We are all aware of the smoke drifting into the Northeastern U.S. from Canadian wildfires, and the related alerts about poor air quality.

“US areas including the Northeast have experienced an unprecedented degree of air pollution, with New York City reaching the highest pollution level in the world by June 7, 2023, with an Air Quality Index (AQI) close to the maximum level of 500,” noted Philippe Chahinian, MD, a doctor of internal medicine and an oncologist.

How does poor air quality harm one’s health?
Many of the health issues people see from poor air quality, in general, can overlap with health issues people see from wildfire smoke. Air pollution from wildfire smoke can make breathing difficult for anyone, but especially for young children, older adults, pregnant women and people with asthma or other pre-existing respiratory conditions.

In the short term, wildfire smoke can cause irritation to the eyes, nose, throat and lungs, as well as an increased risk of respiratory infection. Studies have also found that short-term exposure to small particulate matter increases the risk of a range of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases.

Longer term, exposure to air pollution is associated with several chronic health conditions, including:

• Severe asthma
• Preterm birth
• Heart disease
• Stroke
• Lung cancer
• Dementia
• Lower IQ in children

Smoke can be especially dangerous for pregnant women because they usually have diminished lung capacities due to their growing bellies. Exposure to air pollution during the first and second trimesters may also be associated with gestational diabetes, according to a study published in March.

Additionally, air pollution can harm a developing fetus and increase the risk of low birth weight, miscarriage and stillbirth. A global analysis found that air pollution likely contributed to nearly 6 million premature births in 2019.

Learn more from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Navigating the intricacies of allogeneic transplants is a specialty of Dr. Nelli Bejanyan (shown at left in photo at left) The program leader of Blood and Marrow Transplant and the head of the Leukemia/Myeloid Section of the Department of Blood and Marrow Transplant and Cellular Immunotherapy at Moffitt Cancer Center is renowned for her expertise in transplanting healthy donor (allogeneic) stem cells into patients with blood cancers such as acute leukemia.

It’s a skill and an expertise that isn’t available everywhere around the globe. But with the specialized BMT training program at Moffitt, Dr. Bejanyan hopes to change that. She wants to start with her home country of Armenia.

This year, Dr. Bejanyan invited hematologist Dr. Nerses Ghahramanyan (both shown in photo, top left) from Yeolyan Hematology Center in Yerevan, Armenia, to learn as much as he can about allogenic transplantation at Moffitt. The goal is to take that knowledge and experience back to Armenia, where adult patients have no access to curative allogeneic bone marrow transplants.

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AAHPO President Lawrence V. Najarian, MD, has written a letter to our members, colleagues, families and friends about AAHPO’s activities regarding the Artsakh Blockade. Here is a summary for your convenience:

• The blockade has created a heart-breaking humanitarian crisis that is being largely ignored by the rest of the world.
• AAHPO is committed to helping address the medical needs of 120,000 Armenians who live in Artsakh and are directly impacted by the blockade.
• AAHPO has joined with Armenian Medical International Committee (AMIC) to raise funds that will be used to purchase medical supplies desperately needed by Artsakh physicians.
• The first fund-raising effort was a telethon hosted by our colleagues in California on May 7. If you were not able to donate to that effort, you are urged to donate now.
• The program to purchase medical supplies is being conducted with the highest level of transparency and accountability.
• The blockade has prevented Artsakh physicians from traveling to Yerevan for essential continuing medical education (CME) funded for 13 years by the AAHPO, Dr. Raffy Hovanessian Medical Education Program.
• Our fearless director of this CME in Armenia, Dr. Hambardzum Simonyan, has developed online CME programs, which are being provided to Artsakh physicians at this time.

Click here to read the entire letter from Dr. Najarian.

Editor’s note: AAHPO Board Member Vahe Tateosian, MD (photo at left) is in Armenia now, leading a Medical Mission staffed with anesthesiologists and surgeons from the medical center at State University of New York at Stony Brook. This mission took years to plan and coordinate, and AAHPO thanks Dr. Tateosian for his efforts! He will be sending photos and updates, which we will share with you. Below is Dr. Tateosian’s first submission, written before the Mission departed for Armenia.

I have been fortunate to create and organize a multidisciplinary team of both anesthesiologists and surgeons to come to Yerevan and work with our Armenian colleagues and health care professionals. For years, I have established a working relationship with the administration and faculty at Arabkir Medical University and have now invited subspecialists from the State University of New York at Stony Brook to create a bilateral dialogue and exchange of both ideas and practices. We will be conducting a medical/surgical mission of approximately 8-10 days which encompasses consultations, discussions as well as working together on a number of operations on children in Yerevan. One of our main objectives is to foster collaboration through building and maintaining professional relationships.

For our current mission, we will be consulting on and working together with our colleagues from Armenia on pediatric surgeries of many different subspecialties. We have been in contact with our Armenian physicians the preceding few months to discuss various cases and clinical scenarios prior to our trip abroad, and have made many introductions via video conference calls. We will also be providing a number of hands-on workshops on various topics as well have created a lecture series to provide them with didactic teaching while we are there. We hope to make this an educational experience for both the Armenians in Yerevan as well as Americans that are on the mission. For our American medical missionaries, it is a multifaceted experience. Most notably, it allows for not only an experience in international medicine, but also serves as an introduction to the health care system and culture of Armenia as well. The idea is to create a sustainable program that will have health care providers from both sides participate in education and training. I happen to be the only Armenian in the group and am leading a team of 5 non-Armenian health care specialists, which include a pediatric anesthesiologist, pediatric surgeon and 3 chief residents of anesthesiology.

Another connection to AAHPO’s continued support for health care professions in Armenia is the fact that we continue to train Fund for Armenia Relief (FAR) fellows from the various hospitals and region, which continue to participate in as many of the activities such as lecture and didactic teachings. This helps to serve as a bridge to the current and ongoing support of the AAHPO, Dr. Raffy Hovanessian Medical Education Program, which FAR helped to found, and is a current partner with AAHPO.

Cases of a tick-borne disease, called babesiosis, more than doubled in some Northeastern states between 2011 and 2019, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported last week. This disease is transmitted through the black-legged tick (shown at left), also known as the deer tick and the same tick which transmits Lyme Disease.

Although many people with babesiosis are asymptomatic, others develop flulike symptoms, including fevers, chills, sweats and muscle aches. The disease can be severe or even fatal in people who have compromised immune systems or other risk factors.

The disease, which for decades was extremely rare in the United States, is now endemic in 10 states in the Northeast and the Midwest, the agency said. New York and Connecticut are two states in which it is most common. The increase may have been fueled by rising temperatures and the growing population of deer, two factors that help ticks thrive, experts said.

Most norovirus outbreaks in the U.S. happen between November and April. On average, the country sees around 20 million cases per year, with nearly 110,000 hospitalizations and 900 deaths, mostly among those who are 65 and older.

Norovirus appears to be at a seasonal high, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The rate of norovirus tests coming back positive, averaged over three weeks, exceeded 15% at the end of last week. That’s the highest recorded since late March 2022.

Norovirus is sometimes referred to as the stomach flu, but it is not related to the influenza virus. Rather, it is a highly contagious virus that typically causes gastrointestinal symptoms like diarrhea, vomiting, nausea and stomach pain. Mild fever and aches are possible, too.

Just a few virus particles are enough to make someone sick, and they spread easily via hands, surfaces, food and water. An infected person can transmit the virus for days after they’re feeling better, potentially even up to two weeks, according to the CDC.

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Tips to Prevent Norovirus
You can help protect yourself and others from norovirus by washing your hands thoroughly with soap and water and following other simple prevention tips.

MORE TIPS

By Stephan S. Nigohosian

Editor’s note: This article was published in the Armenian Mirror Spectator on February 4, 2023.

LEONIA, N.J. —Overpeck County Park is a world away from Artsakh, but that distance became inconsequential last October when upwards of 100 people participated in the Armenian American Health Professionals Organization (AAHPO) Fourth Annual 5K Run/Walk event.

This year’s activity (the date is yet to be determined), which will be held to raise desperately needed funds to support healthcare and medical services for the Armenian population of Artsakh and Armenia, will be even more significant in light of the humanitarian crisis caused by Azerbaijan’s unlawful blockade of the Lachin Corridor. Armenian

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Examples of this are the training of doctors in the rural areas of Artsakh in innovative approaches, methods, and technologies in medicine, as well as underwriting the cost of curating and sending medical equipment and medicine to the region.

“The continued growth of our 5K Run/Walk Event is a testament to the dedication and compassion of Armenian-Americans in NY, NJ and CT,” said AAHPO President Lawrence V. Najarian, MD. “The situation in Artsakh has been very difficult for quite some time now, but the most recent repercussions caused by the Azeri blockade has made our mission of providing assistance to our brethren in the region all the more critical.”

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According to the American Cancer Society, Human Papillomavirus (HPV) can cause six types of cancer. While there is no treatment for HPV, there is a vaccine that can prevent it.

“I recommend all children between the ages of 9 to 14 receive the HPV vaccine before they are sexually active,” advises AAHPO Vice President and pediatrician Garbis Baydar, MD. “There are medical studies which clearly show that the vaccine not only prevents sexually transmitted genital warts, but also prevents cervical cancer in females, penile cancer in males and oral and food pipe cancer in both sexes.”

The American Cancer Society asserts that the HPV vaccine can prevent more than 90% of HPV cancers, including most cervical cancers. Talk to your child’s doctor and visit cancer.org/hpv to learn more.

If you have purchased eye drops sold under the brand names of EzriCare or Delsam Pharma Artificial Tears, immediately discontinue use of the eye drops. They have been recalled due to possible contamination linked to eye infection cases in 12 states, including New Jersey and New York.

“Fortunately, these brands have very small market share in our region,” noted AAHPO President and ophthalmologist Lawrence V. Najarian, MD.

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January is Glaucoma Awareness Month. AAHPO President and ophthalmologist Lawrence V. Najarian, MD is sharing this article from the Glaucoma Research Foundation, which notes: “Although marijuana can lower eye pressure, please consider its side effects, short duration of action, and lack of evidence that its use alters the course of glaucoma.”

Glaucoma is a disease of the optic nerve, the cable that carries visual information from the eye to the brain. Damage to the optic nerve from glaucoma can result in vision loss and blindness. Treatments that lower the pressure in the eye both lower the risk of developing the optic nerve damage that defines glaucoma, and the risk of pre-existing damage getting worse.

Marijuana as a Treatment Alternative
One of the commonly discussed alternatives for the treatment of glaucoma is the smoking of marijuana, because smoking marijuana does lower the eye pressure. Less often appreciated is the fact that marijuana’s effect on eye pressure only lasts 3-4 hours, meaning that to lower the eye pressure around the clock it would have to be smoked 6-8 times a day.

Furthermore, marijuana’s mood-altering effects prevent the patient who is using it from driving, operating heavy machinery, and functioning at maximum mental capacity. Marijuana cigarettes also contain hundreds of compounds that damage the lungs, and the chronic, frequent use of marijuana can damage the brain.

Learn more from the Glaucoma Research Foundation