Invertebrates and Human Health - Essay Example

Invertebrates and medicine Name Institution Tutor Invertebrates and medicine Introduction Invertebrates are the multi-cellular eukaryotes; animals without the backbone. They belong to a group that encompasses at least 98% of the synergy of animal species. Invertebrates form a paraphyletic group with same cluster of the Hox genes. This makes them practical to use in medicine research as opposed to the vertebrates that have their clusters duplicated more than once. Invertebrates have helped medicine in this case. The two most commonly studied invertebrates are the Drosophila Melanogaster also known as the Fruit fly and Caenorhabditis elegans; which is a nematode. In medicine, these have been the model organisms that have been intensively studied and resulted to significant domino effect. In addition, these are the initial life forms to be genetically sequenced. For example the analysis of the starlet sea anemone did result to the emphasizing of the sponges and protozoan’s importance as far as the explanation of the 1499 ancestral genes are concerned which are unique to animals. Due to the usage of such invertebrates in such breakthroughs, the respective medicines have been developed to curb the issues that are related to the human illnesses and other animals as a whole. Invertebrates thus have enabled the discoveries of medicines and drugs that have cured certain diseases. In this case they resulted to a medicinal breakthrough. Arthropods are used by the forensic scientists. Insects are used by these scientists as they try to ascertain the real causes of community misfortunes such as intended deaths. The medicinal breakthrough in this case has been influenced by the fact that these invertebrates are attached and linked to dead bodies. It is due to this fact that postmortem activities have been made easy. The linkage of some invertebrates to the dead bodies is what has enabled the medical ascertaining of the real causes of suspicious deaths. This has been a medical breakthrough made possible by invertebrates. Due to the fact that invertebrates are not protected by law like the vertebrates, makes it easier for medical practices to be undertaken to ascertain particular issues without much worrying. The invertebrates lack the tight regulatory requirements a fact that translates to them being used with much freedom and less concern associated with record keeping. Arthropods for instance; the classification of insects, is not regulated by law. This has made them to be highly used in medical practices. It is due to the fact that the welfare groups are not likely to aim at their usage. Based on these arguments, invertebrates have offered the medical platforms the room to undertake medicinal tests and discoveries. Invertebrates such as insects under the Arthropods classification have a brief lifecycle and their anatomy composition is not complex. The simplified anatomy and their plenty in presence have enabled their easy study and the drawing of appropriate conclusions. It has been possible to undertake a study severally with several samples hence ensuring accuracy in medical conclusions drawn from the particular research. More so, a large number of invertebrates are studied in one experiment which washes of doubt and facilitate the drawing of practical medical conclusions. California scientists have in recent past made a discovery of genes that are able to offer insights into Alzheimer’s disease from sea squirts. In recent years, there have been similar discovery in the fresh water poly: hydra. The usage of Sea squirts and hydra is now adopted in medical laboratories in the effort aimed at weakening the illness. It was discovered by Bob Zeller, a developmental Biologist, that a gene that is involve in the notch signaling pathway has the ability to produce amyloid precursor protein. This is a protein that is key to the human Alzheimer’s disease. This discovery is significant in medicine. The drug is currently under test in human clinics towards the reversing of human Alzheimer’s effects. It can be deduced from this test that easy to handle invertebrates are able to be used in an intact organism within few days and result to practical results as opposed to organisms that result to complexities. This is one of the many ways that invertebrates have helped medicine. Invertebrates have on the other hand challenged medicine in various ways. These animals are disease vectors. They carry many micro-organisms that are able to cause human beings diseases. Medical discipline struggle day in and out to curb the diseases that are affecting human being and other vertebrates as well as invertebrates themselves but it has been quite challenging to contain the situation. Majority of the disease that affects human beings are caused by the effects of organisms that settle to use human bodies as their environment. These are vector animals under which Arthropods belong, for paradigm the insects. For example, ticks and the fleas as well as kissing bugs are known for the vector business. Lyme disease is carried by the deer tick, Rocky Mountain spotted fever and Tularemia by American dog tick. The curing of such illnesses requires understanding of the human anatomy, the tick species as well as the bacterial triple species involved. In addition the Tiger mosquitoes are the carries of Dengue fever as well as the Eastern Equine Encephalitis. Invertebrates have led to the need of medical expertise being committed to never ending research towards the mitigation of their medicine resistance. This has challenged medical platforms. Pogosta disease also called Sindibis fever, whose vector is a mosquito and West Nile disease with mosquito as vector has their treatment unknown for Sindibis Fever and none at all for West Nile disease; which starts as a fever and later turns into Meningitis. Invertebrates are in such a situation being so challenging to the medical discoveries of medicines to handle certain illnesses. It is the invertebrates that are vectors or agents of transmitting these diseases which lack proper medication. The ability to not only carry the disease causing pathogens but also the ability to cause the illness is one of the most challenging concerns in medicine that are as a result of invertebrates. It is a double challenge to the medical experts to struggle to not only fight with the carrying of the pathogen but also to eliminate the invertebrates which are carriers. Invertebrates are the responsible organisms in the virtual transmission of all diseases. Currently there is a lot of global fight against the invertebrates at the expense of treating the illnesses more so in Africa. There are even debated on embracing the more developed distribution systems to ensure drugs to curb certain illnesses like malaria are distributed in an efficient way. In regards to this, it is quite challenging to the medical field because they are seen and perceived as if they are sleeping on the job. Medical experts are forced to crack their ends and try to juggle treating the already infected with diseases’ spread by invertebrates as well as working towards taking control of the vectors. The treatment of Malaria for instance, has not been realized fully due to the existence of the carrier, which is the mosquito. It is practical to first eliminate the invertebrate vector; the mosquito for the medicine to be practical and be able to take charge of the illnesses associated with it. Some of these vectors have become resistant to drugs a factor that has left the only effective way to handle the situation as the elimination of the vector. Such double responsibility has been quite hard to handle in medicine. It needs a lot of financing and training as well as cooperation to be realized. This has forced the medical practitioners to seek help from the external parties a thing that has seen the sector being regarded as a failed system. Due to this and other factors associated with the elimination of the vectors, it has been quite challenging to curb the diseases caused by invertebrates. In line with this, the medical field has been forced to adopt other approaches towards the pandemic. Invertebrates have become resistant to the ways adopted towards curbing their spreading of the diseases. The medicines prior produced have become useless. Due to this, the medical field has been associated with ineffectiveness and production of ineffective medication towards mitigation of the global human diseases. In line with this, the invertebrates have continued to multiply, spreading more diseases and claiming more lives in the globe. Thus the fact that invertebrates have with time been developing resistance to drugs and rendering the earlier recommendations towards their control useless is one of the various challenges that invertebrates have caused into the medical field. Based on the above discussed invertebrate contributions in the medical field as well as the challenges posed, it can be seen that there are both beneficial and are as well associated with demerits. Invertebrates have thus been significant in medical field as they have enabled the undertaking of research and simplified the whole process. This is due to various aspects associated with it such as the simple anatomical characteristics’ as opposed to complex vertebrates which can also be used in the research. They are also unregulated as opposed to vertebrates. Bibliography Collinge, S. & Ray, C., 2006. Disease Ecology: Community Structure and Pathogen Dynamics. USA: Oxford University. Davidson, E., 2006. Big Fleas Have Little Fleas: How Discoveries of Invertebrate Diseases Are Advancing Modern Science. USA:University of Arizona. Forst, S., Rennecker, D., Goodrich-Blair, H., Flores-Lara, Y., & Stock. P.2007. Influence of nematode age and culture conditions on morphological and physiological parameters in the bacterial vesicle of Steinernema carpocapsae (Nematoda: Steinernematidae). Journal of Invertebrate Pathology, 95 (2).pp. 20-27. King, L., & Van Oers, M. 2011. The application of baculoviruses in human and veterinary medicine. Journal of Invertebrate Pathology, 107(1).pp. S1-S2. McPhee, S., Lingappa, V., & Ganong, W., 2002. Pathophysiology of Disease. NY: McGraw- Hill/Appleton & Lange. Scholte, E., Knols, B., & Takken, W.2006.Infection of the malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae with the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae reduces blood feeding and fecundity .Journal of Invertebrate Pathology, 91(1).pp.43-49. Read More