A Transmittable Caner
Hello people reading this, I hope that you are all well and have had a wonderful week. Amazingly here in the UK we actually had a sunny day which looked lovely. I say looked because I was working all day, but hey ho as soon as I got home I went outside onto the patio and did a 30 minute skipping session which was a great way to finish off my day. As you may know if you have read any of my other blogs I am a strong believer in the benefits of sport and physical activity on our mental health, so maybe when you have a spare 15 mins you can do a mini workout or a few core exercises trust me you'll feel better afterwards. Anyways on with this blog.
So this week flipping through the news I saw that Tasmanian Devils are now considered an endangered species because of a transmittable cancer. Now since the 1990's it has been known that the species Tasmanian devils had a transmittable cancer called Tasmanian devil facial tumour disease (TFTD) however in 2016 scientists discovered that there is a second form of this disease the two types are now named TFTD1 and TFTD2. The two types both cause tumours on the face or within the mouth itself and will often result in death of the infected animal. The disease itself is transmitted through biting which occurs often when fighting for a mate or for food.
So my initial thoughts on this were, well cancer is just the uncontrolled replication of mutated cells and the fact that this cancer is transmittable led me to think that maybe its was down to some sort of virus that infected healthy cells causing the DNA of the cell to become mutated and replicate uncontrollably with virus infected cells, and the reason that the cancer could spread without being destroyed by the bodies immune system was because it was in virus form, to me on my limited scientific knowledge this was the most plausible answer to the thought of a cancer being transmittable. Then I read on the university of Cambridge website that to their knowledge there is no link to any virus and the TFTD disease. It is also not understood how these live cancer cells can enter the body without being destroyed by the bodies immune system.
Currently there is no cure for this disease which is why the population which is only found on the island of Tasmania is now considered endangered, there is currently a government led initiative that is forming an insurance population so make sure that the numbers of this species don't drop too low the only areas of the island not badly effected by this disease are the west and very north west which have managed to remain uninfected by this deadly disease. Hopefully some time in the near future discoveries will be made in the veterinary field and scientific fields that allow a cure for this TFTD.
Thank you very much for reading I hope you enjoyed this short post about a rather worrying fact that is facing a species on our planet. I shall see you back here next week if you enjoyed this, if not then I hope you are an amazing rest of your year. Remember to keep smiling and count your blessings because there will always be people less fortunate than you.
So this week flipping through the news I saw that Tasmanian Devils are now considered an endangered species because of a transmittable cancer. Now since the 1990's it has been known that the species Tasmanian devils had a transmittable cancer called Tasmanian devil facial tumour disease (TFTD) however in 2016 scientists discovered that there is a second form of this disease the two types are now named TFTD1 and TFTD2. The two types both cause tumours on the face or within the mouth itself and will often result in death of the infected animal. The disease itself is transmitted through biting which occurs often when fighting for a mate or for food.
So my initial thoughts on this were, well cancer is just the uncontrolled replication of mutated cells and the fact that this cancer is transmittable led me to think that maybe its was down to some sort of virus that infected healthy cells causing the DNA of the cell to become mutated and replicate uncontrollably with virus infected cells, and the reason that the cancer could spread without being destroyed by the bodies immune system was because it was in virus form, to me on my limited scientific knowledge this was the most plausible answer to the thought of a cancer being transmittable. Then I read on the university of Cambridge website that to their knowledge there is no link to any virus and the TFTD disease. It is also not understood how these live cancer cells can enter the body without being destroyed by the bodies immune system.
Currently there is no cure for this disease which is why the population which is only found on the island of Tasmania is now considered endangered, there is currently a government led initiative that is forming an insurance population so make sure that the numbers of this species don't drop too low the only areas of the island not badly effected by this disease are the west and very north west which have managed to remain uninfected by this deadly disease. Hopefully some time in the near future discoveries will be made in the veterinary field and scientific fields that allow a cure for this TFTD.
Thank you very much for reading I hope you enjoyed this short post about a rather worrying fact that is facing a species on our planet. I shall see you back here next week if you enjoyed this, if not then I hope you are an amazing rest of your year. Remember to keep smiling and count your blessings because there will always be people less fortunate than you.
Comments
Post a Comment