For Your Health

[Mariner*]

The Incurable, Mysterious Disease Ravaging Australia’s Indigenous Population
HTLV-1, the most lethal human-immune virus known, is capable of killing people within weeks—but it’s not getting the public-health attention it deserves.

"The Australian indigenous population is being hit by HTLV-1, the most lethal human-immune virus known thus far, with “no current cure, no treatment and no coordinated public-health response,” according to a report in The Guardian.

An acronym for human T-lymphotropic virus type 1, HTLV-1 is related to other diseases like T-cell lymphoma. The disease is transmitted similarly to other human immune retroviruses: through sexual contact, blood transfusion, and via breastfeeding. In some cases, it can very quickly transform into leukemia.

The infection is vicious. It can kill people within weeks—or inflame the spinal cord, rendering a patient paralyzed. It can also lead to a series of painful inflammatory diseases like bronchiectasis, a condition that affects the mucus-clearing system of the lungs and makes it difficult to breathe".


https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-incurable-mysterious-disease-ravaging-australias-indigenous-population?ref=home?ref=home