching or hugging someone who has the virus. It is not spread in air, water or in food, or by sharing cups, bowls, cutlery,clothing, or toilet seats.

One of the reasons why it has been so difficult to make an AIDS vaccine is that HIV gene undergoes mutation at rapid and the virus infects the very cells of the immune system that any vaccine is supposed to induce. Virus cannot be killed by antibiotics produced by vaccine.

Hepatitis D is a liver disease in both acute and chronic forms caused by the hepatitis D virus (HDV) that requires HBV for its replication. Hepatitis D infection cannot occur in the absence of hepatitis B virus. The coinfection or super infection of HDV with HBV causes a more severe disease than HBV monoinfection.

A vaccine against hepatitis B is the only method to prevent HDV infection.

The PSA test is a blood test used primarily to screen for prostate cancer. The test measures the amount of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in your blood. PSA is a protein produced by both cancerous and noncancerous tissue in the prostate, a small gland that sits below a man's bladder.

Electron therapy or electron beam therapy (EBT) is a kind of external beam radiotherapy where electrons are directed to a tumor site.

Cancerous cells are killed by radiation therapy to treat certain types of cancer. As cancer cells divide rapidly and can be easily killed by radiation.

AIDS is caused by HIV Virus which can spread primarily by unprotected sex (including anal and oral sex), contaminated blood transfusions, homosexuality, hypodermic needles, and from mother to child during pregnancy, delivery, or breastfeeding.

Somebodily fluids, such as saliva and tears, do not transmit HIV.

HIV antibody tests are specifically designed for routine diagnostic testing of adults; these tests are inexpensive and extremely accurate.

Normally AIDS is tested by identification of antibodies present in a individual. The infected person lacks most of the antibodies that protect the person from infection.

AZT, in full azidothymidine, also called zidovudine, drug used to delay development of AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) in patients infected with HIV (human immunodeficiency virus).

AZT belongs to a group of drugs known as nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs). Although, this drug does not control the AIDS completely.

A carcinogen is any substance, radionuclide, or radiation that is an agent directly involved in causing cancer. This may be due to the ability to damage the genome or to the disruption of cellular metabolic processes. UV radiation, X-rays, oncogenes are example of carcinogens.