Misconceptions about Disease - mental_floss on YouTube (Ep. 42) | Mental Floss

Hi, I'm Elliot and this is Mental Floss on YouTube

Today I'm going to talk about some misconceptions about diseases. Misconception number one, Ebola spreads through contact with other people

The Ebola virus can only spread via bodily fluid to mucous membrane or broken skin

In other words, someone with Ebola has the virus in their blood, sweat, and urine. One of those needs to come into contact with a non-infected person's eyes, mouth, nostrils, ears, genitals, or an open wound

Then the virus would spread. It won't spread through regular contact or through the air or water

Misconception number two, people who have recovered from Ebola might still be contagious. Nope. According to the World Health Organization, people remain infectious as long as their blood and body fluids

including semen and breast milk, contain the virus. So once the virus is gone, they're no longer infectious

Although it's worth noting that in semen, the virus is transmissible for up to seven weeks after recovery

and it can also hide in your eyes for a long time after you get rid of it

Misconception number three, Alzheimer's isn't deadly. In the US, it's actually the sixth leading cause of death

As the disease progresses, people tend to have increased difficulty swallowing both

food and liquids This can result in deadly pneumonia or aspiration problems They may also forget to take their medication Because of this people usually live an average of 8 to 10 years after being diagnosed with Alzheimer Misconception number four Alzheimer is all genetics

Actually, environmental factors, age and lifestyle may have an impact too. And according to the Alzheimer's Society of Canada, there are a few things you can do that may lower the risk of developing Alzheimer's

These include being physically active, eating healthy foods including fresh fruits, vegetables and fish

keeping your brain challenged, reducing stress, keeping an eye on your blood pressure

blood sugar and cholesterol levels, avoiding traumatic brain injury, and keeping socially active

Misconception number five, death from rabies is common. As far as diseases go, rabies is fairly uncommon

There are about 26,000 to 55,000 deaths by rabies in the world each year

Compare this with the 56 million people that die of cardiovascular disease each year

The problem is that 95% of rabies cases occur in poor parts of Asia and Africa, where there

are limited rabies vaccines, so those cases almost always end in death

In the US, on the other hand, there were only two reported instances of rabies in 2010

We have effective vaccines, so the World Health Organization is currently aiming to half the

amount of deaths by rabies each year. Misconception number six, celiac disease is extremely rare

Because gluten-free has become a diet trend, a lot of people don't take it seriously or realize the prominence of celiac disease Celiac disease by the way is a digestive disorder in which eating gluten can cause issues in the small intestine and many people do have it According to the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness an estimated 1 in 133 Americans or about 1 of the population has celiac disease

Misconception number 7. Eating sugar and or being overweight causes diabetes. First, it's worth distinguishing between type 1 and type 2 diabetes

Only 5 to 10% of people with diabetes have type 1, which is when symptoms appear early in life

It's also completely unpreventable. Type 2 can usually be either prevented or delayed if someone has a healthy lifestyle

It develops later in life and typically isn't diagnosed until adulthood. It's usually type 2 that people are talking about when it comes to this misconception

But there are other factors besides sugar and weight, although those two things do have an impact if you're already at risk for diabetes

The majority of overweight people will never develop type 2 diabetes. 30% of overweight people are type 2 diabetic and 85% of type 2 diabetics are overweight

Some other risk factors include family history, high blood pressure, being over 45 years old

and giving birth to a baby who weighed over 9 pounds. Mom. Misconception number 8, heart disease

primarily affects men. It actually depends on the age. For instance, men are more likely to have

heart disease than women between the ages of 20 and 59, but by age 60, the genders start to even

out 70 of people at that age have heart disease and at 80 and older women are actually more likely than men to have it And it worth noting that heart disease is the number one cause of death in American women Disconception number 9 measles is a mild disease like chicken pox

Measles typically presents itself as a rash and a fever. It usually lasts for about 8 days, but in 1 in 1000 cases, the infection can spread to

the brain. Then doctors can't do much. These patients may experience brain swelling and convulsions

Sometimes they recover, but they may die or go deaf or blind. Luckily, there has been a 75% worldwide drop in measles between 2000 and 2013, thanks to vaccines

So that's cool. Also, I should clarify that chickenpox isn't always a mild disease either

It can lead to complications as well. Misconception number 10, people can be immune to malaria

There's no such thing as 100% immunity to malaria, but some people have what experts call partially protective immunity

Basically, after repeated exposure to malaria, a person may stop showing the regular symptoms

It still needs to be studied more, but experts believe the immunity protects people from severe symptoms and death

but they can still be infected. If you have a topic for an upcoming Misconceptions episode that you would like to see

don't bottle it up, okay? Leave it in the comments down below and we'll check it out. Thank you for watching Misconceptions

on Mental Floss on YouTube and I'll see you next week. Bye