TB testing on Boinc
My Uncle had tuberculosis.
It was back in the 1940’s when he was a teenager; he was a First Nations kid so the only form of treatment he was afforded was to be sent off sixteen hours away to some building where they decided to wait until he died.
He survived, and lived there for a few years until he was given the all clear and sent back to the Reserve; but the experience not only left a scar on him but seemed to become ingrained in the subconscious of the Rez.
Not just on my reserve but on reserves across Canada there’s always a dangerous fear of TB and other bacteria that might show up; as well as the knowledge that there’s very little that can be done to stop it once it takes hold.
This isn’t a lament about the inequality of health care in Canada, but lets be honest; there was an outbreak of TB on a reserve on the East Coast and the Provincial Health Ministry had the results of the test held back because they didn’t want to start a rush on the anti-biotics that would be needed to treat them… in the event it gets into the general population where it can be used on non-natves. Lawsuit pending.
That said, TB is a disease of the poor and disenfranchised; as a bacteria it spreads in large groups such as prisons and homes with multiple families, poor plumbing, poorly built.
It’s clearly a disease that affects my life.
And it’s getting worse.
There’s several new forms of TB completely resistant to anti-bacterials that’s also discovered how to spread through the lungs at a faster more violent way… violent because it’s a gut wrenching cough, that usually results in blood covered spew.
It destroys the lungs leading to low oxygen, leading to other diseases that just rips through the body.
Side note, I watched a documentary recently about the TB infections going through the New York Prison system and watched as a prisoner a year away from freedom end up in medical care to have one of his lungs removed; they had to keep the side of his body open so they could continue treating the cavity it left behind. He’s no longer allowed to hope for freedom as long as he’s infected because he would bring the outbreak to the general population… if he survives, but the Doctors weren’t hopeful.
That image sticks with you.
This brings me to the World Community Grid project. It’s a project that’s on the Gridcoin websites as whitelisted when it works under the BOINC project from Berkley; over all I would say that the entire WCG list of projects are worthwhile but there’s a few of them that I actually view as affecting my life personally.
One of the projects that’s occasionally sent to my computer is the new drug treatments that are being considered to treat TB, checking hundreds of them all over the world to find the ones that show enough promise to get around the Drug Resistance to try on actual TB samples.
It’s hope.
It’s actually more than hope, it’s something I can actually do to partake in helping people as a whole.
If you’d like to help as well you can find the Boinc project at https://boinc.berkeley.edu/
As an added bonus they do pay you in Gridcoin for your work, which can be found here http://www.gridcoin.us/
Photos from Wikipedia and one from a Gridcoin user.
Thank you for sharing. I have a highly functioning autistic son and previously there was a project mindmolding@home and it delt with brain sciences so I had a soft spot for it. It's great when you can find an interest like this in a project where you can personally relate and makes it that much more meaningful to crunch when we get to crunch projects that benefit ourselves and our family's and a special rewarding feeling that goes with the publications of white papers and cures created from our crunched work units and the usage of our own personal vestments in the projects!
Yeah. I think when there's a personal connection it sort of brings home what we're doing.
Hopefully able to the results first hand too
@originalworks
The @OriginalWorks bot has determined this post by @andrewgenaille to be original material and upvoted it!
To call @OriginalWorks, simply reply to any post with @originalworks or !originalworks in your message!
To enter this post into the daily RESTEEM contest, upvote this comment! The user with the most upvotes on their @OriginalWorks comment will win!
For more information, Click Here!
Special thanks to @reggaemuffin for being a supporter! Vote him as a witness to help make Steemit a better place!
img credz: pixabay.com
Nice, you got a 6.0% @minnowbooster upgoat, thanks to @andrewgenaille
Want a boost? Minnowbooster's got your back!
The @OriginalWorks bot has determined this post by @andrewgenaille to be original material and upvoted(2%) it!
To call @OriginalWorks, simply reply to any post with @originalworks or !originalworks in your message!
Congratulations! This post has been upvoted from the communal account, @minnowsupport, by andrewgenaille from the Minnow Support Project. It's a witness project run by aggroed, ausbitbank, teamsteem, theprophet0, someguy123, neoxian, followbtcnews/crimsonclad, and netuoso. The goal is to help Steemit grow by supporting Minnows and creating a social network. Please find us in the Peace, Abundance, and Liberty Network (PALnet) Discord Channel. It's a completely public and open space to all members of the Steemit community who voluntarily choose to be there.
It's important work. In the UK most people were immunized against TB but I could not have it because of some family history.
In 2005 the government stopped universal immunization choosing to concentrate only on immigrants and inner city populations, I think that is short sighted.
It's encouraging that WCG have a project to search for new medicines, let's hope they will be found and used.
I was told that too, there used to be programs in Canada to get it under control... not immunizations but working the areas where it would manifest. Programs were cut... which just gave it time to hide.
The misuse of antibiotics will kill thousands of people. If we are lucky.
Still people take antibiotics when they have a flu (where it doesn't work) and we give several antibiotics to every animal in the "meat production" because otherwise they would die in the brutal situation we hold them.
I have that on my list of articles, if I indeed do rite it, I will link your post.
Very cool, thankyou.
I agree with you on the over use, I've had to tell my Doctor once I wasn't going to take them after he diognosed me with the flu. Weird generation he's from.
Retired now.
I agree. That is IMO one of the major threats for the human race in the following years. I am looking forward to read your text on that topic :)
my father has recovered from cancer, so my personal connection goes to WorldCommunityGrid, to GPUGRID.net and to Rosetta@home. Cancer is a disease of the rich, so I would also like to help neglected diseases; I thought WorldCommunityGrid is the only option at the moment, but I will check FiND@home at http://boinc.ucd.ie/fmah/
unfortunately FightNeglectedDiseases@home is not distributing workunits at the moment: https://boincstats.com/en/stats/136/project/detail/lastDays