UNUSUAL FACTS ABOUT DISEASES (INFORMATIVE)

1. Heart disease kills more people per year than cancer, war, terrorism, hunger, suicide, diabetes, respiratory diseases and mental disorders combined. – Source

2. When Syphilis first surfaced, the English called it the ‘French disease’, the French called it the ‘Spanish disease’, Germans called it the ‘French evil’, Russians called it ‘Polish disease’, Poles called it ‘Turkish disease’, Turks called it ‘Christian disease’ and Japan called it ‘Chinese pox.’ – Source

3. During China’s Ming Dynasty, powdered smallpox scabs were blown up the noses of the healthy. The patients would then develop a mild case of the disease and from then on would be immune to it. Although the technique had a 0.5-2.0% mortality rate, it was better than the disease’s 20-30% mortality rate. –Source

4. During the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s, education about the disease was limited for political reasons. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop ended up infuriating members of both parties after he ordered that every home in America be mailed a letter explaining what AIDS was and how to protect from it. – Source

5. After needing 13 liters of blood for a surgery at the age of 13, a man named James Harrison pledged to donate blood once he turned 18. It was discovered that his blood contained a rare antigen which cured Rhesus disease. He has donated blood a record 1,000 times and saved 2,000,000 lives. – Source

6. Alzheimer’s disease does not affect emotional memory as strongly as informational memory. As a result, Alzheimer’s patients given bad news will quickly forget the news, but will remain sad and have no idea why. – Source

7. Fatal Familial Insomnia takes away your ability to sleep. You sink into horrible psychosis and inevitably die over the course of a few months. There is no cure and there are no viable treatments. – Source

8. There is an autoimmune disease which mimics the symptoms of demonic possession, and it has only been identified in the last 10 years. It affects mostly young women and can come on with no pre warnings whatsoever. –Source

9. Cancers are primarily environmental diseases with 90-95% of cases attributed to environmental factors and 5-10% due to genetics. – Source

10. In 5,000 years of human history, only 2 diseases have been eradicated: smallpox and rinderpest – Source... Scary init?

There’s a genetic disease called Laron Syndrome that results in short stature, longer life expectancy, and near immunity to cancer and diabetes, amongst other things. – Source